Chapter 5: Okinawa

Question 1

Japanese students of Buddhism studying in Chinese monasteries were undoubtedly exposed to the Shaolin techniques of the monk _____, and it is reported that many of the more adventurous of these, after completing their training, set sail _____ in order to spread the teachings to the known world.

Answer 1

Bodhidharma

eastward

Question 2

By the _____ century, China had officially recognized Japan as an independent political entity. At various times official diplomatic and cultural missions comprised of _____ priests, soldiers, and statesmen passed between the Chinese mainland and Japan.

Answer 2

seventh

Japanese

Question 3

There is a widely held hypothesis that ch’uan fa entered the Ryukyus via China’s _____ district during the sixth-and seventh-century reign of China’s _____ dynasty.

Answer 3

Foochow

Sui

Question 4

Possibly the strongest support for the claim that karate is an innate part of Okinawan culture is based on some of the Ryukyu islanders’ classical _____.

Answer 4

dances

Question 5

In year _____ official Chinese-Okinawan relations were instituted when Okinawa’s King Satto expressed his _____ to the Ming emperor of China. In the following centuries ch’uan fa found its way into the Ryukyus.

Answer 5

1372

allegiance

Question 6

This ancient Okinawan style of combat was termed _____.

Answer 6

tode

Question 7

Among the Orientalists who have studied Okinawan military history and martial art development, there is a general agreement that ch’uan fa is only _____ responsible for the birth of present-day Okinawan karate.

Answer 7

partly

Question 8

In Okinawa, since little recorded data has been found on the history of karate, we look to the oral traditions that cite the beginning of the _____ century as the period when a karate-like art began to be practiced generally.

Answer 8

fourteenth

Question 9

This karate-like art was greatly stimulated by the mission of Chinese officials and their entourage, sent to Okinawa by Emperor Hung Wu in year _____.

Answer 9

1372

Question 10

During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) a permanent Okinawan _____ began to develop on Chinese soil at the Chinese _____ of Ch’uan-chou.

Answer 10

settlement

capital

Question 11

The year _____ saw a sudden spurt in the migration of Chinese people to Okinawa. This was the result of an imperial gift from China in the form of a large body of skilled artisans and merchants.

Answer 11

1393

Question 12

This group of Chinese, which soon had formed into its own community, has long been referred to as the “_____ Families.” In this case the term refers to a much larger number; i.e., to Okinawa’s Chinese community as a whole.

Answer 12

Thirty-six

Question 13

Oral tradition states that these “Thirty-six Families” were largely responsible for the spread of _____ ___ throughout the _____ Islands.

Answer 13

ch’uan fa

Ryukyu

Question 14

During the 16th and 17th centuries Okinawa’s two large towns, _____ and _____, became famous as centers of an increasingly profitable traffic in luxury goods.

Answer 14

Shuri

Naha

Question 15

It is a virtual certainty that in this time of trade activity (16th and 17th centuries) Okinawans gained _____, if not all, of their insight into the Southeast Asian forms of unarmed combat.

Answer 15

most

Question 16

The great _____ clan in southern Kyushu (Japan) made a military expedition in Okinawa in _____ which ended Okinawan independence and made way for complete control over all the Ryukyus.

Answer 16

Satsuma

1609

Question 17

A number of prohibitive ordinances proclaimed by Iehisa Shimazu included a ban on all _____.

Answer 17

weapons

Question 18

The various Okinawan ch’uan fa groups and tode societies had a series of secret conferences that resulted in their banding together in year _____ as a united front against the Satsuma clan.

Answer 18

1629

Question 19

The result was that a new fighting style developed from this combination of tode and ch’uan fa, which was simply called ___, or literally, “_____.”

Answer 19

te

hand

Question 20

Te might be described as the intermediate stage between tode-ch’uan fa and _____.

Answer 20

karate

Question 21

During these early years of development, te practice was shrouded in utmost _____ due to the iron-clad Satsuma edict that was designed to eradicate every trace of the Okinawan martial arts.

Answer 21

secrecy

Question 22

The three leading te schools—located in _____, _____, and _____—went “underground” to avoid detection by the Satsuma samurai.

Answer 22

Shuri
Naha
Tomari

Question 23

In year _____ Satsuma’s “unofficial” occupation of Okinawa ended and the Ryukyu Islands became officially a part of the Japanese Empire.

Answer 23

1875

Question 24

Those applying for their admission to a karate school were generally called upon to take rather severe vows of _____ and allegiance. This was done so that they would realize the importance of preventing at all cost the secrets they were about to learn from leaking into a rival camp.

Answer 24

silence

Question 25

Since there are virtually no written references to the native art of the Ryukyus (tode), the scant information that we have on it is based on _____ traditions.

Answer 25

oral

Question 26

Tode is considered by some to be _____ to Okinawa because ch’uan fa uses mainly kaishu which refers to _____-handed techniques, while tode employs the use of the _____ technique called taiso.

Answer 26

indigenous
open
fist

Question 27

However, there seems to be a general agreement among contemporary karate authorities that _____ ___ did play an important part in the development of tode.

Answer 27

ch’uan fa

Question 28

Modern karate is said to be a combination of closed-fist techniques from _____, finger-thrusting (nukite) techniques from _____, open-handed forms from _____, and kicking techniques from _____ _____.

Answer 28

Okinawa
Taiwan
China
Southeast Asia

Question 29

After 1903 karate became more or less standardized in various styles or “_____,” some of which are: Goju-ryu, Shorin-ryu, Shotokan, Shito-ryu, Shindo Jinen-ryu, Wado-ryu, Kushinryu, and Kanyu.

Answer 29

ryu

Question 30

In _____ karate was officially brought into Japan by _____ _____ when he demonstrated the art at the great Japanese martial arts headquarters in Kyoto called the _____.

Answer 30

1915
Gichin Funakoshi
Butokuden

Question 31

The theory that these travelers brought a karate-like art to Okinawa is plausible, as members of the Japanese _____ class or _____ generally escorted these missions.

Answer 31

warrior

samurai