# Chinese hand



## Aubrey J West (Dec 19, 2020)

karate was developed by funokoshi during the japanese invasion it was told to get rid of Chinese hand do you think this made karate better ?


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## jobo (Dec 19, 2020)

Aubrey J West said:


> karate was developed by funokoshi during the japanese invasion it was told to get rid of Chinese hand do you think this made karate better ?


what made it better,? changing the name, probebly not


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## Aubrey J West (Dec 19, 2020)

My theory is that the empty hand they later developed it runs from Chinese hand


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## Tony Dismukes (Dec 19, 2020)

You seem to be a bit confused on the history here ...


Funokoshi did not develop Karate. He helped popularize it by bringing it from Okinawa to Japan and adapting a version of it to Japanese sensibilities.
Karate was developed in Okinawa largely over an extended period when the kingdom, while nominally sovereign, answered to both China and Japan (technically a tributary state to the Ming dynasty while also being a vassal to the Tokugawa shogunate). While Japan did eventually officially annex Okinawa, karate wasn’t specifically developed during that annexation or during the earlier invasion which led to the vassal status.
The change from “China hand” to “empty hand” was not a change in the actual techniques or teaching of the art. It was just a change in the characters used to write the word “karate” in kanji. This was done for political reasons during a time of rising Japanese nationalism.


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## hoshin1600 (Dec 20, 2020)

i would add to Tony's concise post that karate evolves over time and within mainland Japan karate developed its own flavor unique from Okinawa which was of course unique from Chinese fighting styles.

Aubrey if your post is meaning to suggest that karate had its beginnings and evolved from Chinese arts, that would be correct but that is pretty common knowledge. the truth is always more nuanced and complex but yeah as a broad bush yes. Do some reading there is lots to find, Google is your friend.
Good luck


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