Читать книгу Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters онлайн

16 страница из 66

Tales such as these are, at best, difficult to believe and cast doubt on the art. Moreover, the storytellers are themselves usually old men who either briefly learned karate in their youth, or never learned it at all! Having observed an impressive demonstration a long time ago, the feats tend to gain something each time the story is told. Long-winded old men often recount stories as if they had actually happened. This, unfortunately, has resulted in listeners misunderstanding the true value of karate-do. With this in mind, I believe that my first book has prompted many people, both at home and abroad, to petition me to describe the actual historical events, personalities, and abilities of Okinawa’s old bujin.

From 1969 to 1983 I travelled four times to Canada, the United States, Argentina, and Uruguay to teach and lecture on karate-do, its history, philosophy, and application. By doing so, I was able to strengthen Matsubayashi-ryu karate-do and expand the World Matsubayashi-ryu (Shorin-ryu) Karate-Do Association. Cradled in our tiny island, haphazardly enhanced by Chinese chuan fa, and then further cultivated before being introduced, and reinterpreted again, on the mainland of Japan, karate-do has enjoyed a fascinating evolution. In spite of the modern karate movement which started a mere half-century ago, karate-do has now found its way to the four corners of the world. When compared with Japan’s other cultural combative disciplines, karate-do has achieved a world-wide popularity which kendo, judo, or ever sumo has yet to realize. In all honesty, even having been a part of the pioneering process, I can hardly believe the magnitude by which karate-do has grown.