Kenwa Mabuni
The Founder of Shotokan?
By D. Chambers
Everyone knows the
founder of Shotokan karate is Gichen Funakoshi (1868-1957) but Kenwa
Mabuni (1893-1952) is often not given credit for the many contributions
he made to modern karate and the Shotokan style. In fact, Mabuni sensei
brought many of Okinawa's unique kata to Japan that were later added to
the Shotokan system. There is no question that he made a substantial
contribution to the Shotokan style.
Karate Comes to Japan
In 1917, Gichin
Funakoshi traveled to Kyoto, Japan and demonstrated the art of Okinawan
Karate at the Butokuden for the Dai Nippon Butokukai, The Greater Japan
Martial Virtues Association. This was the first time karate had been
demonstrated in Japan. This was done in order to stimulate interest in
the art in mainland Japan. In 1922, he made a second trip, this time to
Tokyo, at the request of Japanese officials and formally introduced
karate to the Japanese mainland. Therefore, he is credited as being the
father of Japanese karate.
Karate was not accepted
at first in Japan. Funakoshi Sensei and others spent a decade promoting
the art before it became popular. Perhaps this initial resistance was
due the fact that a plebeian art such as karate was perceived to be less
effective than the martial arts of the samurai, i.e. jujitsu and
kenjutsu. Realize too that in Japan, Okinawa was thought of as
the “country” and Okinawan farmers and fishermen were thought of as
little more than hillbillies. However, eventually karate caught on at
various Japanese universities and began to spread all over Japan and
karate grew in popularity. Eventually, Funakoshi sensei’s group became
known as the Shotokan style of karate and the Japan Karate Association
(JKA) was formed.
Funakoshi began learning
karate as a boy from Master Yasutsune Azato (1827-1915) one of Okinawa’s
leading karate masters at the time. Azato had been a student of the
great Bushi or warrior Matsumura of whom many legends are told in
Okinawa. Azato encouraged Funakoshi to study under other karate masters
and learn all he could. On Azato’s introduction Funakoshi trained with
Anko Itosu (1830-1915) and others of the Shuri-Te style and Kanryo
Higashionna of the Naha-Te style.
Funakoshi originally
brought fifteen kata to Japan with him. In addition to his kata
syllabus, he formalized techniques and nomenclature and added a
spiritual essence to the art. However, Funakoshi would send his senior
instructors to Mabuni sensei and he would teach them kata that were not
included in Funakoshi's syllabus. These kata were rohai (meikyo),
wankan, chinte, unsu, sochin, nijushiho
(niseishi), gojushiho, jiin and bassai sho. They would
then take these kata and Shotokanize them!
Mabuni began training in
karate as a young boy in Okinawa. He was the seventeenth generation
descendant of the famous Okinawan samurai family named Onigusikuni.
Mabuni was very proud of his samurai heritage. He began studying Shuri-Te
at age thirteen from Itosu. He first learned the naihanchi kata
from Itosu. Itosu was over seventy years old at the time. Mabuni was
weak as a boy but Itosu encouraged him to keep training. Mabuni trained
very hard and learned "twenty three swift fists" or kata from Itosu.
Mabuni ultimately became very adept at karate. An interesting story
handed down is that when Itosu died; Mabuni was so grief stricken that
he stayed by Itosu's grave for one year. He practiced the kata that
Itosu had taught him every day at the gravesite. Mabuni did this to show
his devotion to his master.
Mabuni also studied
kempo from a Chinese man named Gokenki who was living in Okinawa.
Gokenki was a tea merchant from Fukien Province, China. Mabuni learned a
form of Shaolin white crane (hakutsuru) from Gokenki. This form
is preserved in the Shito ryu style today and is known as hakucho.
Gokenki also taught Mabuni the kata nipai (nipaipo)
and paipuren. Mabuni then studied Naha-Te with Kanryo
Higashionna and Arakaki Seisho. He perfected the sanchin kata
under Higashionna and Arakaki taught him unshu, sochin,
and niseishi kata. All these kata were eventually brought into
the Shotokan system as taught by Mabuni. Mabuni later combined the
teachings of Itosu and Higashionna and called his system of karate Shito
Ryu. Around this time it was thought that it was necessary to name each
style in order to differentiate one master's teachings from another's.
The word Shito is a combination of two characters. The first character (shi)
represents ito from Itosu's name and the second character (to)
represents higa from Higashionna's name. He spent a great deal of
time studying and teaching in Okinawa before he came to Japan. Mabuni
taught the Okinawan police departments.
