Karate Grappling ???????????

Charles Goodin Sensei excellent article -

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.seinenkai.com/uehara.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.seinenkai.com/art-sumo.html&h=116&w=170&sz=6&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=PZay3rIqm_GnkM:&tbnh=68&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dokinawan%2Bsumo%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN


It's pretty common knowledge that the classical kata contain methods of not only striking, kicking and blocking - but also methods of locking, strangling, throwing etc etc.

My personal belief is that Okinawan Karate, is a method of life preservation, the actual 'fighting' element of that should and indeed does contain - grappling, otherwise it simply wouldn't work in self defence effectivly for most.

The art when modernised and exported top Japan, generally was done so with large training groups in it's mind, to forge a strong fighting spirit and sport as it's main goal, if you wanted to grapple then Judo and JuJutsu was there already.

But historically several Karate Masters were involved with Okinawan Sumo (the modern tegumi?), heres one such example -

'Dave Lowry has therefore speculated that the contest between Motobu and Yabu was not in karate, but in tegumi, or Ryukyuan sumo (Lowry, 1985, 13). That sounds plausible, especially since Yabu went out of his way to organize tegumi matches during the Okinawan celebrations held near Fresno in July 1921 and August 1922. Says the History of Okinawans in North America (1988, 339): Sergeant Kentsu Yabe was a great fan of sumo. In Okinawa, he had been so enthusiastic that he got involved in every match that came up. His talking of sumo fired up all the younger men, and they decided to hold a big match. Considering the absence of entertainment in the life of the issei [first generation] immigrant, those who participated in the sumo returned home pleased and happy.'

taken from an article written by Joe Svinth, avalaible here in full -http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://ejmas.com/jcs/yabu/Yabu1908.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_0603.htm&h=400&w=300&sz=17&hl=en&start=42&um=1&tbnid=9dEcMgEg11c-lM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtegumi%26start%3D21%26ndsp%3D21%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Over recent years the word 'tegumi' (lit kumite in reverse, interesting?) has become popular in karate 'talk' to describe the grappling element of the art, it is widely believed that the original 'tegumi' art transferred into simple, sport version - Okinawan Sumo, shown here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYoX9280yCU

Okinawan Sumo is an element of Okinawan culture, it has been mentioned by several karate historians and masters (some who were heavily involved in the sport) as an activity alot of young men got involved in,

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_CdEYejPas_8/SFZaghfVJOI/AAAAAAAAApw/022NLyIDMVc/Waiting+to+Wrastle.JPG
I have only been told of 1 'proper' Okinawan Sumo school still active on the islands, im sure theres more of course.

Heres a report of a relativly recent friendly 'Okinawan Sumo' match between American's stationed on the islands and some Okinawan people -

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/public%2520affairs%2520info/Images%2520Complete/HighResImages/060526-sumo3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/public%2520affairs%2520info/Archive%2520News%2520pages/2006/060526-sumo.html&h=900&w=614&sz=568&hl=en&start=12&um=1&tbnid=ZvF_FJ0ATRnI_M:&tbnh=146&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dokinawan%2Bsumo%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

The Okinawan Sumo shown is 'martially' nothing special (no offence to the skill shown), you see this kind of activity in many, many cultures, in fact nearly all if you go back in time - wrestling was just a popular way to test your metal and beat the next village!

Heres a recent TV video on the sport in Okinawa -

http://www.okinawabbtv.com/news/ok_news/movie_page/b04023574_news_makishi_ugan.html

The big question is, did tegumi (now Okinawna Sumo?) become part of old karate practice? Well that is extremely hard to prove I'm afraid, simply not enough 'solid' evidence, but then again trying to prove anything in relation to karate history is somewhat of a challenge.

I first heard the word 'Tegumi' from Patrick McCarthy Sensei, about 10 years ago (I think), he uses the term to describe his excellent 2 - person drills, often involving grappling but not limited to such.

I then discussed this tegumi element of karate with Bill Hayes Sensei, whom assured me that 'old' karate does indeed contain all the elements of grappling needed to look after oneself, it was just rarely taught these days, but it was part of training for application, along with Hojo Undo etc etc.

Of course all of the people I discuss this with see the Tuite (or Chin-na, Grabbing Hand), ie the locks, trips, throws, pressure point work, strangles etc etc Bunkai from the kata.

To apply the strikes, kicks and blocks of karate kumite (drills/sparring) is used, my logic followed that to apply the Tuite elements of karate, something 'live' was needed.

So I took it upon myself, and with the full support of several seniors to allow a Tegumi section to develop within my dojo, it's really nothing special - in fact it's very, very basic, stand up grappling to aid the delivery of the classical kata technique against a 'live' opponent.

I see tegumi as a delivery mechanism, a way of realistic, safe'ish training rather than a set of ancient techniques passed form master to student (the classicla kata do that),

It doesn't and wouldn't compete with any of the grappling specific arts or combat sports as it makes up a small part of karate's strategy for life preservation, which IMO is most certainly striking and mobility led.

But it is important, as in reality grappling happens in real life, perhaps the situation is not serious enough for striking? Perhaps your punch didn't drop them? perhaps your simply calming someone down and want to hold them until assistance comes?

One of the core messages of our tegumi practice is to keep on ones feet, this is learnt by grappling for positional advantage (note Okinawan Sumo is lost by your back touching the ground, and sturdy belts are worn and gripped - ie no positional work of any depth),

Tegumi is a good way to learn the mechanics of pushing, pulling, dropping the weight, lifting the weight and of course twisting. We also get to protect our centre line, watch our heads don't clash and understand what happens when we are grabbed on clothing or indeed flesh..............it's a great practice, and very hard work.

So to those that feel tegumi is an issue, I agree it can't be proved historically, it can't not be proved historically either -we do it anyway!


Happy wrestling!


Jim