I have become obsessed - actually hyperfixated - with the kata Jitte recently. It is the first Shotokan kata I learned and is quite honestly my favorite due to its simplicity.
For those unaware, there is a prevailing assumption within Karate that the kata we practice originated from Chinese Kung Fu. So naturally, whenever I obsess over a kata, I go full-on nerd and try to trace its origins as best I can through researching all versions of the kata, the founders of each style that practices the kata, connecting the name of the kata to the names of Kung Fu forms, and so on. Over the years, I have done this with several other kata and came to some hypotheses about their origins:
-Seisan = an Okinawan version of the White Crane form Shi San Tai Bao.
-Nipaipo = an Okinawan version of the White Crane form Er Shi Ba.
-Niseishi = an adaptation of the techniques found in the Bajiquan form Xiao Jia.
-Suparinpei = a compilation of techniques from Varma Kalai, an ancient Indian art whose philosophy lies in the 108 pressure points of the body.
-Useishi = a compilation of techniques from the Southern Mantis form Kai San.
-Sepai = a loose adaptation of the Luohan Quan form Shi Ba Shou.
-Unshu = a kata very loosely inspired by the Yun Shu technique of Tai Chi.
I might make a full kata history thread at some point, but for now, back to Jitte.
A few things need to be considered whenever tracing a kata's history. The most important of these is that kata undergo drastic changes over time. A kata from 200 years ago will not look like the one today, and each lineage will have its own mutation of the original. Not only that, but not all katas are copied directly from Kung Fu forms; in most cases, it seems that individual techniques were extracted from the original Kung Fu form or style and rearranged into an original Okinawan kata some hundred or so years ago. Therefore, we must assume that there is usually no "original Chinese version" of any given kata.
With that being said, I have discovered an interesting form known as Sap Ji, which apparently translates to "ten." For those who don't know, the kata Jitte translates to "ten hands."
Across all versions of this form, a few things stand out:
-An closed-fist salutation similar to Jitte.
-An opening sequence involving open-hand hand positions similar to Jitte.
-Plenty of single and double palm strikes.
-Dual-arm closed-fist blocks (in one version it looks identical to the one in Jitte).
In addition to the visual side of things, it is a historical possibility for a Chinese Kung Fu practitioner in the late 1800s to have traveled to Okinawa and taught this form to the locals. The region in which this form comes from (Southern China) brings further light to this hypothesis.
Could Sap Ji be the origin of the kata Jitte? Any other kata history nerds out there? I can't be the only one.
For those unaware, there is a prevailing assumption within Karate that the kata we practice originated from Chinese Kung Fu. So naturally, whenever I obsess over a kata, I go full-on nerd and try to trace its origins as best I can through researching all versions of the kata, the founders of each style that practices the kata, connecting the name of the kata to the names of Kung Fu forms, and so on. Over the years, I have done this with several other kata and came to some hypotheses about their origins:
-Seisan = an Okinawan version of the White Crane form Shi San Tai Bao.
-Nipaipo = an Okinawan version of the White Crane form Er Shi Ba.
-Niseishi = an adaptation of the techniques found in the Bajiquan form Xiao Jia.
-Suparinpei = a compilation of techniques from Varma Kalai, an ancient Indian art whose philosophy lies in the 108 pressure points of the body.
-Useishi = a compilation of techniques from the Southern Mantis form Kai San.
-Sepai = a loose adaptation of the Luohan Quan form Shi Ba Shou.
-Unshu = a kata very loosely inspired by the Yun Shu technique of Tai Chi.
I might make a full kata history thread at some point, but for now, back to Jitte.
A few things need to be considered whenever tracing a kata's history. The most important of these is that kata undergo drastic changes over time. A kata from 200 years ago will not look like the one today, and each lineage will have its own mutation of the original. Not only that, but not all katas are copied directly from Kung Fu forms; in most cases, it seems that individual techniques were extracted from the original Kung Fu form or style and rearranged into an original Okinawan kata some hundred or so years ago. Therefore, we must assume that there is usually no "original Chinese version" of any given kata.
With that being said, I have discovered an interesting form known as Sap Ji, which apparently translates to "ten." For those who don't know, the kata Jitte translates to "ten hands."
Across all versions of this form, a few things stand out:
-An closed-fist salutation similar to Jitte.
-An opening sequence involving open-hand hand positions similar to Jitte.
-Plenty of single and double palm strikes.
-Dual-arm closed-fist blocks (in one version it looks identical to the one in Jitte).
In addition to the visual side of things, it is a historical possibility for a Chinese Kung Fu practitioner in the late 1800s to have traveled to Okinawa and taught this form to the locals. The region in which this form comes from (Southern China) brings further light to this hypothesis.
Could Sap Ji be the origin of the kata Jitte? Any other kata history nerds out there? I can't be the only one.
