George
The detail natives at my place are restless. We are pursuing a comment made in Allan
Dollar's book about the "Chinese" hand vs "empty" hand caligraphy.
Allan Dollar makes a comment on how it was all the same kanji (chinese vs empty), but was
just a different pronunciation - "on" pronunciation as TO DE vs "kun"
pronunciation as KARA TE.
I distinctly remember going through an academic exercise years back where I saw a
different character and looked it up in a kanji dictionary. This very different character
had a meaning that referred to a specific dynasty or era in China. We found Tomoyose
Ryuko's caligraphy in your book, but it is too stylized to read. I think the character in
question is on the one knuckle pins you sell.
Anyhow I have a favor to ask. Could you (or someone else) find this character, scan it,
and post it on the web? Or maybe you can send me the scan and I can look it up and
complete the academic exercise before it is posted.
Thanks.
Bill
Lets begin this topic by looking at a couple of examples of the calligraphy in question. Hopefully a couple of our Japanese/ Okinawan/ Chinese language experts will be able to explain the differences in interpretation of the characters. While visiting Hong Kong in 1965 with Masters Uechi and Tomoyose, we were given a very hostile reception by the local martial art's association until one of the members saw the lapel pin I was wearing. (images 2&3) He pointed to the emblem and said "China Hands" and we all agreed! From that point on, we were given the "red carpet" treatment. Later the individual said his organization initially assumed we were "Japanese Karate" representative. GEM
 1. |
 2. |
 3. |
| 1.From a recent Okinawan tournament brochure. 2,3 &4: From early certificates. |
 4. |
Subject:
Re: permission to use article
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 22:19:00 -1000
From: muromoto@lava.net (Wayne Muromoto)
To: gmattson@usa1.com
Hi George,
You wrote:
We have a discussion on our Uechi site about the change in name from "China"
hands to "Open or Empty" hands. I'd like to include the "Master's
Meeting" as part of this discussion. Naturally, I'll credit your magazine and include
a link at this point of the discussion to your site. (We have a link in the
"hotlink" section already.)
No problem. Seems okay to me. I apologize for not communicating more with you myself; I
just glanced over an article by you in Bugeisha magazine. Hope that magazine also flies;
we can always use more quality "serious" stuff.
One point you might want to bring up is the nature of the general culture within Japan
itself, which made the changes more possible. In certain periods of Japan, anything
associated with China was considered "classy." Thus, there are spurious accounts
in old texts (I'm translating one of them now for use in a future Furyu article) that
tries to claim that jujutsu all started in China during the Edo Period, even though
documents prove that it was an indigenous art founded long before the Edo period.
However, in the 20th century, China became considered the "sick man of Asia,"
and the Japanese turned to Europe for its role models. Thus, the prestige of
Chinese-related arts, crafts, etc., were downgraded. So to call it kara-te (China hand)
might not have been prestigious enough. Nor would calling it Okinawa-te or something like
that, because Okinawans were also victims of racism and second-class citizenship on the
Mainland Japanese islands. So kara (Zen emptiness) te was perhaps the best way for
Okinawan masters to proselytize an Okinawan art with Chinese roots in a Japan which was
becoming increasingly nationalistic and militaristic.
Wayne M
===========
Furyu: The Budo JournalFuryu On-Line
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The article appeared in Issue #4, Spring-Summer 1995 of Furyu: The Budo Journal.
Bill: Mark Brelsford gives a very credible explanation following George's note. I can
imagine the Japanese masters rewriting history to suit themselves. I may be with 5
mainland Chinese on May 2. They will be from near Beijing (north) which may give them a
different dialect but I hope to discuss this with them over lunch. It would be great to
get their input. Also, a Japanese national will be with us as well so I can get his
opinion. I have no idea if they are martial artists but they will all be engineers.
Back to the point of rewriting history, when GE bought out RCA in '85, in spite of howls
of protest from native New Yorkers and ex RCA employees, the RCA landmark building in NY
was quickly relabled 'GE'. Any protestors either got the message and quickly bowed to the
new king or found employment elsewhere. Years from now only the old cabdrivers will
remember that there ever was an RCA building.
Rich Castanet
Just for info, in speaking of the following kanji,
The first kanji in picture 3, and the 4th kanji on top, picture 4.
These two characters are the same in Japanese. The first is thought to be in reference to
and accepted as, being able to defend oneself with empty hands The second is the older way
of writing it (and refers to old China, the Tang dynasty). Okinawa used it due to its
influence that China had on Okinawa, and martial development. The confusion and final
change came from the fact that when karate was introduced to Japan proper, that in many
ways Japanese looked at the older way of writing "kara" as degrading (due to the
political situation at the time). It was a time of much political strive between Japan and
its neighbors, so therefore, despite allot of protest, it was changed to the kanji that is
now used.
Mark J Brelsford
Gentlemen: I just love to give Glasheen Sensei a challenge. Now I need to get my 'one
knucle' pin out and verify the kanji.
