The "True" History of Isshinryu

I quote, “Very inspirational to keeping the true history of Isshinryu.” One must understand that the “true” as in “truth” of the historical aspects of a martial art like Isshinryu is dependent upon the perceptions, cultures and beliefs of the historian. Barring any actual historical documentation, i.e. historical as in documents kept and passed through out the history in question. Not merely word-of-mouth regardless of that mouths connections to any one moment in history.

A persons perceptions are influenced by such things as the education level of that person, their cultural belief systems, the cultural belief system of the society and family in which they are raised, the same with the most influential persons in their lives - parents and then the way that person views the world due to their personal circumstances when filtered through their genetic makeup, the culture in which they grew up, and a personal sense of who they are, who the others in their tribe are and their society as a influential aspect of their perceptions whereby those filters tend to outline the parameters of their thinking and then actions they take. 

All this in conjunction with those of their sensei as to passing down the unspoken and unwritten teachings as they apply to those same “individuals” along with the changes in memory that occur naturally due to each moment of one’s life along with the changes in the environment in which they live, practice and train. 

Add into that the influences of the culture as in this case that of the Asian Japanese/Chinese/Others cultural principles such as the system of “shikata” where all things are given in with how they learn and teach, i.e. where the spoken word is assumed since perceptions under shikata are the actual teachings. Then there is the “harmonious” aspects of the Asian society where contradictions are avoided to allow for continuance of societal harmony that would actually result is disparities in what is passed from mouth to mouth. If it causes ripples in group harmony lies will actually be used to keep the harmony at an acceptable level for all. 

Without the socially accepted documentation without biases of the individual that are kept through out a societies history the actual facts are lost and we are left with assumptions and perceptions of that time, moment and environmental affects, etc. 

So, as to keeping the “true” history we would assume that this is a misnomer not meant to mislead but rather a misguided phrasing that would leave a fledgling student believing in something that may or may not have verifiable factual truth attached. 

In closing, even documented factual historical documents are written by the victors and/or leaders of that society and times therefore exposing them to individual perceptions and beliefs assumed accepted by the whole of its society when that whole tend to follow the few in the name of survival of the tribe therefore survival of the individual. This is especially critical to survival in the Asian social group or tribal inter-connectedness that was created and is based on a concept of “shikata.” 

Shikata [仕方 or 仕形]

The characters/ideograms mean, "way; method; means; resource; course." The first character means, "attend; doing; official; serve," the second character means, "direction; person; alternative." 

The character, romanization word, was found through the original book of reference, the Shin Gi Tai, by Mike Clarke where a reference was made as to karate kata being of greater importance over the system of Te vs. the current belief that kata is a part of Te. Clarke Sensei's reference material led me to the book on Kata or "Shikata." 

In that study material we find references to "kanji." I will try to bring a bit of interest to this by some data that led me to believe that kata drives Japan, and I believe now Okinawan, Karate - shikata.

Shikata is often referred to simply as "kata" for brevity so I will do the same in this and any followup postings. But I want to begin with references to "kanji" to continue this particular post because kanji seems from my studies so far to be the reason for kata. 

Some historical influences to kata begin with Shintoism, the way of the Gods. Then of importance is Buddhism, Confucianism, the ideographic writing system, and other cultural influences from China. All this led to a "highly controlled behavior" model that would express subservience and respect toward superior beings. There are then presented various other factors that led to kata in Japan that should be fully understood so "read the book."

This post tho wants to speak to what the author presented as the "mother of kata." Kanji, what was called by the Japanese as "Chinese Letters."  Korean scribes transcribed Japanese language into Kanji. The writing of kanji involved other principles but in a nutshell it resulted in a particular form of training to lean how to read and write the complicated characters where the strokes to create kanji became kata-ized, i.e. the conjoining strokes were taught is very specific order and there were no deviations allowed. It was referred to as "way of writing" or "Kaki-kata."

The mental concentration and mechanical aspects of writing in kanji required memorization and that is done by repetitive practice over time. It involved thousands of kanji characters which were more of a translation of concepts communicated by sounds vs. simply utilization of what we use, i.e. A, B, C's which also became a very personalized experience with strong mental or psychological aspects. 

The mental concentration was governed by specificity in a kata like manner. The learning process for kanji resulted in a high degree of the sense of group harmony of form and style which imbued a deep sense of aesthetics. An art form or way of writing. It also, much like we profess to achieve in karate kata practice, provided a means to increase a person's patience and to persevere in all they do to an extreme.

The requirement to practice and learn kanji became the "way" to shape Japanese physically, intellectually and emotionally further binding them to the group mentality through this kata of the kanji writing. This became a core aspect along with others to create their group style culture. 

Every person in Japan were now required to follow this kanji-kata to create these characters in a manner that became an art form which is known today as "Sho-Do or Way of the Brush." We call it calligraphy. 

Writing kanji also denoted one as being of great character and worth. Thus was born shikata or kata. It is not much of a stretch even for non-Japanized persons practicing the Asian traditional martial arts to see that this led to the kata within the art from the kata-mization of the art itself. As you read the book on its many subjects which are all governed by their individual kata you begin to get a fundamental understanding beyond our limited view of what we perceived, until now, as karate kata.

I may have it right or maybe wrong but you can begin to see why understanding of the kanji that describe the sounds as some more conceptual meaning could lead to greater understanding of our practice and training.

Bibliography:
DeMente, Boye Lafayette. "Japan's Cultural Code Words: 233 Key Terms That Explain the Attitudes and Behavior of the Japanese." Tuttle. Vermont, Tokyo and Singapore. 2004.
DeMente, Boye Lafayette. "Kata: The Key to Understanding & Dealing with the Japanese." Tuttle Publishing. Tokyo, Vermont and Singapore. 2003

Also: Bibliographies