The Karate Budokan International is a martial art institute of international repute, with, members and authorised instructors throughout the world. The organisation maintains a high standard in karate-Do and oriental weapons training among its members, and every effort is made to ensure that the members undergo a rigid test before being promoted to each higher rank.
The overall administration of the Karate Budokan International is under the authority of grandmaster Mr. Richard Chew, with delegation of authority and responsibilities to the International Chief Instructor and examiner of K.B.I. SHIHAN Mr. Wayne MacDonald. KBI Asia is under the control of Asia Chief Instructor Mr. B Parmesh & Dr.Dibendu Nag.(N.D) International Independent Chief Instructor.
The History of Karate-do
No doubt you are aware of the modern history of Karate & it's origins in Okinawa. We have delved a little deeper and discovered an interesting history that dates back to approximately 500AD!
The system of martial arts we know, Karate is believed to have originated from India!
Yes India where the biggest Karate club is now Karate Budokan International.
Tradition has revealed written evidence of bare handed fighting arts in a Buddhist scripture, Lotus Sutra indigenous to India.
It appears that an Indian monk named Bodhidharma introduced an early form of Karate at the shaolin temple in the Hunan province of Northern China in around 520AD. According to legend, Bodhidharma travelled from India and entered into the temple to teach the Shaolin monks Zen philosophy, but early in his instruction he found the monks to be inattentive and physically unfit. As a result, he introduced physical training known as 'shih pa lo han sho' or the 'eighteen hands of Lo-Han', reputed as the basis for Shaolin chuan fa (Kung Fu). from the Hunan province, chuan fa spread throughout China and was introduced to Okinawa centuries later through a tributary relationship between Okinawa and China.
A new name emerged ' Okinawa te' ( Okinawa hand), it would eventually become Karate (Chinese hand) and, finally Karate-do (the way of the empty hand).
There were originally three styles of Okinawa-te, named for the towns where they were located: Shuri-te, Naha-te & Tomari-te.
The most significant event, which affected the development of Karate, was the invasion of Okinawa by Lord Shimazu of the Satsuma clan of southern Japan in 1609. Following the occupation, a number of ordinances were introduced, including a ban on all weapons and the practice of martial arts; this resulted in the three schools going underground. There is no such written history of this era as it remained secretive until Japanese feudalism was abolished in 1870. Kata was formulated prior to the abolishment as a moving dictionary of Okinawa-te, it was intended to appear as a dance form but actually consisted of disguised martial arts techniques that could be passed from generation to generation. Most historians believe that the secrecy remained until after 1900, when the first public demonstrations were given on Okinawa and following mainland Japan.
Gichin Funokoshi, an Okinawan schoolteacher is credited with giving the first demonstration in 1902. Funokoshi was then selected to give the first demonstration of Karate outside of Okinawa, this occurred in 1917 at Kyoto Japan. In 1922 Gichin Funokoshi at the age of 53 was invited back to Japan for a second demonstration, Mr. Funokoshi remained on the mainland following this last demonstration and Karate was formally accepted in mainland Japan. In 1936 Funokoshi established a full time dojo in Tokyo. Mr. Funokoshi had a pen name 'Shoto' which means waving pine. Funokoshi chose this name as he enjoyed the sound of the wind through the pine trees as he took evening walks in Okinawa. As a sign of respect his students named the dojo the Shotokan, meaning 'Shoto's Club'. The style was never actually named by Funokoshi, but the name of the dojo became associated with the style itself.
Gichin Funokoshi believed that the aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in perfection of character. Training involves very little education on philosophy. Students are expected to learn the underlying philosophical principles through hard work and practice, by following the technical directions of the instructors, the examples of the senior students and applying themselves completely to each technique the Karate-ka will understand the technical and philosophical aspects of Karate-do.
So there you have it, from these mysterious times of feudal war the fastest growing Martial art in the world was formed. As you are about to discover Budokan was brought to life during the Second World War in Malaysia.
THE HISTORY OF KARATE BUDOKAN INTERNATIONAL
The following is a brief and interesting story about the founder of Karate
Budokan International and the origins of the style we practice today.
Mr. Chew Choo Soot was born on the 7th of February 1922.
