naihanchi/tekki

[chinto]

Chinto,

You write, "first of all, historicaly Karate was illegal to practice for a very very long time."

Would you qualify what time period you're talking about.

Karate itself arose from private practice in the mid 1800's and by the early 1900's became more open, a part of the practice began to be taught in some schools for phys ed, or in after school group settings.

In the 1930's the Okinawan's were working on new, simpler forms for teaching in a more public setting. The first set of 10 forms (published in Nakasone's Encyclopedia of Karate in 1938) do not appear to have ever been used but those developed at the request of the Special Promotional Committee (the two Fyugata kata) were put to use.

While the ban on martial studies that was ordered in Japan after WWII logically may have included the Okinawan's byt the late 40's Karate practice had resumed and in the 50's in both Okinawa and Japan the occupying military forces began to study the arts too.

Even the 'historical' Okinawan weapons ban has been put into doubt as a mistranslation of the Okinawan king just trying to centralize the weapons of his militia.

Are you referring to the time since Karate came into being, or are you talking about some earlier time and art?

thank you,

I was and am talking about the time of Karate's inception and initial development. especialy the satsuma invasion and fallowing period. as to the late 1800's and early 20th century, you are talking post majii restoration and a lot of things changed drasticaly in japan, and as Okinawa was ocupied by the japanese in the form of the satsuma clan for a long time it also changed there in several respects. Some of them with out doubt good, but meany also for both the Okinawans and Japanese were not.... ( much of the foundation for what would become japanes sociaty and their version of the 'samurai code' of the late 1930's, and its militeristic thought stretching though the end of WWII were founded and set in that period)
there is no doubt that by then there was not the legal bar to the training in karate that had been a factor in the previous periods. But, that secracy and legal ban, that had been historicaly there in the early periods did contribute heavily to the lack of documentation on just about everything to do with early karate.