Meiji Era - the womb of Uechi

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Dana Sheets
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Meiji Era - the womb of Uechi

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The boxing system studied by Kanbun Uechi existed in a certain historical context commonly called the Meji Era from a Japanese historical perspective. Meiji comes from the the 45-year reign of Emperor Meiji, running, from 23 October 1868 to 30 July 1912.

In the United States during this time we were building our railroads (using a great number of Chinese immigrant laborers), having a gold rush or two, and fulfilling the strange concept of Manifest Destiny.

China, at this time, had just gone through a major era of internal conflict known as the Nien Rebellion 1853-1868 and the Taiping Rebellion.

http://www.onwar.com/aced/nation/cat/ch ... na1853.htm
In the early 1850s, the Chinese living in the Yellow River (Huang prostitute) valley suffered famine because of repeated flooding of the river; many of them joined outlaw bands, called nien, which had been plundering the provinces of Anhwei, honan, and Shantung during the first half of the century. While the Manchu (Ch'ing, Quing) government was preoccupied with the Taiping Rebellion in the south, the Nien bands formed armies, notably under the leadership of Chang Lohsing (d. 1863), and fortified their villages and took advantage of the mobility of their strong cavalry to harass and evade imperial troops seeking to crush them. The soon controlled a large area in north China that was virtually independent of the rest of the country. However, their movement lacked strong direction after Chang Lo-hsing was killed, and the Nien were unable to coordinate their actions with the Taiping rebels in the south. Imperialforces led successively by Generals Seng-ko-linch'in (d. 1865), Tseng Kuo-fan (1811-72), and Li Huang-chang (1823-1901) surrounded the Nien fortresses, starved them into submission, and sacked their strongholds. By 1868, the rebels were defeated, and the emperor's forces were again in command of their area.
This conflict in the north overlappedwith fighting in the south known as the Taiping Rebellion (mentioned above) which took place from 1851-1864.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion
Ethnically, the Taiping Heavenly army largely consisted of racial minorities — principally the Hakka (a sub group of Han Chinese) and Zhuang. Hong Xiuquan and the other Taiping royals were Hakka. The second tier was a mixed group and included many Zhuang. Prominent at this level of command was Shi Dakai who was half-Hakka, half-Zhuang and spoke both languages fluently, making him quite a rare asset to the Taipings. Toward the later stages of the war the number of Han (the dominant majority ethnic group of China) in the army increased substantially, but minorities remained prominent the whole time. There were almost no prominent leaders among the Taipings who were Han. It is believed that Zhuang constituted as much as 25 percent of the Taiping army.
So the Hakka had been fighting for 15 years.

In 1879 the Japanese Empire annexed the Ryukuan Islands.

From 1864-1895 there were several wars. One with the Russians, one with the French, a massacre of Christian missionaries, a muslim uprising, and a war with Japan fought in Korea. That last war lasted until 1895.
http://www.onwar.com/aced/nation/cat/ch ... se1894.htm

Japan won that war and as part of the treaty won trading rights in China.

In March 1897, Kanbun Uechi; age 19 years, 10 months left Okinawan for China to avoid conscription into the Japanese military and to pursue his interest in martial arts.
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Post by Dana Sheets »

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Post by Dana Sheets »

In the above map you can see Okinawa's relative position to the Taiping uprising. No doubt they would have known what was going on. Okinawan was known to have good trading relations with China - which was one of the reasons Japan decided to occupy Okinawa...they were worried the Chinese would do it first.
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Post by jorvik »

old chinese curse " may you be born in interesting times"
I guess Kanei was, but I don't think that karate would have been much use..unless it was enfield -Ryu ( 306) :lol:
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China Ruled by a Woman

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When Kanbun was in China it was ruled by:

