Karate is a hard thing to define, and indeed different associations have different understandings of what karate means. Historically, the roots of karate are shrouded in uncertainty.
However it is generally accepted that karate in a systematic form originated, or more accurately was condensed from many external influences, in Okinawa, the largest island in the group called the Ryu Kyu Islands which lie to the south of Japan.
Even the word ‘karate’ is not straightforward to define. In Okinawa the art was To-te jutsu. ‘To’ was the character for ‘China’. ‘Te’ mans ‘hand’, and ‘jutsu’ means ‘art’, so originally the expression meant ‘The Art of China hand’, signifying the largely Chinese inheritance. However when Funakoshi brought the art to Japan, it was more acceptable to formalise the training and etiquette under the existing Japanese budo tradition. Thus the word ‘jutsu’ or ‘art’ was replaced by ‘do’, or ‘way’. A strong anti-Chinese feeling predominated in Japan at the time, and so the prefix ‘To’ was also unacceptable. Instead, therefore, the word ‘kara’ was substituted. This character also means ‘China’, but has a stronger meaning of ‘Empty’. The word can therefore mean either ‘China Hand’, signifying that it is in China that karate’s roots can be found; or ‘Empty Hand’
‘Empty HandÂ’ itself is not quite clear in its meaning. The traditional concept has been that the karate-ka has no weapons, and thus his hand is literally empty. However ‘karaÂ’ in the sense of ‘emptyÂ’ is understood to have another slant to its meaning – ‘voidÂ’ or ‘nothingnessÂ’, which gives us the less pragmatic, but more thought-provoking, ‘hand emanating from nothingnessÂ’. This is unlikely to be a coincidence, and points to the spiritual side, and the concepts of mushin, or ‘no mindÂ’ that the practitioner seeks to achieve during meditation, and ultimately during the act of fighting.ÂÂÂÂ
Washinkai is, as one might expect from its title, a traditional association, and its karate is as close as possible to traditional karate, always seeking to maintain traditional values, purposes and methods, whilst maintaining training practises in line with modern safe standards. The definition of traditional karate adopted Washinkai reflects this:
Traditional Karate is the art and science of self defence; improvement of health; and self-improvement through the development of control of the mind and body and improved understanding, achieved through the practice of:
- inherited physical disciplines, in the form of blocks, strikes, punches and kicks, structured into kihon (basic techniques), kata (form) and kumite (fighting);
- and Inherited mental disciplines, in the form of meditation, and performance and approach to the physical disciplines.
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