"A BODY IN MOTION STAY'S IN MOTION, A BODY AT REST STAY'S AT REST"
"A BODY IN MOTION STAY'S IN MOTION, A BODY AT REST STAY'S AT REST"
karate development in Okinawa can be broken into rather well defined periods. There was a form of weaponless martial art between A.D. 580-906, which corresponds to the Sui and T'ang periods in China; however, the information concerning these eras is scanty and lacking in definitive resource material. From 906 to 1300 there is little information regarding any form of fighting styles. Between 1300 and 1570, which roughly corresponds to the Ming dynasty in China, we find oral traditions concerning ch'uan fa and tode activity in Okinawa. During the secretive years (1609 to 1903), we find little information of karate activity, although this was the period of the greatest karate development. After 1903, karate became more or less standardized in various styles or "ryu," some of which are: Goju-ryu, Shorin-ryu, Shotokan-ryu, Nihon Kempo-ryu, Shindo Jinen-ryu, Wado-ryu, Kushin-ryu, and Kan-ryu.M. In 1915 karate was brought into Japan by Gichin Funa-koshi when he demonstrated the art at the great Japanese martial arts headquarters in Kyoto called the Butoku-den.41 During the years following 1915 a number of other famous Okinawan karate masters journeyed to Japan to teach their art, thus formally informing the world abroad that it, too, was deserving of being added to the list of progenitors of an effective and well-developed system of weaponless hand-to-hand combat.