Empress Dowager Cixi (Chinese: 慈禧太后; pinyin: Cíxī Tàihòu; Wade-Giles: Tz'u-Hsi Huang T'ai-hou) (November 29, 1835 – November 15, 1908), popularly known in China as the West Empress Dowager (Chinese: 西太后), was from the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan. She was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, ruling over China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908. Coming from a fairly ordinary Manchu family and having been selected by the Xianfeng Emperor as a concubine, she exercised almost total control over the court under the nominal rule of her son the Tongzhi Emperor and her nephew the Guangxu Emperor, both of whom attempted to rule unsuccessfully in their own right. Largely conservative during her rule, many historians considered her reign despotic, and attribute the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and therefore Imperial China, as a result of Cixi's rule.
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The Boxer Rebellion

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The Boxer Rebellion

In 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi's support of the self-strengthening movement was again called into question when the Boxer Rebellion broke out in northern China. Eager to preserve traditional Chinese values, Empress Dowager Cixi threw in her lot with the rebels, making an official announcement of her support for the movement. When the Westerners responded by dispatching the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Chinese military, badly underdeveloped due to Empress Dowager Cixi's habit of filching military funds, was unable to prevent the technologically-advanced Allied army from marching on Peking and seizing the Forbidden City. Determined to prevent another Chinese rebellion, the Western powers imposed a humiliating treaty on China, and Empress Dowager Cixi, with no military forces capable of protecting even her own palace, was forced to sign. The treaty demanded the presence of an international military force in China and the payment of £67 million (almost $333 million) in war reparations.

source: wiki
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Very interesting Dana...

Post by gmattson »

Thanks for posting this information.
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Fukien

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And it seems that it wasn't even Cantonese or Mandarin that was spoken...

wiki:
Min Nan
Min Nan, Minnan, or Min-nan (Simplified Chinese: 闽南语; Traditional Chinese: 閩南語; pinyin: Mǐnnányǔ; POJ: Bân-lâm-gú; "Southern Min" or "Southern Fujian" language) is the Chinese language/dialect spoken in southern Fujian province, China and neighboring areas, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora. Hokkien, Taiwanese, and Teochew are all common names for several prominent variants of Min Nan.

Min Nan (Southern Min) forms part of the Min language group, alongside several other divisions. The Min languages/dialects are part of the Chinese language group, itself a member of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Min Nan is mutually unintelligible with either Eastern Min, Cantonese, or Mandarin.

Min Nan is spoken in the southern part of Fujian province, two southern counties of Zhejiang province, the Zhoushan archipelago off Ningbo in Zhejiang, and the eastern part of Guangdong province (Chaoshan region). The Qiong Wen variant spoken in the Leizhou peninsula of Guangdong province, as well as Hainan province, is classified in some schemes as part of Min Nan and in other schemes as separate. A form of Min Nan akin to that spoken in southern Fujian is also spoken in Taiwan, where it has the native name of Tâi-oân-oē or Hō-ló-oē. The (sub)ethnic group for which Min Nan is considered a native language is known as the Holo (Hō-ló) or Hoklo, one of the main ethnicities of Taiwan. The correspondence between language and ethnicity is generally true though not absolute, as some Hoklo have very limited proficiency in Min Nan while some non-Hoklos speak Min Nan fluently.
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Post by Dana Sheets »

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source:http://usinfo.state.gov/
'Part of Lower Bridge', c 1871.

Photo of 'Part of Lower Bridge', c 1871.

A photograph of a bridge across the River Min in Fuzhou, China, taken by John Thomson, published in 1873 in 'Foochow and the River Min'. Crowds are gathered on this bridge to watch Thomson take the photograph. The city of Fuzhou, also known as Ku-shan or Foochow, dates back to the Chinese T’ang dynasty (618-906). After the Opium War of 1839-1842 China was forced to accept Fuzhou as a treaty port. A European settlement and trading centre was established on Nantai island, joined to the main city by a bridge. By the 1850s it was the main port in China and also the world’s largest tea-exporting centre. Thomson travelled extensively in Fujian province, formerly Fukien, south east China, from late 1870 to early 1871, and was one of the most significant travel photographer-explorers of the 19th century.
I can't make the image link so you'll have to click the link to see it.
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/resu ... e=10435993
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Post by cxt »

Dana

Thanks! :)

A really good read!
Forget #6, you are now serving nonsense.

