Читать книгу Empty Hand. The Essence of Budo Karate онлайн

50 страница из 56

The beginners in the Itosu ryū always start their studies with the kata of the Shuri-te. “Borrowing power from the earth” is one of the exercises of the traditional Okinawa-te, which is the kernel of the Shuri-te. All Shuri-te kata include the principle of the “falling tree”. Whether this principle is integrated into present-day karate is a point I would like to write about later in the context of the development of karate into a kind of competitive sport.

The Naha-te is said to originate from a village called Kume41. It was founded by Chinese who came to the Ryūkyū islands from the Fukien province in 1393. This was the time of the Ming empire. Many of their offspring were active in the China trade. From their home province they had brought along kempō knowledge that they obviously passed on to the Kume nobility. What they taught was probably not pure Chinese kempō but a style rather influenced by the Shuri-te and adapted to the conditions of the Ryūkyū islands.