The lost form of ancient karate
Here is an interesting one for you, karate grew in a way, that kata is now lost.
Interestingly, it is true. This is the story.
The original rumor is that Karate developed from the Crane style of Kung Fu. That may be true, but if you’ve watched videos like that, you probably just shake your head and blink a bit. The shape of the crane is a kind of trembling quiver, hard to imagine the movements being refined in the block and counter movements of most styles of Karate.
I first saw this form on YouTube, and the reader is invited to do a search, inspect the form (the forms, I should say, because there are many versions), and draw their own conclusion.
So, with this example that was difficult to follow, I decided to do some research, and here is the story I discovered, the story behind the art of Karate.
A couple of hundred years ago on the island of Okinawa, in a gloomy cave located behind an old cemetery, lived a shipwrecked sailor. He was Chinese and his name was Chiang Nan.
Living nearby, in a house, I suppose, was Ankoh Itosu. Mr. Itosu, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the iconic figures in martial arts. He studied with all the masters of the time and is responsible for formulating karate in a modern method.
One day, Chiang plays Mr. Itosu. We don’t know how, maybe Mr. Itosu became friends with the shipwrecked sailor, maybe one of these martial artists went for a walk and saw the other practicing martial arts, and a conversation and friendship struck.
Chiang Nan taught Mr. Itosu a martial art form.
Mr. Itosu worked on the form, the job name was apparently Channan, which could be a translation of the phrase “peaceful mind” or it could be a translation of Chiang Nan’s name. He developed Channan into five separate kata and called them Pinans, which means Mind at Peace.
Later, when these forms were taught in Japan, they were called Heians.
Thus, the five Pinans became the heart and soul, the basis of the art of Karate.
They became the main forms of an art that was the choice of the imperial bodyguards of three different countries: Okinawa, Korea and Japan.
Children all over the world are being taught as you read this.
Countless self-defense techniques, endless exercises, and a philosophy of self-defense are derived from the Pinans.
In these ways a whole Zen belief system has emerged, a philosophy of ‘Zen in motion’.
This, as far as I know, is an accurate representation of the ‘Lost Form’ and how Karate came into being.
