Credits

I am deeply indebted to M. Shiomitsu Sensei and F. Sugasawa Sensei as a constant source of inspiration. Also a special mention to Nathan Johnson of Zen Shorin Do and to his students, who made me welcome at their Southampton Dojo. Thanks also to Harry Cook for his help on the Motobu research.


Footnotes

[1] "Wado Ryu Karate" Hironori Ohtsuka.

[2] Mark Bishop, "Okinawan Karate, Teachers, Styles and Secret Techniques."

[3] Patrick McCarthy, "Bubishi, the bible of karate".
In the Bubishi the hand drawn images of two-man exercises and fighting strategies are perhaps the most tantalizing aspects of the book. From these it is possible to recognise fighting applications from kata still practised today. These techniques typically carry exotic, even poetic names, probably meant to act as coded phrases known only to the initiated. Who would know that “going to fight with one knife” refers to a move similar to the third move in Pinan Shodan (even though Pinan Shodan was not devised until c.1907. But possibly this technique was extrapolated from an older kata.) Or that “little demons remove their boots and squat down” is the use of Sukui-Uke half way through Kushanku!

[4] See Robert Smith’s translation of an alleged Shaolin text, published as "Secrets of Shaolin Temple Boxing".

[5] "Wado Ryu Karate" Hironori Ohtsuka.

[6] "The Tengu-geijutsu-ron" translated by Reinhard Kammer.

[7] Douglas Wile, "Tai-Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions".

[8] “The Blind Men and the Elephant”. A well-known Indian tale from the Buddhist Canon. The Buddha used this tale in reply to questions by his disciples as to the nature of the world and the human soul espoused by various hermits and teachers. The blind men each explore a part of the Elephant and declare that it is variously, a pot, a ploughshare, a pillar, a winnowing basket, or a brush! The parable is used to illustrate that each person describes reality according to his own prejudices and experiences.

[9] For arguably the best translation of the "I Ching" see the Richard Wilhelm translation, translated into English by Cary F. Baynes, with a foreword by Carl Gustav Jung.

[10] Dragon Times, Vol. 19. "Choki Motobu, Revelations from his son, Chosei". By Charles C. Goodin.

[11] Quotes attributed to Motobu Sensei, courtesy of the Journal of the Shoto Research Society International. Article by Joe Swift, "Wisdom from the Past: Tidbits on Kata Applications from Pre-War Karate Books. Part Three: Motobu Choki." (to quote directly from Joe Swift's article. "In 1978 an essay entitled "Collection of Sayings by Motobu Choki" was published in Japanese. This essay is based upon the oral teachings of Motobu Choki to his students, and was overseen by one direct student of Motobu, namely Marukawa Kenji.")

[12] Information from the Shuri-Ryu website. Mark R. Rowe. Also, "Dissertation on the origins and development of Shuri-Ryu" by Robert A. Trias.

[13] Javier Martinez, "Isshinryu Naihanchi Kata Secrets Revealed" 1999.

[14] In his article “Naifanchi Kata: Surreptitious Stepping”, Dan Smith of the Shorin Ryu Seibukan says:
“Another version for the origin of the Naifanchi kata is that Matsumura brought this kata back from China with him after one of his visits and that it was from a version of the BaGua system of fighting due to the name of surreptitus stepping. Some believe that rather than having the system of walking in a circle the Naifanchi teaches sideways stepping which in turn is just part of a circle. This version I think has a lot of credibility to it”.

[15] Joe Swift in his article, “The Kata of Okinawa Isshinryu Karate Do” quotes his sources for this theory as referred from, “Iwai, 1992; Kinjo, 1991a; Murakami, 1991”.

[16] In his article, “The Kata of Okinawa Isshinryu Karate Do” Joe Swift tells us that one common theory is that it was Itosu who broke the longer original Naihanchi into three parts. (Sources given: Aragaki, 2000, Iwai, 1992.)

[17] Discussion on the Wado E-Group Internet Forum relating to Naihanchi. Quote from Rob Rivers Sensei.

[18] Choki Motobu, "Watashi no Karate-jutsu" translated 2002 by Patrick McCarthy.


Additional Sources
1. "Barefoot Zen" Nathan J. Johnson.
2. "The Tengu-geijutsu-ron" translated by Reinhard Kammer.
3. "Bubishi, the bible of karate" Patrick McCarthy.
4. "Choki Motobu, Okinawa's Fighting Old Master" article in Bugeisha magazine by John Sells, Issue 4, Winter 1997.
5. "Okinawan Kempo" by Choki Motobu.
6. "The Power of the Internal Martial Arts" B. K. Frantzis.
7. “Shimabuku Tatsuo Sensei (1908-1975)” by Henk Goslinga 1999
8. Article by G. Noble, FAI No. 32 (Vol. 6 No.2)
9. "The Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do" Shoshin Nagamine.