Initially, Mabuni made
several trips to Japan from Okinawa. Then he spent about a year in the
Tokyo area. At this time he taught the senior members of Funakoshi's
group including Nakayama and Obata the advanced Shito Ryu forms. This
was during 1927 and 1928. He also taught Yasuhiro Konishi and helped him
establish his style known as Ryobukai. Then in 1929, Mabuni moved to
Osaka and began teaching at various universities and police departments.
He taught at Kansai University, Doshisha University and Kansai Gakuin
University. He established a dojo in Osaka called the Japan Karatedo Kai
that attracted a large following in that area of Japan.
When Funakoshi
introduced karate to mainland Japan in 1922 he taught the following kata:
pinan 1-5, naihanchi 1-3, passai, wanshu,
chinto, seisan, jutte, jion, and kusanku.
These kata became the basis of Shotokan and Japanese karate. Later, the
following kata were added to the Shotokan system: rohai (meikyo),
wankan, chinte, unsu, sochin, nijushiho
and gojushiho, jiin and bassai sho. Although in the literature of
the Shotokan system they never say where these kata came from! In 1927
and 1928 Mabuni taught these kata to the senior members of the Shotokan
group [it wasn't called Shotokan until 1936] in Tokyo when Funakoshi,
Konishi and Mabuni were training altogether and sharing ideas. Around
this time there was an impetus to organize an All Japan generic style of
karate under one organizational banner. Kanken Toyama who had organized
the All Japan Karate Do Federation fostered this. However, the
establishment and formalization of this group failed. Typically, as is
often the case with Japanese karate organizations, each group went their
separate ways deciding that they would each maintain their own unique
stylistic and organizational integrity, no doubt motivated by an elitist
attitude within their respective groups.
Mabuni's kata repertoire
of his Shito Ryu style combined Shuri-Te, Tomari-Te and Naha-Te lineage
kata into a set that used kata from all three sources. Mabuni taught an
amazing number of kata. All in all there were over sixty kata in his
seito or orthodox Shito Ryu style. Some authorities say this is too
many kata and is more than necessary to be an accomplished fighter and
teacher of a combative martial discipline. However, Mabuni saw himself
as a preserver of these forms. He was certainly one of the most prolific
kata practitioners of all time. He gave a glimpse of his kata system in
his book that he published in the 1930s. However, Funakoshi on the other
hand felt that only fifteen kata were enough to provide an overall
training methodology and were a sufficient number to comprise as a
complete training regime. This is exemplified by Funakoshi's book
Karate Do Kyohan that contained the orthodox kata of the
system that included only fifteen as opposed to sixty plus kata in
Mabuni's system. Although, Funakoshi along with his son Gigo (Yoshitaka)
were to make their own changes to karate. They lengthened the stances,
added the sidekick, and made changes in certain kata movements.
Funakoshi changed the names of the kata. He modified the original kata
of the Okinawan art to adapt it to the Japanese culture. One way he did
this was by changing the older Okinawan names of the kata to names with
a clearer meaning to the Japanese. He also changed the meaning of karate
from Chinese hand to empty hand in 1936. The change served to
disassociate the art from its Chinese origins and influence. Japan was
at war with China by 1937 and this change was politically necessary.
Although Funakoshi and
Mabuni had some of the same teachers, Mabuni also had teachers that
Funakoshi did not. They were different ages and studied under the same
masters but because of age differences they studied at different times.
This accounts for the difference in knowledge level of kata and
bunkai. Some critics of Shotokan say the level of understanding of
bunkai or practical application in the Shotokan style was
lacking. In other words, they had no deep or advanced understanding of
the practical techniques and meaning of the kata movements beyond a
cursory level.
Some authorities say
Mabuni moved to Osaka in 1929 out of respect for Funakoshi. Since the
affiliation of Funakoshi's and Mabuni's karate groups [and others]
didn't work under the auspices of the All Japan Karate Do Federation. In
addition, some members of Funakoshi's group ostracized Mabuni. However,
Funakoshi himself never showed any disrespect or ill will towards Mabuni.
Ultimately, Mabuni was not given the recognition he deserved as a
substantial contributor to the development of the Shotokan system of
karate. Certainly the literature of the JKA (S) does not mention him.
Although not the founder of Shotokan karate as the title of this article
intimates, he was the founder of the highly technical and comprehensive
style of Shito Ryu Karate. Finally, Mabuni sensei was a conduit and
preserver of many of Okinawa's unique karate kata that today form the
basis of Shotokan's advanced repertoire of kata.
Mr. D. Chambers is an Englishman, martial artist and freelance writer. He can be contacted in Los Angeles, California at (310) 248-3633.