Karate

In the 1920s, karate was imported from Okinawa to Japan by Funakoshi

Gishin (1868-1957), under the name of Okinawa Tote (沖縄唐手: Chinese
technique of Okinawa). This ‘new’ technique of combat did not have any
common point with the ancient practice of bujutsu and even less with the
concept of 'do' of budo.
This martial art was later called karate-do during the 1930s. The name was
changed because of the rise of Japanese nationalism and a rejection of all
that was not purely Japanese. Karate-do only consisted in repeating kata (pre-
established sequences of movement) without any clear application in
situational combat. This was not the case in the techniques of bujutsu. With
budo and kendo, for example, there is a re-creation of combat through
attacking and defending that is still practiced.
All of the techniques of bujutsu aim at direct applications in real combat
situations. Any tradition of combat application in karate from Okinawa was not
transmitted to Japan via Funakoshi. This explains the efforts of certain notable
Japanese martial artists, like Konishi, Otsuka and others, who tried to raise
the quality of karate by integrating budo's concept of ‘do’. For these Japanese
martial artists, deeply experienced in the tradition of kenjutsu and other
disciplines of traditional bujutsu, the content and design of a martial art is
inseparable from the practice of combat. Indeed, for a great number of
masters of the time, karate-do represented a ‘folk dance’ coming from their
‘country cousins in the sea’, and it was not considered of the same pedigree
as the bujutsu of the Japanese bushi.
It must be remembered that in Okinawa, karate-do was practiced in fields and
hidden places, in the greatest secrecy. There is no proof that karate-do grew
from combat techniques born in the battlefields like bujutsu. However, one
only need remember that the archipelago of Okinawa knew the same political
upheaval and had many wars, just as in Japan.
Okinawa formed a bridge for the relations between Japan and the remainder
of Asia, for example, Taiwan, China of the south, Malaysia, and so forth. It
was essential that Okinawa display a certain level of political neutrality and,
thus, avoid war with their more powerful neighbours. By the time karate-do
was imported to Japan, it had undergone its first transformation, passing from
basic techniques of martial self-defence to an exercise routine intended for the
education of schoolboys. In Japan, karate-do was developed primarily for the
academic world.
Thereafter, eminent colleagues of Funakoshi came from Okinawa to Japan to
make known and to develop their unique practice and style of karate-do.
These were Kenwa Mabuni (1889-1952), founder of Shito-ryu, Chojun Miyagi
(1888-1953), founder of Goju-ryu; Kanbun Uechi (1888-1937), founder of
Uechi-ryu, and Choki Motobu (1871-1944), founder of Motobu-ryu, who
brought a level of realism to karate-do through his personality and dedicated
personal practice. Two pupils of Funakoshi established their own schools of
karate-do. Otsuka Hironori (1893-1982) was the founder of Wado-ryu, and
Oyama Masutatsu (1923-1994), who was the founder of Kyokushin-kai karate.