part0021

Historical note: China is referred to by many names, including Zhong Guo ( 中國) , meaning Center Country, Zhong Hua ( 中華 ) , meaning Center Beauty, Cathay, or by the dynasties, Han or Tang. The use of Tang dynasty (618 AD – 907 AD) has no relations to the timeline of when karate originated. An appropriate timeline for karate development would have been around the Ming dynasty (1368 AD – 1644 AD) or Qing dynasty (1644 AD – 1912 AD). But neither Ming nor Qing was used to refer to China as the significance of using the name Tang was influenced by Southern Chinese. Tang, the period considered as, “The Golden Age of China” where prosperity and many achievements were made, became synonymous with China. Okinawa, with close proximity to Southern China, adopted the use of the name Tang in reference to China.

Kara-te is also known by the name To-de, with the Japanese synonym for Tang or kara being To. To-de is also pronounced as To-di or To-ti. The “kara” kanji for Tang was changed sometime during the early 20th century to the Japanese homonym “kara” for “empty” to reflect the philosophical ideals of the martial art. Many karate historical books document that Funakoshi Gichin changed the “kara” from “China” to “empty.” Then there are other accounts that Hanashiro Chomo, one of Itosu “Ankoh” Yasutsune’s senior students, originally coined the “empty” character long before Funakoshi. Itosu is credited with having taught many of the notable Okinawan karate masters, including Hanashiro and Funakoshi. Who initiated the change first may not be known for certain, but the importance is the profound meaning behind “kara” for empty.

The second character in kara-te, “te ” is literally translated as hand. Combined with the first character “kara” for empty, the meaning of “empty hand” is sometimes misunderstood to mean no weapon is used in training or the implication of keeping one’s hand open. The fact that many modern karate-do training does not integrate the use of weapons, especially within the Shotokan style, is not the reason for the meaning of empty hand. In fact, Funakoshi practiced with many of the kobudo ( 古武道 ) weapons, such as the bo, sai, and tonfa, but his teaching of karate-do did not include any of these weapons. This misinterpretation of no-weapon may stem from the literal interpretation of “te ” as hand. “Te ” (sometimes pronounced “ti ” in Okinawa) is an abbreviation of “bushi no te ( 武士の手 ) ,” meaning “warrior’s hand,” implying martial art being practiced by warriors. Depending on the region or area within Okinawa, there are different versions of “bushi no te ( 武士の手 ) ” being practiced based on learning from different Chinese Chuan Fa (拳法 ) masters. To differentiate between the different versions of “bushi no te ( 武士の手 ) ,” they were simply referred to by the area name followed by “te ,” e.g. Shuri-te, Naha-te, and Tomari-te, named after the towns of Shuri, Naha, and Tomari, respectively. With collaboration in training amongst the regions, bushi no te ( 武士の手 ) was further simplified and referred to simply as “te .” Thus, the use of “te ” becomes synonymous with practicing martial art. Karate became the naming convention for “martial arts using emptiness.”

Te reference to martial arts is similar in a way to kung fu ( 功夫 ) . When the word kung fu ( 功夫 ) is mentioned, it is immediately associated with martial arts. In actuality, the word itself has no reference to martial arts per se, – kung fu ( 功夫 ) simply means skill or accomplished ability through hard work. In the context of normal speech in the Chinese language, someone could compliment another person’s skill in other endeavor, such as cooking, by saying, “Your cooking is kung fu ( 功夫 ) .”

The meaning of emptiness has multitude of implication for the karate-ka. The primary reference of empty is clearing of the mind or having an open mind. At the onset of training, the student must approach each class session with “kara” in mind. Like a sponge ready to absorb all, the student must be ready to receive all that is being taught in the dojo without any pre-conceived ideas. Traditionally karate-do students would never ask questions of the instructor during class session, which instills upon them to just “do it” and keep the mind void of any fore-thought. Culturally this is feasible in Japan, but the Western culture is one of curiosity, and inquisitiveness is impressed upon them. In general, inquisitiveness should not be faulted on any culture since this only prompts the student and instructor to seek answers as they progress through the advance stages of training. But when curiosity becomes a display of hubris behavior is when the student possesses a non-empty mind. The following Zen parable illustrates the importance of learning to “empty your mind” before attempting to learn from someone.

Keeping an open mind is often challenging for those who already possess knowledge from either different sensei’s teaching or another system. As one accumulates knowledge from a particular style, one must refrain from being biased towards only one method or system. As in the story of the three blind men attempting to describe an elephant (Chapter on Beauty of the Art), if the elephant is only perceived from one vantage point, all the other beauty of the elephant will never be understood. No matter how knowledgeable a person becomes, there is always something to be learned by keeping the cup at least half empty. While it is difficult to keep one’s cup completely empty as one becomes ingrained into a particular style or system, “kara” is about expanding the half empty cup, whereby, through experience one can retain what is useful and shed what is unnecessary. Wisdom can only be achieved by keeping an open mind.

