When was the term tī started to be used?
During a roundtable discussion with Nagamine Shōshin, Chibana Chōshin explained as follows:
Nagamine: Well, karate existed even before it got handed down from China.
Chibana: About this, according to conversations with my teacher Itosu Ankō sensei (passed away 1916, at the age of 85), originally, in Okinawa there was the so-called ti 手. This also becomes clear from heroic sagas, such as of Oni Ōshiro. It is said that karate 唐手 entered later, when the ti of Chatan Yara and the kenpō of Tōdī Sakugawa merged into one, and became karate.
Taidan (Conversation, part 1). Okinawa Times, 1957.
Nagamine Shoshin (left): Shorinryu Karate-do Shihan, Okinawa Karate Renmei Vice President (age 52).
Since Chibana became a student of Itosu in 1899, he must have heard this story between 1899 and 1916, the year Itosu passed away.
It is also interesting that Chibana mentions the ti of Chatan Yara and the kenpō of Tōdī Sakugawa. This sounds as if the technique of Chatan Yara was considered original Okinawan ti, while that of Sakugawa was considered Chinese kenpō.
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