Nevertheless, the term karate meaning "empty hand" was not used until the early 1900's and was brought about by Japanese and Okinawan "masters" in a meeting in Japan. Previous to that it was "Tang Hand" with a Japanese pronunciation of "karate."
The meaning of the "kenpo karate" kanji has been translated for me by several native speakers. All have said that a literal translation would not make sense; each has identified the "Tang" kanji as a reference to "Chinese." One highly educated young man from china said although the literal translation would be "fist method Chinese hand" he would use the phrase "Chinese Gung Fu."
THe thing is, when doing historical research like this, we have to take many things into account. For instance, this is a trend that's crossed SEVERAL cultures and we are now tracking it backward. So we take our understanding of it and look back to the culture we got it from, but we do so with particularly western eyes and biases. The Okinawan's were the ones that decided to brand their systems as "Kara-te". Originally it was simply called "Te", meaning 'fist'....sort of like saying "Boxing". So if Kara meant "Chinese"...then Kara-te, in it's original derivation would indeed be "Chinese boxing".
Okinawa was (and is) a VERY interesting culture. They had much in common with Japan, even MORE in common with China...with whom they enjoyed open trade and exchange of culture for Centuries! Their language is a strange amalgum between these two.....with a great deal that is particular to the unique demands of living on their rocky little chain of islands and drawing their living from the sea and trade with their neighbors.
The "Classics" were a HUGE influence on education in the Ryukyu Island archipelago......of which "Okinawa" is simply the biggest and most identifiable island. The "Classics" being the Confusian, Buddhist and Daoist doctrines & writings. The ruling class of Okinawa placed GREAT emphasis on a classical education. The time of Okinawa's greatest development and time of peace was during the Tang dynasty, in which the course of cultural cross-pollination from China to Okinawa and relative peace with Japan (who was dealing more with resolving it's own internal Feudal strife and therefore had better things to do that sail down and harras the Ryukyu's, who were being supported by the powerful Tang navy/army) FLOWED. Economically and financially, things were GREAT! The Kings of the Ryukyu islands identified with the Tang dynasty as though it were their own dynasty. So much so that the very term "Tang" was synonymous with "China". See where I'm going with this???? The cultural mix, of course, included Te masters studying Chuan-Fa from Buddist monks that came to preach/serve in the islands and Te masters traveling to study or trade in China. The higher classes in Okinawa would hire tutors and instructors from China, who were often Buddist or Taoist priests.....who took their physical training as another branch of their instruction.
See where I'm taking this?
Okinawa spent CENTURIES revering China, especially from the Tang dynasty. To them the term "Tang" was a direct connotation to what they saw as the best of what they recieved from China. It's thought that during the strife that ended in the downfall of the Tang dynasty that the Ryukyu islands were both a source of back up fighters (mostly mercenary) and a place of refuge for scholars and priests who'd been ardent supporters of the Tang dynasty.
So....it was a natural outgrowth of this that the term "Tang", which in the peculiar dialect of the Okinawan upper-class, was pronounced "Kara"....would be appended to the highest quality martial arts that was one of the cultural vestges of marriage between the Ryukyu and "Tang" traditions. Thus "Karate".
In later years/decades, when SOME of the masters (relatively few really, mostly stemming from Funakoshi sensei and Miyagi Sensei) were seeking to get Karate accepted in mainland Japan, they were advised by the Butokukai, the martial arts governing board of Japan, that the exact kanji for "kara" denoted China and was therefore likely to NOT be well accepted amongst the meijei restoration affected Japanese Nationalist Party, which pretty much called the shots at the time. I believe it was Dr. Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, that suggested to Funakoshi sensei that he change the Kanji for "Tang" to a homonym Kanji, that's still pronounced "Kara", but means 'empty'. Thus we hear today that "Karate is the art of the empty hand". Then Dr. Kano suggested that Funakoshi adopt the suffix "Do" to denote that he too accepted the essence of the Meijei restoration philosophy....just like Ju-do and Ken-do and Kyu-do and Aiki-do already had. SO .... we end up with "Karate-do".
So really, when we look back to try to find roots, we need to realize that things have to be looked at through multiple cultural lenses and that words and ideas have had years to gestate and fold....so that now, we end up with:
Kenpo Karate-do = Chuan-Fa Tang-hand way
Hope I made sense....
Your Brother
John
PS: I've never heard the term "Shou" used in this mix, but then Mr. Rebelo has more experience in the arts than I do. You'd have to ask him about that then.
, and sports, known as juélì or jiaolì (角力