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Fuzhou

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You're welcome everyone. I'll have to settle down soon and read something scholarly (like Bobby Campbell's book when it comes out) but for now I'm happy trolling from the net and sharing what I find.

wiki:
Fuzhou; Chinese: 福州; pinyin: Fúzhōu; Wade-Giles: Fu-chou; BUC: Hók-ciŭ; EFEO: Fou-Tcheou; also seen as Foochow or Fuchow) is the provincial seat and the largest prefecture-level city of Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is also referred to as Rongcheng 榕城 which means "city of banyon trees."

Banyon Trees:
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http://p2.www.britannica.com/ebc/article-71268
During the Six Dynasties period (AD 220–589) the region remained in the Chinese domain, but true Sinicization did not come about until the T'ang dynasty (618–907), when intermarriage between the T'ang settlers from the north and the local people became common.

After the fall of the T'ang, the territory of Fukien reemerged as the kingdom of Min, with its capital in Fu-chou. In the mid-10th century it was subdivided into the state of Yin, controlling the Min-pei, and the state of Min, controlling southern Fukien from Chang-chou. The province grew rapidly in importance as the economic hinterland of the Nan (Southern) Sung capital, Lin-an (modern Hang-chou). The province became a key supplier of rice to the region following the introduction of a fast-ripening variety called Champa rice from Southeast Asia. It also became the major producer of sugar, fruit, and tea. Because of the importance of trade to the Nan Sung, the province also was important as a shipbuilding and commercial centre for both overseas and coastal trade. The port of Ch'üan-chou, known to Marco Polo as Zaitun, was one of the world's great ports in this period, with more than 100,000 Arab traders living in the area.

The province's decline began with the Ming dynasty ban on maritime commerce in 1433 and was reinforced by the Ch'ing dynasty's policy of isolation, which particularly affected the province in the late 17th century, when Ming dynasty loyalists occupied Taiwan and the islands off Fukien. There was some revival of the economy in the mid-19th century with the opening of Fu-chou and Amoy as treaty port cities, but the modern shipbuilding industry established at Ma-wei by the Ch'ing was destroyed by a French fleet during the Sino-French War of 1883–85.

In the aftermath of the revolution of 1911–12, Fukien was a pawn in local warlord struggles and was divided into political and military fiefdoms.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0819930.html
Fuzhou consists of an old walled city, which lies c.2 mi (3 km) from the river, and a modern riverside town. A bridge crosses to Nantai island, the former foreign settlement and business center. Large vessels dock 15 mi (24 km) downstream to transship their goods. In 1984 it was designated as one of 14 open port cities. The old city of Fuzhou dates from the T'ang dynasty (A.D. 618–906). Marco Polo, who called it Fugiu, visited the city on his return journey. After the Opium War (1839–42) Fuzhou was established as a treaty port. By 1850 it was the principal Chinese port and the world's largest tea-exporting center. Its importance declined when the demand for tea decreased and when harbor silting barred large vessels.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0836734.html
Opium Wars

Opium Wars, 1839–42 and 1856–60, two wars between China and Western countries. The first was between Great Britain and China. Early in the 19th cent., British merchants began smuggling opium into China in order to balance their purchases of tea for export to Britain. In 1839, China enforced its prohibitions on the importation of opium by destroying at Guangzhou (Canton) a large quantity of opium confiscated from British merchants. Great Britain, which had been looking to end China's restrictions on foreign trade, responded by sending gunboats to attack several Chinese coastal cities. China, unable to withstand modern arms, was defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing (1842) and the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (1843). These provided that the ports of Guangzhou, Jinmen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai should be open to British trade and residence; in addition Hong Kong was ceded to the British. Within a few years other Western powers signed similar treaties with China and received commercial and residential privileges, and the Western domination of China's treaty ports began. In 1856 a second war broke out following an allegedly illegal Chinese search of a British-registered ship, the Arrow, in Guangzhou. British and French troops took Guangzhou and Tianjin and compelled the Chinese to accept the treaties of Tianjin (1858), to which France, Russia, and the United States were also party. China agreed to open 11 more ports, permit foreign legations in Beijing, sanction Christian missionary activity, and legalize the import of opium. China's subsequent attempt to block the entry of diplomats into Beijing as well as Britain's determination to enforce the new treaty terms led to a renewal of the war in 1859. This time the British and French occupied Beijing and burned the imperial summer palace (Yuan ming yuan). The Beijing conventions of 1860, by which China was forced to reaffirm the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin and make additional concessions, concluded the hostilities.