In combat, this mental state of “kara” is typically expressed in Japanese budo ( 武道 ) as, “mu-shin ( 無心 ) ,” meaning “nothing-mind,” or “no-mind.” “Mu-shin ( 無心 ) ” is the shorten version of the Zen expression, “mu-shin no shin ( 無心の心 ) ,” meaning, “mind without mind.” It is not a state of a blank mind, resembling a state of bewilderment, but a mind that is not pre-occupied with any preconceived thoughts of how to respond to an attack, as an example. Response time is crucial, of course, in any kumite and self-defense situations. But the type of response in combat requires voluntary muscles to respond in the same manner as the involuntary muscles. Involuntary muscle response occurs without any delay in the brain, as information processing occurs instantaneously and relies heavily on instinct. If a foreign object comes towards the eyes, the eye lids instinctively close without hesitation or thought process. Voluntary muscle response requires brain processing of information that slows down reaction time. By the time the information is received, processed, and response is formulated, the attack has already landed. Even in a pre-arranged sparring scenario (typical in karate-do training known as one-step sparring), where the attack and target are already dictated to the partner, the actions are mentally processed even by veteran students. This form of training is continuously conducted so as the student advances, the response flows with the opponent’s action, and without forethought the block and counterattacks are performed with “no-mind.” Advancing towards free-sparring, karate-ka then learns how to become one with the opponent instead of thinking about or anticipating the opponent’s actions. Continuous training enables the martial artist to develop such muscle memory, improve reaction time, increase awareness, and eventually reach the mental state of “mu-shin ( 無心 ) .”

This state of “mu-shin ( 無心 ) ” is also to be experienced while performing kata to allow the execution of the movements to become flawless and fluid, instead of thinking through each action. Kata is commonly referred to as form, which in of itself is emptiness and emptiness becomes form. For many karate-ka, kata training is merely form practice to either perfect techniques or learn application of the movements. While these elements of kata are important, majority of karate-ka rarely perform kata with “no-mind.” With the ebb and flow of quick, strong, and slow parts to a kata, the karate-ka’s mind can easily become occupied with how slow or fast or strong to make the next action. Without a physical opponent present while performing the kata, achieving the state of “mu-shin ( 無心 ) ” becomes even more challenging than training in kumite. The necessity to obtain this level is demonstrating the mastery of one’s physical skills while maintaining mental calmness – moving Zen.

Kara is also about understanding how to maintain emptiness in the heart – untainted like a new- born baby. Human traits such as envy, hatred, ego, etc. brings out the negative side of one’s character. As the wearing of a white do-gi ( 道着 ) reminds the practitioner the representation of symbolic white for purity. This is not to suggest wearing black or any other color do-gi ( 道着 ) by other systems of karate does not constitute being pure of heart. Certainly, each system has their own reasons for wearing different color do-gi( 道着 ) , but for traditional karate-do practitioners, there is only white for that reason. But more important than the attire is the training in karate-do to maintain purity of heart. Sparring in the dojo requires intensity with heighten emotion which demands control of the physical actions. Any thought of anger or frustration can become a detriment not only to the partner but also to oneself. Defeat is certain for those who fight in anger.

Purity of the heart also means not becoming arrogant. As karate engenders confidence in the student, and with increased ability, the practitioner can easily become a braggadocio, if the purity of heart is not kept. Confidence is a good quality to obtain in any endeavor. But over confidence can potentially lead to arrogance, which can have negative results, as in underestimating an opponent. There are many instances in sports where an underdog team is overlooked by the superior opponent and the outcome is defeat for the superiorly skilled team. While over confidence and arrogance may seem to mean the same, an overconfident person is able to overcome challenges with optimism, as opposed to an arrogant person who tends to display immaturity and hostility. An arrogant person seeks approval of their accomplishments, which in most cases is disdained by the other. “Kara” for the purity of the heart is to remind the karate-ka to refrain from becoming arrogant.

Part of the responsibility of the sensei and sempai is to instill upon the kohai the importance of “kara,” for purity of heart. Unfortunately, some contemporary karate-do instructors are not exactly paragon for demonstrating the profound meaning of “kara.” The vitriolic behavior of some senior karate-do instructors has caused organizations to split. It would seem karate-do has lost the art of “kara” with such behaviors. Dissention amongst the high ranks is not just within the modern era of karate-do, although the preponderance of such behavior seems more prevalent today than in the past. Even within Funakoshi’s Shotokan system, a split occurred resulting in two different factions: Shotokai and Japan Karate Association (JKA) Shotokan. Since then, numerous organizations have been formed, only to be subdivided yet again, and again. Seemingly the consequence of forming a large organization is to have dissention within the ranks. But this is truly against the ideal of understanding “kara” for training unselfishly, egoless, and pure of heart. How and why such behavior occurs is beyond the scope of this book. The intent here is to merely point out that even high ranking karate-ka are fallible to human frailty. The sincerest practice of “kara” should be within each individual karate-ka, such that organizations becomes a means for aligning the continual education and training towards proper understanding of karate-do.

The continual divide of organizations only serves testimonial to the difficulty in applying “kara” off the dojo floor and in daily life. Arguments between two people are usually because of two opposing viewpoints. Typically, there are no winners in an argument, only a compromise is reached after one side capitulates, with both sides mostly remaining disgruntled. If one side had applied the idea of “kara” and remained a good listener, a compromise could have been reached after listening and processing the information. But the challenge is refraining from expressing one’s own viewpoint without first understanding the opposing view. Certainly, both sides could have valid good and bad points, but to impose only one side and unwilling to be open-minded creates further discontent.

The simple change of one character from Tang to empty redefined the meaning of karate to something more than just a method of self-defense. But if the implication of the profound meaning for “kara” is not practiced, the art will be lost among the proponents that only interpret karate as “empty hand” fighting. The ideal of understanding “kara” takes time to nurture into the minds of the practitioner. The physical element is easier to achieve than the shaping of an individual’s behavior. The sincere practice of karate-do is to achieve emptiness of heart and mind.