Читать книгу Complete Shotokan Karate. History, Philosophy, and Practice онлайн

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According to legend, there existed in India a system of unarmed hand-and-foot fighting prior to 1000 B.C. Scant evidence substantiates its existence. It is known, however, that a warrior caste, the Kshatriya, dominated India before the advent of Buddhism and was in control until the rise of the Brahman caste. The Kshatriya were said to have practiced a bare-handed martial art known as vajramushti, a fighting technique that used the clenched fist as a weapon. There are numerous statues dating to the first century B.C. which depict temple guardians in poses similar to those used in fighting arts practiced later. It is these statues and the slight knowledge of the vajramushti which gives rise to the belief that karate may have originated in India. There is the possiblity, however, that the native Indian art may have been influenced by the Greeks. The conquests of Alexander the Great, who reached India in 327 B.C., may have led to the assimilation by the inhabitants of the Near East of certain fighting methods practiced in Greece.