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Naha-te
(那覇手) is a pre-World War II term for a type of martial art indigenous to the
area around Naha, the old commercial city of the Ryukyu Kingdom and now the
capital city of the island of Okinawa.
Naha-te was primarily based on the Fujian White Crane systems of Southern
China, which trickled into Okinawa in the early 19th century through
Kumemura (Kuninda), the Chinese suburb of Naha, and continued developing and
evolving until being finally formalized by Higaonna Kanryo in the
1880s.According to legend Kanryo Higaonna sailed to Fuzhou in China.An
illiterate man,he found employment as a house servant to a wealthy
martial-arts master named Lu Lu Ko.He spent years in this lowly position
until he saved his master's daughter from drowning during a heavy storm.As a
reward his master taught him his system of kung fu.In the 1880's he returned
to Okinawa and started teaching martial arts.
In the first few decades of the 20th century, a number of formal
organizations were founded to oversee Okinawan martial arts, and due to
their influence, the word karate came to be widely accepted as a generic
term for all sorts of Okinawan unarmed martial arts. With the popularity of
the term karate, the practice of naming a type of martial art after its area
of origin declined. The term Naha-te is no longer in general use.
Masters:
Kogusuku Isei,Maezato Ranho,Arakaki Seisho,Higaonna Kanryo,Miyagi
Chojun,Kyoda Juhatsu,Mabuni Kenwa
Katas:
Sanchin,Saifa,Seienchin,Shisochin,Seipai,Seisan
Successor styles to Naha-te include Goju-ryu,
Toon-ryu (developed by the students of Higaonna Kanryo), Kogusuku-ryu,
Ryuei-ryu and others. |