See A. Waley, The Opium War through Chinese Eyes (1958, repr. 1968); H.-P. Chang, Commissioner Lin and the Opium War (1964); P. W. Fay, The Opium War, 1840–1842 (1975).
In 1879 the Japanese government annexed the Ryukyuan kingdom to become the prefeture of Okinawa. In 1897, Kanbun Uechi sailed to Fuzhou - an incredibly bustling, cosmopolitan, modern, international port of trade. And he was able to go to the "Ryukyukan"

http://www.karate.org.nz/gojuryu/history
{In} 1372 when King Satto of the Ryukyu Dynasty sent his brother Taiki as an envoy to China with tributes for the Chinese Emperor Chu Yuen Cheang of the Ming Dynasty. It was at this point that a cultural exchange began. In that same year the Ryukyu Dynasty was formally invested by the Chinese Emperor as a tributary state of China. The Emperor in turn sent envoys every other year to Okinawa in order to promote a cultural exchange. This exchange was welcomed by the Okinawans and certain aspects of Chinese culture became integrated into Okinawan culture. (These delegations continued regularly up until 1866).

Among the delegates sent were many masters of Chinese kempo and during their stay at Shuri and Naha, taught their art to members of the nobility and others of their class.

Simultaneously, the Okinawans sent delegations of nobleman to mainland China until 1874. Some of these nobles remained in China while others returned home after extended stays. Eventually a Ryukyuan settlement was formed in the Fukien province known as "ryukyukan".
http://www.womenskaratetour.org
[Kanbun, embarking quietly from Kadena, paid ten yen to join a group of young Okinawans boarding a ship bound west to China...and a new life. Two others who were with him were Tokusaburo Matsuda (1877 - 1931) and Aragaki-Makade Undo. It was a ten day sea voyage. They made landfall on the portion of coastal China just west of the northern tip of Taiwan -- the city of Foochow, in the Fukien province.[24] It was the end of March when he arrived in Foochow. The small band spent the first few months together. They were able to stay at the RyuKyu Kan (Okinawan Fellowship Hall), the permanent Okinawan community established in the 1400's by King Satto. The RyuKyu Kan was a center for common interests and personal contacts around which the migrant Okinawans formed their community. Halls, cemeteries, shrines, and tablets were maintained to provide a social stability for all newcomers. So, it was from here that Kanbun was able to begin his new life in China. [/quote]

By legend and by history he spent some time in the ryukyukan - but soon struck out on his own. Eventually finding an ally, a teacher, and quite possibly a friend.
On November 8, 1911, revolutionaries staged an uprising in Fuzhou
Perhaps the Kanbun who left Okinawa to avoid conscription into the Japanese military left Fuzhou to avoid a possible war.
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Re: Fuzhou

Post by emattson »

Opium Wars

Opium Wars, 1839–42 and 1856–60, two wars between China and Western countries. ...
Opium isn't a simple matter of only Chinese getting addicted to that nasty stuff. At the beginning of the 19th century, opium was widely used by common people in England. It may be used for recreation, getting babies stoned, or medicinal purposes--snake oil medicine. Horticultural societies gave awards for growing the poppy. Opium was popular up through the early 20th century.
Opium and the People: Opiate Use and Drug Control Policy in Nineteenth Century England by Virginia Berridge is a good book on that topic.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1116213/

Laudanum, which contains several opium alkaloids, including morphine and codeine, was consumed as painkiller by renown Victorian authors, including Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot.

By 1888, Benjamin Broomhall formed the “Christian Union for the Severance of the British Empire with the Opium Traffic” and they successfully ended the India-China opium trade by 1910.
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/H ... n-Britain/

In recent years, Afghanistan provided roughly 90 percent of global illicit opium production.
https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR ... market.pdf
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