Thanks, Rich Castanet
Part I
George et al
Thanks. You gave me everything I need. In your 2 & 3 sequence, the characters say
"Ue" (above), "chi" (earth), "ryu" (style), "kara"
(empty), "te" (hand), "do" (way). Now the one knucle pin is different.
Going clockwise from the "Ue" kanji, the fourth character is "China".
This is very different from "kara" which you see as the very leftmost character
in image 3. I'll add to this paragraph after I get home tonight to my kanji dictionary.
Rich, that's the same character that is on Vickie Scheffler's gi. I knew I wasn't going
crazy!
Bill
Billl (oops): As I was rereading this thread I discovered an excellent example of how
words, names, homonyms etc. become distorted over time. You have twice referred to Dollar
Sensei in the original 3/31 note as 'Allan'. If we do this in english, think about the
possibilities of changing the kanji meanings as they moved between China, Okinawa, Japan
and the US over a period of centuries. I wonder if Alan is following this?
Respectfully,
Rich Castanet - Detail Native
Response part II
*************************************************
I have checked with the following references:
O'Neill, PG: Essential Kanji. Weatherhill Inc, 1973.
Nelson, AN: The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary,
Second revised edition. Charles E. Tuttle Co, 1962.
O'Neill is a fairly concise reference. Nelson is closer to a full-fledged dictionary.
Both of the references have both characters. I will refer to the one-knuckle fist
character as the "old" character, and the character on the three bladed emblem
as the "new" character. Each character has several associated sounds to them,
classified in general as "On" pronunciations (Chinese like) and "Kun"
pronunciation (Japanese like).
Bottom line is both the old and new characters have a kun pronunciation of
"kara". However the meaning of the isolated characters are very different. The
most meaningful root translation of the old character is "China", whereas the
most meaningful root translation of the new character is "empty". In usage they
are really homonyms: words that sound exactly alike but have different
"spellings" and meanings (like to, too, and two). Nelson gives examples of the
context of the characters. In both cases the pronunciation of the combination of the
character in question with the hand character is "karate". The translation of
Chinese hand is given as "a weaponless defense system", whereas the translation
of empty hand is given as "barehanded fighting". Basically the same thing.
One other interesting point. Dollar speaks of a past pronunciation of "tode" in
his book. Only the old character has an "On" pronunciation of "to",
and various root meanings of this are "tang" (as in dynasty), "China",
and "foreign countries". I cannot find any reference for a "to"
pronunciation of the new character.
I don't know about you guys, but this suggests a lot to me about the evolution of the
Ryuku Island arts from cultural and nationalistic points of view. I would be interested in
other comments.
Bill
Gentlemen,
In Ginchin Funakoshis' book on shotokan karate,"Karate-do Nihon", he spends a
page explaining the "china" to "empty" kanji change. The kanji are
different, but are pronounced the same. The old way used the charachters for "china
hand". Funakoshi initiated the change to the "empty hand" characters
because he felt karate was now a "Japanese martial art" and the china reference
was degrading. Whether this was really his feeling or something forced on him and his
peers because of Japanese nationalism and chauvinism, (political correctness of their
time), is not clear.
Mike Arnost
I pulled this posting off the Cyberdojo. gem
Gichin Funakoshi's purpose for introducing karate to Japan was not to show another
martial art for fighting. Japan already had fighting arts, kendo (jutsu), judo (jutsu),
kempo, etc., so he wanted something to go deeper than the technical skills. Hence,
karate-do with the changing of the kanji for 'karate-do.' The basic philosophy was to
develop the inner man first instead of focussing on the external techniques. Therefore,
the training of karate was to train in the essence, the dojo kun, with the functions of
punch and kick. The development was focussed on the 'self'which is emphasized in his
changing the character, 'kara,' to meaning 'ku.' A zen concept of 'nothingness' or 'mu',
meaning the same in chinese. In his poem, he wrote 'karate' as 'Ku ken", or technique
for rendering yourself to 'nothingness.'
So, the concept of 'empty hands' was presented for the occidentals which took it
literally. In actuality, 'ku ken' (like zen) was to focus on developing your inner self
with natural techniques of the self, no external help (weapons). In essence, the karate-do
fighting art was to combat 'yourself' of 'evil' something, leading to the development of
the 'good guy.' Then, after this priority is accomplished, it is ok to practice other
functions beside the punch and kich, like weapons.
Master Funakoshi's kata expresses his philosophy through the defense techniques against
weapons.
In summation, Gichin Funakoshi's karate-do in the direction of practice of inner
development was weaponless. However, as a conditioning and discipline, most Shotokan
martial arts practitioners practice weapons.
The view is that, are you training in Shotokan Karate-do or martial arts. In Shotokan
only, then you must understand its essence. For martial arts, then your must understand
fighting arts.
This is part III.