At the age of 15 he became interested in and involved in weight lifting and fitness training. He became the Malaysian national weightlifting champion in 1939, 1940, 1941 and 1942. He was introduced to the art of “Karate-Do” at the age of twenty during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Mr Chew made it on to the cover of a local publication and was contracted by a Japanese military officer to be his personal fitness coach. During one of the scheduled visits the young Mr Chew discovered the officer practicing movements, which we now know to be Kata, the styles practiced by the officer were Keishinkan and Shotokan. Mr chew was impressed and asked for tuition, the officer agreed. The founders of Karate Budokan International were Mr Chew, his sons Tony and Richard and daughter Angie, they studied a number of martial arts including chinese Kung fu, TaeKwonDo, and several styles of Karate-do including Shito-ryu, Shotokan and Keishinkan. Keishinkan is a minor style of the Shuri-te strain & is not widely known even in its country of birth. It comes from the line of Toyoma Sensei and the excellent qualities of its instructors are well known in Australia, Malaysia & elsewhere. With the parting of Keishinkan in 1971 there has been no over riding influences on our style. There was a trend in the mid 1980’s in our Kata development towards the Shotokan style. It must be understood that Karate is an ever-evolving art & KBI is no different in this respect. So from these humble beginnings in a neighbourhood Malaysian Dojo K B I was formed.
Sadly Mr Chew passed away on July 18th, 1997.
Our Grandmaster now is his son and heir Sensei Richard Chew and Shihan Wayne MacDonald is the International Chief instructor & Kyoshi Dr.Dibendu Nag as the International Independent Chief Instructor of The Kuan Bu-Ik Wushu Koon International-KBIWKI
We have now reached the 50th year of Karate Budokan International.
It is time to reflect on our humble beginnings from where our first training centre was opened, occupying a small space on the 1st floor of a shop house in Petaaling Jaya, Malaysia on 17th July 1966.
Our Founder Late Mr. Chew Choo Shoot, was persuaded by his friends to teach them karate so as to enable them to defend themselves in time of need. They found a suitable premise in Petaling Jaya for the purpose, and Mr. Chew Choo Soot felt obligated to start a karate class since his friends had gone to such an extent as to prepare a place for the dojo. The first course offered to the public was a “Karate Jodo Self-Defence” 3-Months Course, which would enable a student to defend himself under normal circumstances.
In two months time the membership grew from twelve enthusiastic students to more than three hundred and it was impossible for Mr. Chew to find sufficient time to train them, although he was assisted by his son Mr. Tony Chew. He then employed from Japan two Japanese instructors Mr. T. Yoneda and Mr. T. Ishikawa of the Shitoryu style from Osaka, to assist him to conduct the classes, as they could not stay in Malaysia for more than a few months the problem of getting replacements was very acute, as the more senior members in Malaysia were still too new to become even assistant instructors. In the meantime membership in the K.B.I. continued to grow by leaps and bounds.
With Mr. Tony Chew and one employed Phillipino instructor to carry on with the classes in Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Chew then went to Tokyo and selected a new group of four Japanese instructors from Japan to build up the strength of the panel of instructors. in 1968 when K.B.I. opened the gates of it’s first headquarters building at the Loke Yew Road, Kuala Lumpur, we were having four Japanese instructors, one Phillipino instructor and two Hong Kong Kung-fu instructors to assist Mr. Chew Choo Soot to handle a membership of more than 6000 in most of the major towns in Peninsular Malaysia. By then Tony Chew had already left for Australia for higher education. Besides Karate, the members, who held the rank of fourth Kyu and above, were also taught oriental Wushu weapons.
The first official headquarters building of K.B.I. at the Lote Yew road, Kuala Lumpur, was declared open on 26th May, 1968 by the honorable Encik Mohd. Khir Jhohiri who was then the minister of Education of Malaysia. We then had a couple of years of rapid progress until November 1970, when the Japanese instructors had completed their term of employment and returned to Tokyo. By then K.B.I. was celebrating its fourth anniversary and many young black belt instructors in Malaysia has been trained by Mr. Chew Choo Soot to take over the classes from the foreign instructors. The young instructors were ready for the challenge ahead. With continuous training from Mr. Chew and other foreign visiting instructors brought in by him from time to time the local instructors improved steadily...! |
When one see the comments about the IOC Session decision to include 5 sports into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as a sports and karate being one of them one realizes that the karate community in the world are an uninformed ignorant lot with very little analytical capacity. As you are all aware karate started as one united structure both in traditional Okinawan karate and today’s sport oriented karate. History tells us very clearly that karate was a synthesis of many martial influences over the decades with the Chinese influence, the Japanene influence and the various South East influences which evolved karate into what it is today. Actually speaking karate was one activity before the name karate was adopted and before that Tode or Chinese hand and previously called Ti, it was the effects of Itosu Sensei the great Okinawan karate genius and his vision to include karate as a physical education activity in the Okinawan school system, that led karate in the direction it has today. Before this karate was a effective form of civil self defense not just against untrained ruffians but also against fighting armies, when the Tokugawa and the Satsuma samurai invaded Okinawa and banned weaponry the Okinawa people went into secrecy and developed this civil empty hand self defense, although karate existed long before this, as they were a people that loved their freedom. After the introduction of karate, by Itosu Sensei into the Okinawan school system and deliberately after extracting the effective self defense application from karate, this set the foundation for karate as we see it today. What we see today which was exported to JAPAN and the rest of the world was “children karate”. Now this not a bad thing as the approached allowed for the survival of karate until today and made it very popular and contributed to its world-wide spread, without this I am afraid karate may have disappeared or it would have been practiced by very few. Take today the watered down styles that teach predominantly ” children karate” tend to have bigger numbers as members, as this karate is simple and straightforward. But those elaborate schools of deep study tend to have fewer students. This is a fact about other BUDO groups as well, kendo has much more members than kenjutsu and so forth and so forth. So we determine that in the evolution of many Japanese styles and especially those in the universities ” senior children karate” the students wanted to develop a competition atmosphere amongst themselves. If one looks at the various Japanese universities one will notice loyalty till they are in their adulthood. This is a matter of pride and it is in this atmosphere that one starts to understand the Sempai/Kohai system, seniors always push and control the juniors to a point of brutality sometimes, in Okinawan it was more a teachers disciple relationship which is very different to what Japan was used too. Japan is known to be a hierarchical society, and many wanted to shown off their group achievements. Besides there is a very serious rivalry between karate organizations and universities. This was the ideal environment for a further dilution of the old Okinawan karate and the exported ” children karate”.
