Karate Kicks

[isshinryuronin]

How does Shinto-Buddhism operate compared to Honshu etc? Do they share the Amaterasu legends as well? I would assume not, being that Amaterasu was closely linked to the proto-Heian imperial family to consolidate control over other provinces, and at that time Ryukyu was likely a kingdom with a different Shinto pantheon?

EDIT:
Apparently animistic Shintoism, but different kami, and more focused on ancestor worship. Very interesting.

Ryukyuan religion - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Ancestor worship was the major spiritual belief system on Okinawa, along with a simple kind of Shintoism where all natural things were respected. Buddhism was not popular, but a form of Chinese Confucianism was part of their culture. Female "priestesses" (Noro) from the aristocratic class organized various rituals and festivals for the community. Another female group (non-aristocratic) the Yuta, were fortunetellers and spiritual healers and involved in superstitious folklore. Numerology and dream interpretation was popular as well in the culture. Isshinryu founder T. Shimabuku was such a fortune teller known as Shimuchi. Spirituality and philosophical introspection was not a big part of their laid-back lifestyle. Seems like a simple world for them - farming, trading, family, low stress, just being a part of nature. I like it.

 

[Haruhiko]

Ancestor worship was the major spiritual belief system on Okinawa, along with a simple kind of Shintoism where all natural things were respected. Buddhism was not popular, but a form of Chinese Confucianism was part of their culture. Female "priestesses" (Noro) from the aristocratic class organized various rituals and festivals for the community. Another female group (non-aristocratic) the Yuta, were fortunetellers and spiritual healers and involved in superstitious folklore. Numerology and dream interpretation was popular as well in the culture. Isshinryu founder T. Shimabuku was such a fortune teller known as Shimuchi. Spirituality and philosophical introspection was not a big part of their laid-back lifestyle. Seems like a simple world for them - farming, trading, family, low stress, just being a part of nature. I like it.

I like it too. I like that any significant feature in nature is a kami in Shintoism. Even insignificant, like pebbles.

I remember walking with my Japanese friend's son to his cafe on the way home from school, and he picked up a rock in the park that he liked.
When we arrived at the cafe he showed his father, who calmly bent down, clasped his son's hands, and explained to him that the rock didn't belong with or to him, and it should be returned to its home.

We walked back to where we found it, and he placed it back, clapped twice, bowed, then clapped once more.

It was a beautiful respect of nature and the "way things are naturally" that I hadn't seen before.

 

[Sammy Naur]

Takeda wasn't a person, it was a clan.

Yes and no.

It was an assumed name held by many people.

Takeda is a location, the clan ruled that area for more than 600 years, and there are about at least a dozen generations of samurai with the name Takeda until the clan's decline in the 16th century.

 

[Sammy Naur]

I believe those are all Japanese and not Okinawan arts. Japan did not officially annex Okinawa until after 1868 and the pre-1868 martial traditions of Japan and Okinawa were pretty different.

I don't know that I would call Aikido exactly ancient. It was developed by Ueshiba in the 1920s-1930s. It is primarily based on Daito Ryu, which goes back to the late 19th century. (The headmaster, Takeda, claimed a much older lineage for the art. But since there are no historical records of Daito Ryu prior to Takeda, it seems probable that he created it or "restored" it based on older arts.)

I'm not aware of any evidence that the techniques which went into Daito Ryu or Aikido were ever used by castle guards to disarm intruders. The question of what exactly the original context for those techniques might be is much debated.

Ugh, I really don't want to upset anyone but I do believe this whole trope about "castle guards" is a made up thing. I've heard this from Muay Thai boxers, kung fu people, Filipino martial artists, Korean MA enthusiasists...I think it's a lot of hot air.

Castle guards throughout history were armed with weapons. They wouldn't ever have needed to rely on arts like Aikido. The pointy end goes into the other man, as they say. A guard isn't throwing an enemy, they're bleeding them.

But you'll often find this theme in many martial arts legends, from Thailand to China to Russia. Always some elite hand to hand, secret BS. It just doesn't make sense or stand up to scrutiny. Japanese samurai literally carried swords around with them at all times. Non samurai carried pikes, spears, and later on, firearms.

I do think it's true that grappling arts have been part of military training for thousands of years, the historical record supports that no matter what ancient culture you look at, from Egypt to Greece to China and of course Japanese jujutsu (largely a dead set of arts other than Judo nowadays)

But Aikido is a 20th century invention, largely based on Judo (minus the jacket), which is based on historical Japanese arts for sure. And Aikido is still lacking a viable competition format for the most part, leaving it somewhat in the dust compared to BJJ and judo. We've discussed this before, and I have nothing but respect for a Aikido, but it's usefulness as a practical martial art? Not convinced, personally.

 

[Haruhiko]

I'm not aware of any evidence that the techniques which went into Daito Ryu or Aikido were ever used by castle guards to disarm intruders.

If Daitō-ryu is the progenitor of aikido, then it can claim ancestry with the Minamoto clan, but I'm not sure to what extent this was embellished by Ueshiba.

They wouldn't ever have needed to rely on arts like Aikido. The pointy end goes into the other man, as they say. A guard isn't throwing an enemy, they're bleeding them.

The theory is that it's entirely defensive, to disarm an intruder. Some kata end with hands splayed, mimicking the drawing of a wakizashi or tanto to finally apprehended an assailant with the weapon drawn.

The Takeda clan uses the characters for "warrior-field", suggesting that the place may have been named to refer to the place where the clan or its retainers were assigned. Which came before which, I'm uncertain.