Monthly Archives: February 2018

The Genealogy of Hanashiro Chōmo 花城長茂 (1869–1945)

One of the few karate people that can be found in the official genealogies of the Ryūkyū Kingdom era is Hanashiro Chōmo 花城長茂 (1869–1945). He belonged to the House Kameya 亀谷家, which was a branch family of the Min-clan 明氏. … Continue reading

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The Invention of Karate

The last and probably most important book by Kinjō Hiroshi (2011) has the clear tenor of an “Invention of Karate”. Yes, I just said that. It is about as follows: In 1904, Itosu Ankō (1831–1915), commissioned by and under the … Continue reading

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Shimazu Iehisa presented military weaponry to Ryukyuan leader

For more than a century a prohibition of firearms and cut and thrust weapons by the Shimazu House has been considered one major trigger for the development of empty handed martial arts in Okinawa. While this theory has been refuted … Continue reading

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On a Third Alleged Itosu Photo

Recently, I wrote about a first and a second photo allegedly showing a man considered to be Itosu Ankō (1831–1915), the father of modern Karate. Some weeks ago my colleague Thomas Feldmann of Hoploblog dug out another photo which we … Continue reading

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Kata Videos of OKINAWA KARATE INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

The Youtube channel fo the OKINAWA KARATE INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT 2018 just added a large amount of kata. To be exact, there are 86 kata of the “Shuri-te & Tomari-te Lineage”, 40 kata of the “Naha-te Lineage”, 28 kata of bōjutsu, and 17 kata … Continue reading

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