*******************************************************
Why do I make such a big deal about this character business? Well what I am interested in
is whether the gravitation to the prevelent use of the empty "kara" character
was meandering ambivalence or conscious decision. Recently I saw a post from George where
he used the phrase "preying mantis". Hmmm, I thought, I don't remember that. I
looked it up in the dictionary and it was indeed "praying mantis". Taxonomy name
is Mantis religiosa. Religion and praying - all makes sense. The bug indeed looks like it
is in prayer. No"preying mantis" in the dictionary. A week later I got my
praying mantis egg sacks from Burpee (I set them loose here every spring). I looked for
the sheet which gives the latest info on where/how to release the sacks. In the paragraph
description, they acknowledged a common (but not necessarily official) usage of the term
"preying mantis" due to the insects preying nature. Neat - the English language
once again demonstrating that it changes over time. But make no mistake about it - there
is a lot of difference between praying and preying.
Now wouldn't it be fascinating to consider that perhaps once upon a time (as recently as
when George was studying on Okinawa), the Okinawans viewed their art as a kara (foreign,
Chinese) art. Perhaps nothing was thought of the consequence of people considering this as
something other than what it was - an art that hadn't been there long and was from
somewhere else. Perhaps it was even fashionable to be associated with foreign culture and
the China reference was intentional. Perhaps the Uechi clan in particular wanted to
distinguish themselves from all those other "provincial" martial artists.
Now people being as they are, there were individuals who heard the word "kara"
and wrote ANOTHER character down, only this one meant "empty". Make no mistake
about it - there is a lot of difference between China and empty. And they are both
pronounced as "kara". Both characters are used at the same point in time. Then
suddenly "China hand" starts to dissapear. It used to be on the certificates,
but then POOOF it's gone. Lots of people from all over the planet coming to Okinawa to
study this great art of empty hand. Okinawa has defined itself through the art. The art IS
Okinawan. The world is made a better place because we study and emulate their simple,
practical ways.
It's all kara te to me. But it's more than a physical art. We are studying and
participating in history.
Bill
>Bill: I still do not believe it to be erronious. From what I am reading the
character in Alan's book is an acceptable character for 'Chinese'.
Look again, Rich. Page 1 of Alan Dollar's book has "What is Karate" and then the
next line (in kanji) says "empty hand, china hand". The rest of the book had
"china hand" on the top of all the odd pages. Back when I wrote the first note,
my wife had been doing some cleaning and stuck my Alan Dollar book in the attic. I just
now found it.
>That character is in the octagon symbol in George's note
Look again. The octagonal symbol says Ue (above) Chi (earth) Ryu (style) Kara (empty) Te
(hand) Do (way). The shoken symbol - on the top of George's old diploma - says Ue (above)
chi (earth) Ryu (style) Kara (China) Te (hand). The shoken symbol on page 33 of Dollar's
book says empty hand way.
Now remember that "China" character can either be "To" (on
pronunciation) or "kara" (kun pronunciation).
Now that I have Dollar's book in front of me, I will quote 2 paragraphs from page 9.
>>> The systems of Chinese Kempo taught in Okinawa became known as *tode* or
*tote* which means "China Hand". *To* represents the T'ang dynasty (618-906)
and refers to all of China.<<<
>>>*To* can also be pronounced as *kara*. Therefore the words *tote* and
*karate* are interchangeable. The word *karate* replaced *tote*, written
with the same kanji character, in about 1888. *Tode* refers to the open
handed methods used in Chinese systems, as opposed to the fist methods of
Okinawa te.<<<
Now that I read these two paragraphs after much research & thought, I think that Alan
is right on the money. But another question remains: when and what caused *karate* (China
Hand) to change to *karate* (empty hand)? From Alan's description as well as what I found
in the dictionaries (see messages Part II), China te and Okinawa (empty) te are not
interchangeable. But then somehow all our "China" characters disappeared on the
diplomas. Whodunnit? Why? Are there any parallels to events today?
Bill
Bill:
A group from Mainland China visited our home in 1978, one of the first scientific exchange
groups. Several had had martial arts experience. These were older gentleman who were
educated before the cultural revolution. Both they and their translator, a fellow
scientist read the Tomoyose calligraphy I had framed and hanging on my wall. They were the
"Chinese Hand" as in George"s book and also the "Karate." Their
discussion and explanation of the kanji were as in Alan's book, i.e. "empty as in
void." It took them a moment to figure out what the kanji represented. The kanji do
differ to us but were not of a significant difference to them.
The kanji on the "certificate" I received from my Taichi instructor (also a
Mainland Chinese) speaks to a similar void or empty stillness (I'll forward the quote to
you), the character on the certificate is very similar to Mr. Tomyose's and was stroked by
a Chinese master calligrapher. My Japanese friends, who are well educated, have also
interpreted the Kanji in the same way. They reminded me that a given kanji can have
multiple meanings and that "context" is all.
I'll be interested to see what you "discover."
Ron