One has to take into consideration kata was always the emphasis of the karate masters and their strategies and tactics of their styles were embedded in kata. Actually every kata is a fighting system on its own. In the old days students a maximum of two to three kata ONLY. Even Itosu emphasized kata in his ” children karate” practice.The only difference was the dangerous application was removed and his emphasis was only on physical education and development, most of the strategy, tactics and self defense technique which we developed to disable or damage the enemy were “hidden” and known by a few or even lost. So it clear that what was exported to Mainland Japan was “children karate” .
So the exported karate was further watered down when sport was introduced to the “children karate” from Okinawa, also as can we established through analyzing morgen sporting rules, a limited number of techniques we deployed into the sports system. Even the sports system was first developed under the “hitatsu ikken” mentality as an emulations as a sword men, that one strike should kill or injure and opponent, the strike we are suppose execute are to be at nerve center or organs without touching but with the intent to destroy, so we say similar to “shadow boxing with a partner” or shadow fighting. Again certain areas were forbidden and speed, distance and timing was the emphasis of this competition approach, there is evidence that this form of karate tried to emulate Kendo, and many of its rules have been taken from Kendo. Then came the introduction of karate into the west, the westerners were not happy with this “ikken hitatsu” mentality and they tried to bring in a more boxing approach but with a stop start methodology, a multiple point system was introduced in the late seventies and evolved into a multiple point system with more kicking and sweeping technique, which is the karate we see today, in the meantime another approach was developing, one where a group in Japan and America wanting more contact and more endurance. Knockdown sport karatewasdeveloped by including Amuam Thai approach and in America the contact karate with protection was introduced. All these started from Okinawan Karate and after Itosu Sensei created “children karate”. United World Karate Federation includes all these in its competition formats and includes all traditional karate kata Sao we are preserving all karate from Okinawa and Japan in one organization and one competition so we are the truly United Karate World Federation. A anyone can participate and develop themselves in all ways available.
So to the point both traditional Okinawan karate and other modern sport karate are essential for karate to survive, traditional karate from Okinawa would not have survived if “children karate” was not created because this allowed group training and mass participation, traditional karate has small dojos and one on one instruction is emphasized to teach the deeper understanding of self defense where as more recent sport is mass based and very simple and more athletic.
I have seem comments that some people only do ” we only do BUDO karate and are not interested in sports karate” but you are actually training and teaching “itosu’s Children karate” with your large group instruction, monthly fees and systemized kata practice and kumite prearranged teaching and calling yourselves authentic and the original BUDO karate. Who are you fooling there is nothing BUDO in your karate and with these comments you are bullshitting the uneducated and ignorant or maybe you are doing this to yourself and who are you trying to hogwash with you words. Only yourself, because you actually don’t know your karate history.
Sport karate and karate to the Olympics is good for all karate and we must embrace this like the BrucE Lee era was also good for the popularity of karate although Bruce Lee was kung fu practitioner, all in all we are either martial arts and martial sport, or just doing martial sport but think we are doing martial arts.
We can try as much as we want today’s society is nothing like the masters of old and one is not trying their skills on the battlefield daily for survival where they are using their skills in life and death situation, but rather teaching many on what they believe many work if the situation arrived. But on the sporting side we have pseudo situation of winning by selective rules without killing or injuring anyone seriously. So really who are you fooling, maybe yourself, because you are ignorant and really are simulating what you learnt and believe this is the truth. The truth is in the kata and its analysis and the proof is its effects which unfortunately if used in its proper form and effect will definitely get you in jail. Think about this before you make comments about sport karate and traditional karate both are important for karate’s current and future development. |
