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Karate
Introduction
The origin of Karate dates back to
the fifth century BC in India with a Buddhist monk (Daruma) who
traveled to different places and reached Shaolin, a temple in China. There he
taught many exercises for self-defense and to strengthen the mind and body and
this gave birth to Shaolin style of boxing which was known as Karate. This Monk
is called Boddhidharma in India and Ta Mo in China This sport was developed in
the Ryuku islands in Japan, now called Okinawa and it was developed under the
Chinese martial arts. The teachings derived through Boddhidharma turned out to
be the source for many martial arts. Karate which took birth as one of its
results is mainly punching, striking through elbow, kicks and knee strikes. The
one who does these stunts is called karateka.
In the beginning, the martial art
karate was done through closed fist fights and was called “te” meaning “hand”
in Okinawa. However, later with the coming of different martial arts which came
through nobles and other merchants many changes were seen in Karate. Karate,
the word that we use today means “empty hand”.
The growth of the martial art :”te”
was practiced in secret and only a few villages like Shuri, Naha and Tomari are
credited with it as it became a unique style of that area. Karate became very famous and through of one
of the famous students of Matsumura (studies in Shaolin temple), Itosu, Ankoh (Yosutsune) karate was for the first
time introduced in the Okinawa school system in 1903. Prior to this, this sport
was practiced secretly at homes and sometimes at the home of masters who can
teach it.
The major point taught strictly by
Itosu in Karate was to put the body under the control of the mind before making
any other movement. This was the greatest contribution to the art of karate in
the history; this movement was also called “Kata”. Itosu stated that the breath
can be controlled and the body can be at rest and mind in a stable condition
and concentration is possible when a person practices kata. Even aggression and
anger can be challenged through kata. He believed that through karate the
character can be improved and it is a way to have security.
He is also given the credit of
developing Chanan kata which is today known as Heian Kata.
Karate was introduced in Japan with
Gichin Funakosh; who was the founder of karate Shotoken which was very famous
on the islands of Japan. Funakoshi was also the student of Itosu. Japanese did
not have at that time the practice of “te” hence they developed Judo which is
another martial art. However during a visit to Okinawa, the Japanese crown
prince had a glimpse of the art and extended an invitation to demonstrate
karate in Japan. Master Funakoshi was chosen and he came to Japan to teach it
and remained there forever.
Karate was further developed by the
Japanese; all weapons were banned in the kingdom except Japanese samurai.
People were pushed to learn the martial art in secret and hence kata became
very famous. Kata was the skill which could be practiced individually without
the help of others. However, kata resembled the traditional Japanese dance and
if people were found practicing kata they had a good reason to state it is the
folkdance. Hence, kata was passed from one generation to another.
Development and growth
Karate became famous very soon and
in Tokyo in 1950, the first Japan Karate Championship was held. There were the
first rules for this game in history and the numbers of divisions were
restricted to four. Both were men’s individual and men’s group. There grew 40
branches of JKA in schools, colleges and different towns in Japan. There was a
chief instructor appointed and the crown prince of Japan attended the
tournament to get it noticed worldwide.
The game got popularity over the
years and more divisions came up like youth division, high school division, women’s
division and university division. JKA expanded not only in Japan but started to
send its well-known instructors to foreign countries like America, Middle-East
and Europe.
Karate entered the Olympics in 1975
in an international tournament and was sponsored by JKA and the International
Amateur Karate Federation world cup had taken place in the United States.
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Karate and belts
Dr. Jigoro Kano who was the founder
of Judo in Japan originated the belt system. He designed this to know the
progress of the students and he awarded the first black belt in 1880. Not to
forget, Dr.Kano was the best friend and the contemporary of Gichin Funakoshi.
From 1900 till the 1970’s karate
spread all over the world, it entered countries like Canada, Korea, the United
States, Europe and other countries.
Belts were dyed from white to
different colors and each color has got a meaning.
White belt indicates the beginning
sign where a person has no knowledge in the field like a seed under the snow.
Yellow indicates the sunlight shining on the seed giving some knowledge of this
sport to the learner, opening him to the knowledge of karate.
Orange belt represents the warmth
of the sun and makes the body of the learner to develop while green belts gives
the learner the strength and represents the seed coming out on the ground. Blue
belt talks about the students’ additional information and the plant growing
towards the blue sky. Purple belt demonstrates the change in the student level
to an advanced one and the sky changing to purple color. Brown belt for the
seed getting ripened and ready for harvest where the student gets matured and
the red belt shows the student getting detail knowledge in this art plant
growing towards the red heat of the sun. Finally black comes with the knowledge
of darkness which is over the sun and making sure the learner attained the
highest level of knowledge in the art.
Even in the west, karate spread
quickly through culture; it was described through fiction plays and gained
popularity in theater. Movies were made on karate in parts, animated shows were
developed for kids and this martial art became very famous.
Well-known people in this martial
art are Bruce lee, B.J. Penn who is a black belt owner and Bill Wallace are
some of the names famous in the history of karate. They have initiated many
stunts and won many belts. Different steps were performed by them and Bruce Lee
who is well-known around the globe marks a history in karate.
Many eyes were waiting to watch the
22 world senior championship for karate which was held in Bremen, Germany. This
event took place on 9th of November, 2014 and 107 nations competed
in this championship around 1000 athletes participated from 16 countries.
Germany had a team of 22 athletes
and some of the famous players who had won earlier were also included like
Jonathan Horne. There were winners for different stunts from different
countries and this tournament was attended by thousands of people within and
outside Germany.
conclusion
Finally, to conclude, karate
started in a simple way, was practiced secretly in the early years and later
became a choice of thousands of hearts. In recent years it turned out to be a
famous sport for many and attracted thousands of viewers towards it.
Reference
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Community
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The
History of Karate: Okinawan Goju-Ryu Paperback – May, 1998. (n.d.). Retrieved
December 12, 2014, from http://www.amazon.com/The-History-Karate-Okinawan-Goju-Ryu/dp/0946062366
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Free
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Karate
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World
Martial Arts Center. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://www.wmacenter.com/index.cfm?page=17
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Karate
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