The history of the United States Black Cat Kenpo Federation is laden with Martial Art nostalgia, American Tradition and, of course, a lot of hard work. No one to date has put in more hours, sweat, blood and heart than our President and founder, Grandmaster Art Beins. He truly took this system of dedicated Martial Arts and transformed it into what is now a nationally-recognized and acclaimed system.
What we have now is the product of evolution. Where we evolved from originally is definitely interesting, because it will show the connection of our style dating back to “Karate Do’s” roots. There are many accounts of how Karate began. I have easily read over a thousand articles, books, magazines etc., and the one name that frequently comes up is a Buddhist Monk named Bodiharma.
Bodiharma lived in a time between 460 A.D. and 560 A.D., history doesn’t state an exact period. He traveled from Southern India to the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, China. While there, it is said he faced a wall and meditated for a period of 9 years. Bodiharma then started to lecture the Shaolin Monks on Buddhism. Because of the intense lectures and pace that this highly-disciplined man was teaching, the Monks could not keep awake, and were falling asleep. In order to make them stronger, Bodiharma began instructing the Shaolin Monks on his method of the I-Chin-Sutra of Yoga. This system evolved into an incredible fighting system called Shaolin Ch’uan-Fa. Ch’uan-Fa also translates to a term we are familiar with, Kenpo. Shaolin Ch’uan-Fa is also said to have evolved into what today is Wushu.
The Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa is where the development of Ch’uan_Fa started to evolve into Karate. It was here that Okinawan fisherman and scholars traveled to China and observed people practicing Ch’uan-Fa. They would then return and practice what they had learned. One such person was Teruya Chikudon Peichin Kanga. He was born approximately 1782 in Shuri’s Kanagusuku district. Shorinji, which is an early form of Karate, evolved out of Shuri. Shorinji translates to Shaolin.
Teruya Chikudon Peichin Kanga was on a vessel that was bound for Fuzhou China. Pirates attacked this ship. Kanga was defending the ship but was thrown overboard along with several pirates. They were recovered by a Fukian naval patrol boat, arrested for piracy, and brought to Beijing for sentencing. Kanga was eventually released, praised for his heroism and allowed to live in Beijing. It was here that he studied Ch’uan Fa.
Kanga returned to Okinawa and continued his training with a Chinese Martial Artist named Kwang Shang Fu. Fu was better known by the name, Kusanku. Kusanku is widely regarded as having a tremendous impact on the cultivation of Karate Do. Kanga became such an expert in Ch’uan-Fa that he had been given the name, To-te Sakugawa. To-te, or Todo, translates to China Hand, (later on this character was changed to “Empty Hand”).
To-te Sakugawa’s most famous student was a man named Bushi Mastumra Sokon. He was born in 1809 in Shuri’s Yamakawa village. He trained under Sakugawa for approximately 4 years. He reportedly went to China and trained at the Shaolin Temple. Matsumura was a scholar, like Sakugawa, and a teacher. He was recognized as creating the “Dojo” system of teaching, as opposed to tutoring individual students. He was also known for having written the “Matsumura Makimono” in 1882, which is the oldest document known relating to Karate Do. This was his dissertation on “Karate” and the “Bushi” or code that is a part of this training. These scrolls still exist today in Shuri’s Torihori-cho. A very important part of his Makimono is a section called “The Seven Virtues of Bu”, which ties in the honor code of a warrior.
Bushi Mastumra Sokon is credited for being one of the original practitioners of Naihanchi. He learned it from a Chinese practitioner in Tomari. One of the first and oldest references to “Naihanchi” is in a book written by Motubu Choki, a student of Bushi Mastumra Sokon. Naihanchi is believed to be one Kata, broken into three parts, Naihanchi Chodan, Naihanchi Nidan and Naihanchi Sandan.
Part II will continue with the early Okinawan Masters, Japan, Korea and the connection to our present style, United States Black Cat Kenpo Karate.
