Okinawa, the largest of the Ryu Kyu island archipelago (now known as Japan) between mainland Japan and China was colonized about 34,000 years ago when a land bridge connected Okinawa to Asia.
Known as the home of karate, Okinawa was originally independent, but came under Japanese rule following an invasion in 1609. It is believed that methods of self-defence were first taught to the people of Okinawa during the early 1300s when travellers and traders came from China.
The national martial art of Okinawa developed independently becoming known as To-de or Te, eventually evolving as three individual styles named after the respective areas of Okinawa where they become popular: Naha-Te, the style most similar to the Chinese way of fighting with its high short stances, rounded moves and defensive techniques. Long low stances, more linear movements and offensive techniques are the characteristics of Shuri-Te. Tomari-Te was eventually assimilated by Shuri-Te.
Sakugawa Satanushi named ‘Te’ as ‘Karate’ in 1772. The original meaning was ‘China hand’ but as ‘kara’ translates to both ‘China’ and ‘empty’, the translation of ‘empty’ is what Gichin Funakoshi used when trying to ‘sell’ karate to mainland Japan, as he wanted to remove all Chinese links. Therefore, the current modern translation of ‘Karate’ is ‘empty hand’.
Karate remained largely confined to Okinawa and was barely heard of around the rest of the world until the early 1900’s. Karate was later to become known as Karate-Do when Gichin Funakoshi’s son (Yoshitaka Funakoshi) added the ‘Do’ suffix. ‘Do’ means ‘the way’.
Previously, Karate had only been taught privately in Okinawa to noble families. In 1902 Yasutsune (Anko) Itosu, the creator of the Pinan katas, had Karate placed in the Okinawa schools’ national curriculum.
Only as a result of Gichin Funakoshi’s karate demonstration in Tokyo in 1922 did Karate become successfully established in mainland Japan.
In 1921 Choki Motobu, Okinawa’s most feared fighter of that time, famously defeated a Russian professional boxer. It was reported that Motobu dodged and blocked the boxer’s attack and then subsequently knocked out the boxer with a single punch. Karate was receiving its first international recognition.
Just as karate was getting its voice heard, two world wars plunged it back into obscurity. Karate wasn’t fully realised until American GI’s stationed in Japan following World War 2 travelled around Europe to teach this ‘new’ martial art. Karate only came to England as recently as 1957 when the late Vernon Bell opened England’s first dojo. Karate steadily found popularity until the 1970’s when there was a martial arts explosion, largely helped by Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu films.
In 1915 Kenwa Mabuni, a student of Anko Itosu, combined the styles of Shuri-Te and Naha-Te to form what he named as Shito Ryu. ‘Shi-to’ formed from the ‘Shi’ and ‘To’ taken from the first character of each of his instructors’ last names. Chojiro Tani having trained under Kenwa Mabuni was to develop the style further and apply the name ‘Shukokai’. Shukokai, which means ‘the way for all’ is in fact the direct ancestor of Sankukai.
Yoshinao Nanbu developed Sankukai from his teachings of Shukokai from Chojiro Tani and combined techniques from other styles such as Judo and Aikido. In 1971, Nanbu gave the first demonstration of Sankukai in Paris, France. Nanbu born in Kobe, Japan in 1943 to a family with a long line of martial arts practicing was introduced to martial arts at an early age. His grandfather was a well-known Sumo wrestler, his father was a fighter and teacher of Judo and his uncle was a teacher of Kendo. At just 19 years old, Nanbu won the all-Japan karate championship in 1962, out of 1250 competitors, then in 1964 won an International karate tournament.
Nanbu toured Europe with his demonstrations captivating all those who saw and witnessed. The fast dynamic style of Sankukai was received with great popularity and became successful all over the world.
The Sankukai badge depicts three circles that represent the Earth, Moon and Sun and this symbolizes harmony. Just as the same way as these heavenly bodies are in their ‘cosmic dance’; a practitioner of Sankukai (a ‘Sankuka’) must be in harmony with their attacker. This also reflects in the name, Sankukai in fact means ‘Three- (San) (which is the Earth, Moon & Sun) - Harmony (Ku) – School (Kai).
Sensei Lee Batchelor having studied Sankukai under the late Sensei Ray Jardine, made significant alterations to the style to the point it ceased to be Sankukai. Influenced by techniques learnt in other martial arts, changes were made to both basics and kata. In 2007 Lee’s style became known as ‘Sankujitsu’. Characteristics of Sankujitsu is unlike most other styles of karate, where block and counter are emphasised, but rather the rule of ‘Tai Sabaki’ which is an evasive movement of the body by the defender. The basic principle of Sankujitsu is to ‘dodge’ the attack and ‘wrong foot’ the attacker. The rule of ‘block and counter’ is taught in Sankujitsu but is secondary to the theory of Tai Sabaki. Sankujitsu is not intended for tournament-style sparring. Techniques for self-defence and a real combat situation are strongly emphasised with enhanced teaching of impact techniques, throws, holds, escapes and joint-locking techniques, etc. Stances in Sankujitsu are high and short making the ‘Sankujitsuka’ more fluid, flexible and mobile. Punches are performed with the principal of shock and power using hip swing (as seen in Shukokai) and ‘dead weight’ to strike an opponent although the main difference being the fist striking in the ‘tate-zuki’ (vertical) position as opposed the classic ‘horizontal karate punch’. Because of its modern approach and emphasis on perfection of technique (rather than relying on physical strength) and understanding of body-mechanics, Sankujitsu has become appealing for people seeking an effective form of self-protection.
History & origins
