As a youth in India, Bodhidharma had learned the vajramushti fighting system. In order to strengthen the monks at Shaolin, he began teaching them this combat form. Soon the monks became known as the most formidable fighters in all of China. Supposedly, the system of physical exercise developed by him was the basis of the well-known Shaolin ch'uan-fa system, with succeeding masters adding to and improving upon original techniques until the more modern schools developed. (As mentioned previously, fighting forms existed in China before the introduction of Buddhism there. Thus, some Chinese martial arts exist which cannot trace their origins— historically or by legend—to Bodhidharma or the Shaolin temple.)6
The exercises that Bodhidharma taught his monks are said to have been written down in the Hsien-Sui Ching and I-Chin Ching. The former book has been lost, but the I-Chin Ching has supposedly been passed down through the ages. Some feel that none of the current versions is authentic; perhaps many of these texts were designed to perpetuate the myths about the monk. In spite of all the legends about him, however, it is generally accepted that he was in China sometime around A.D. 520 and did spread the Dhyana school of Buddhism there.
Chinese martial arts became increasingly popular during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). However, with the rise to power of the Manchu, a Mongoloid people, many of the practitioners were forced to flee southward. They joined secret societies in order to help fight against the Manchu rulers and restore Chinese sovereignty. Opposition to the Manchu led to an increase in the number of boxing schools and secret Chinese societies, thus helping spread the arts throughout the country. Since the societies were instituted for the purposes of combat, it became necessary for the pugilists to become masters of Chinese weapons—the broad sword, the hooking sword, the plum-blossom sword, and the halberd—as well.
The customs of the boxers were not unlike those of the medieval Japanese fencing schools. The town boxing master taught selected students in private training sessions. Many students, in order to improve their proficiency, toured the country challenging these resident teachers. If the challenger lost, he would likely remain with his new master to study. If he won, the boxing teacher might be chased out of town and lose his school. The rules of combat specified that the challenger could decide whether weapons were to be used and, if so, what they would be. Therefore, a teacher had to be proficient with as many weapons as possible in order to protect his own interests. If the challenger was an unknown, the master might let him fight his senior students. This gave him time to observe the new opponent's technique and plan his strategy. If the students were defeated, the master would have to accept the challenge.
The proliferation of the boxing schools is obvious: there are over forty well-known systems extant in China today.7 In the People's Republic of China, the general classification of martial arts, ch'uan-fa, has been changed to wushu, literally, "military arts." (Incidentally, the term common in the West for these arts, "kung-fu," is from a Cantonese word meaning "to be skillful at something"; it should not be applied to Chinese fighting systems, since its meaning is so general.) National contests are held in China, the arts being as popular as ever, particularly in light of the government's emphasis on physical fitness and the individual soldier. The warming of relations between the United States and China in the 1970s has made it possible for groups of Chinese martial artists to tour the United States and give demonstrations of their art.
No student of the martial arts today questions the idea that present-day karate systems were influenced by the Chinese, even though the possibility of some earlier Indian influence does exist. As one more point of historical background, the two main systems of Chinese martial arts, the exoteric, or hard, schools and the esoteric, or soft, schools are mentioned here. The exoteric schools, in which Shaolin ch'uan-fa is grouped, are generally considered to emphasize the building of strength in technique, speed, and agility in linear, angular movements—in short, the development of primarily physical techniques. The esoteric schools have tended to emphasize the building of strength in technique coupled with exercises that develop the mental concentration which allow the practitioner greater control over his body. Although one of the schools might be predominant according to location in China, most of present-day Japanese-Okinawan karate is oriented toward the exoteric systems.
OKINAWAN KARATE
Although native fighting systems existed in Okinawa and were known simply as te (lit., hand), there is general agreement among martial arts historians that there was significant Chinese influence that generated modifications to the art. When that influence began is debatable, with some writers asserting that it may have taken place as early as the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-906).8 Others claim that the first elements of a systematized fighting form were brought from China to Okinawa during the reign of Okinawan King Sho En (r. 1470-76),9 but it is probable that the transmission began between these two extremes.
In 1372, King Satto of Okinawa established a tributary relationship with the Ming emperor in China. As a result, many Okinawans left their homes to reside in China as part of the Okinawan mission, and many Chinese went to Okinawa with the Chinese delegation. These Okinawans brought back elements of Chinese fighting arts and combined them with the existing system of Okinawan unarmed combat, producing tode (lit., Tang hands), a new, more organized system of self-defense. To that time, the Okinawan te had been characterized by the use of the clenched fist. However, the Chinese influence that produced the new art of tode saw the introduction of more varied techniques. One influence, from Taiwan, was the use of the spearhand (nukite); another, the open-hand (kaishu) techniques borrowed from Chinese ch'uan-fa. Kicking techniques in the Okinawan arts were largely the result of influences from southern Chinese systems. Most authorities agree that later karate developed as a result of influences from ch'uan-fa and tode.
In 1393 a group of Chinese craftsmen and administrators were sent to Okinawa by Emperor Hung Wu to show support for the regime of King Satto and to demonstrate to the Okinawans the superiority of Chinese administrative and shipbuilding methods. The settlement that they founded near Naha became known as the "thirty-six families," a term used at that time to designate a large group of people. Okinawan legends credit the members of this group with the spread of ch'uan-fa. Meitoku Yagi, current master of the Goju-ryu school, traces his ancestry to a Chinese ch'uan-fa master who was a member of one of those families.
Okinawa was unified under King Sho Hashi in 1429. Sea trade was encouraged, leading to the development of two great ports, Shuri and Naha. In succeeding years, Okinawans gained fairly extensive knowledge of Southeast Asian forms of combat as a result of their trade in that part of the world. Later, under King Sho Shin (r. 1477-1526), the first prohibition of weapons took place.
In 1609 the Satsuma clan of southern Kyushu, Japan, led by Shimazu Ie-hisa, took control of Okinawa. Shimazu instituted firm control over the populace, placing many restrictions on the natives, including a continuing ban on weapons. All arms found were confiscated and the owners severely punished. The Okinawans were resentful and conflicts arose between them and their Japanese rulers, resulting in the practice of weaponless fighting in earnest. In addition, the severe pressure placed on the Okinawans by the Japanese forced the diverse schools to cooperate with each other, which led to an improvement in technique. Thus, the imported ch'uan-fa was able to further influence the native forms of the martial arts. The art that arose as a result of this unification was referred to simply as te, a return to the original terminology of the region.
Since the new art had to be learned in secret, little was written about it. In time, the term was prefixed by the name of the town in which it was practiced. Subsequently, three major schools developed: Shuri-te, Tomari-te, and Naha-te. Shuri-te, an exoteric system, emphasized speed and combined techniques with rational (practical) movements. Naha-te combined the Chinese hard and soft techniques, using rational, dynamic movements and emphasizing breathing, flexibility, and strength. Tomari-te has been described as containing elements of both Naha-te and Shuri-te systems, with added stress on speed and agility. A twentieth-century karate master, Gichin Funa-koshi,
