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| | Documented
evidence of systemized fighting can be traced as far back as 4,000 BC when the
Egyptian military carved hieroglyphics onto the walls of the pyramids depicting
fighting scenes. A systemized form of unarmed combat was used in the early Greek
Olympic Games, where fights often ended in death. China's advanced civilization
also had systemized form of military fighting whilst the rest of the known world
still lived in caves. A Buddhist monk and supposed reincarnation of Buddha, travelled from India to China around 550 AD, settling at a shaolin temple. He was surprised to see how unfit and frail they were so took it upon himself to show them meditation and a form of exercise and breathing techniques. I shall leave the deep history there as you will need to go deeper later on in your progress to black belt, I will say that this way of the Shaolin started all the forms of the martial arts. Wado-Ryu (way of peace school) founder Hironori Ohtsuka 1892-1982 Ohtsuka was brought up doing jujitsu which is still taught in its own rights today this style he was learning was hip throws and leg sweeps with wrist locks (style used by actor Steven Seagal). In 1921 Ohtsuka was awarded his menkyo (license) level of proficiency in jujitsu. |
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 Ginchin Funakoshi sensei Founder Shotokan | In
1922 Ohtsuka heard of a karate demonstration given by -Ginchin Funakoshi in Tokyo
and was determined to see and meet him. Even though he was dedicated to his own
style he was still interested and curious in new styles, they met up and after
several hours of talking about each others styles Funakoshi decided to teach Ohtsuka
his style (Shotokan). Funakoshi back then only taught Kata (pre-arranged basic moves and turns). Ohtsuka soon picked up and mastered these kata's, he did not cease his training in jujitsu and began to incorporate jujitsu into his karate. A few years on after gaining his Shihan (chief instructor) he started to train other people at Tokyo University and his methods started to conflict with Funakoshi's as Ohtsuka now started to teach free sparring and it was not to Funakoshi's liking. Ohtsuka went his own way and started teaching his new found martial art and put more of his jujitsu in to the karate and thus Wado-Ryu was born. There is more to the history of Karate and the Martial Arts than I have gone through and I hope it has made you curious to find out more or even opened your eyes to the styles that are available around the world. | |
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