The Power of Japanese Karate...The Good and the Bad

By Al Case

Karate originated on the island of Okinawa, yet most people think that Japanese Karate is the source of the art. The reason for this is that Japan was better known that Okinawa. Thus, most people just believe that Japan is the heart of the art.

The fact of the matter is that Japan has contributed greatly, but there are a few problems arisen as a result of that great nation's push. Things have happened to Karate that actually hamper a person's search for artistic expression. This article will go into that area of influence.

The person behind moving Karate into the modern world is Gichin Funakoshi. In his writings one sees that he doesn't advise Karate for competition. Unfortunately, this advice was ignored, and Karate became geared for tournaments.

Nothing wrong with testing oneself, but when the game becomes win at any cost, got to get that gold, got to beat the other guy, the art becomes skewed badly. The sport desire to pound down another human being goes against the more artistic desire to control oneself. Thus, Karate ceases to function as Art, and becomes a method for human cockfighting.

The problem originally came about because Funakoshi taught his karate to college students. These students translated the art into their youthful excesses, and put aside the development of character as the prime concern of the art. Thus, tournaments grew popular, students became enthralled with the more brutal sides of the art, and there was even one instance of a student being killed for not wishing to go down this dark path.

Because of this lust for power there was also a degradation of art. To this day a karate point won't be awarded when in kumite unless the student charges in with a front stance. If one analyzes the Chinese arts from which the Japanese came, however, one will see that the front stance is an over commitment, and that the true fighting stance is usually the more balanced back stance.

When fighting from a balanced back stance one can use all weapons and still retain the ability to shuffle to the rear and out of the fray. To be able to stand apart from the action encourages the student to take a more balanced viewpoint to the fact of even engaging in combat. One observation of this author is that when students are trained in the back stance as the major stance of Karate, they become less aggressive and more understanding.

Interestingly, Funakoshi seems to have understood this. He is reported as saying that he didn't even recognize that Karate that was being taught, that it was drastically altered from the martial art which he had brought to Japan. And, on the other hand, his official paraphernalia, the chops and seals and what have you, were not given to Shotokan Karate (his organization) upon his death, but rather were passed on to the rather more gentle style of Karate called Shotokai.

In closing, whether you study one of the more balanced styles of Karate, or whether you have been influenced by the power pushing Japanese styles doesn't matter. What matters is that you do the forms, and you seek for balance. Thus, consider the words of this article, apply them as you can and Japanese Karate can revert to a more true form of Martial Arts.

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