Genuine Okinawan Karate was developed as a fighting tool.
Non-Okinawan Karate are for other purposes.
Karate practitioners, scholars, and everyone caring about Asian martial
arts and its culture will enthusiastically appreciate this eye-opening
work.
Dr. Bayer substantiates further how the art Karate was used to prepare a
nation (Japan) for total war, how it was deliberately industrialized
into a worldwide Japanized Karate-Do inflation, and how its following
transformation into athletic showmanship destroyed the art's unity and
distinctiveness.
The author endorses Karate-Jutsu as a genuine Okinawan martial art even
as foreign knowledge and skills from India (speculated) and from China
(proven) were integrated― and he explains the imitative social mechanism
used to turn this local fighting art into a symbol of national identity.
Since martial arts were initially understood as a moral code-neutral
tool, like a weapon, this happens to contradict the modern
understanding of Karate being a peaceful art with inherent non-violent
values. In truth, moral codes or guidelines on how to use this tool
were developed separately, not within the art.
A new "back to the roots" Karate-Jutsu movement gains importance and
establishes a counterculture to Karate-Do's industrialization, helping
to integrate some neglected reminiscences of Karate-Jutsu back into
Karate-Do. Such a development brings Japanized Karate-Do versions closer
to their martial origins, whereas pure Karate-Jutsu will be preserved as
a point of reference by a group of dedicated curators.
Contents include:
- Okinawa is the birthplace of Karate-Jutsu and Japan is the birthplace
of Bu-Jutsu.
- How Karate and Budo were used for Japan's war preparations.
- Senpai seniority was the social mechanism to integrate Karate into
Japan's martial arts tradition.
- Consequences of an ancient fighting art being turned into athletic
showmanship.
- In Sports-Karate there is no more Kata in Kumite, and there is no more
Kumite in Kata either.
- The modern misconception of avoiding a fight by all means.
- The path toward mastery in Karate.
- Sensei correct your errors and blunders, you have to correct mistakes
yourself.
- Today's Karate-Jutsu movement is the counterculture to Karate-Do's
industrialization.
- Karate's market structure in the 21st century.
