Part I
In order to trace the roots of Karate from Kung Fu, it will first be necessary to trace the origin of the Shaolin arts themselves and then work our way forward for the sake of clarity. In no way do I claim total accuracy as many historians and researchers disagree on several prominent facts. However if one follows the progression logically this is a likely version. The first two section covers mainly historical events and peoples the third section will also cover specific kata and their similarities.
One of the first references to martial arts in China is of Kuao Yee (200 AD), a commoner who created a style called Chang-Shou Chuan (long arm or long fist). In the Three Kingdoms period [A.D. 220-280], three famous heroes, Kuan-yu, Chang Fei and Chao Yun, performed great deeds for their countries through their prowess in martial arts techniques.
The origins of most authentic and traditional martial arts can trace their roots in one form or another to the Shaolin temples of China. Kung Fu, the popular name for all Chinese martial arts, had its beginnings according to legend with a Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma, also known as Ta Mo or Damo, in the 5th or 6th Century A.D. However, the question of his contribution to the martial arts or even his existence is a matter of great controversy among historians. There is a painting of Bodhidharma dating to the early Ching dynasty; certainly tradition has him as an important historical figure.
As legend has it, Bodhidharma was an Indian priest who began to teach Buddhism at the Shaolin temple in Hunan Province. Bodhidharma is believed to have trained in the Indian martial exercises and to have incorporated elements of these into the I-ching, which was practiced at the Shaolin Monastery. Bodidharma's disciples often fell asleep during meditation so he devised a system of training designed to improve the function of the circulatory system. Bodhidharma is generally credited with introducing the following sets of exercises:
During the Yuan dynasty (1280-1368) a rich young noble and experienced martial artist named Chueh Yuan entered the Shaolin Monastery. He devoted his studies to the development of martial training. Within a few years he revised the 18 Fists of Lo Han and created what he called the 72 Movements. His methods and teaching were so successful that it was adopted by all of the Shaolin monks.
The 72 movements were very effective for both internal and external fitness. They incorporated much of what is being taught today. But Chueh Yuan was still not fully satisfied with this and he went out to teach to search for other masters to further increase his knowledge.
On his travels Chueh Yuan met an expert in Lanchow, Li Ch'eng of Kansu Province, he witnessed how a bandit was attacking the 60-year-old traveler. He saw how the attacker landed an apparently very strong kick to the body of the traveler with very little or no effect. And yet the old man only used two fingers against the bandit's leg sending the attacker to the ground, seemingly unconscious by the time Cheun reached the old traveler. This obviously impressed Chuen enormously and he introduced himself to the senior. Cheng then introduced him to his master Pai Yu-feng.
Chuen convinced Pai Yu Feng and Cheng to accompany him back to his temple. Over the next few years they incorporated, the 18 fists, the 72 movements and these 'pressure point techniques' of Pai Yu Feng into 170 exercises that became the foundation of Shaolin Kung Fu. The 170 actions were embraced in the "Five Forms Fists:" Dragon, Tiger, Leopard, Snake and Crane which represent respectively the five essences of man namely the spirit, bone, strength, chi and sinew. This was the beginning of the five animal style of Shaolin Kung Fu.
An important sidebar here is the martial arts relation to the science of acupuncture. The addition of the "pressure-point" techniques seems to have been credited to Pai Yu Feng, though it is quite likely that some pressure point strikes were already in use in the Shaolin style centuries before. The question is where did they come from? The answer of course is from Acupuncture science. Acupuncture contains pressure point charts for both healing as well as the "cycle of destruction." Acupuncture derived directly from the Taoist tradition, which was well known to the monks. The earliest written record on Chinese medicine is the "Nei Jing" it was compiled around the 3rd century B.C. It contains information on yin and yang, the five elements; it outlines the various meridians and the functions of the organs, the functions of the acupuncture points, the types of Chi and the location of 160 points. It is believed that the information contained in the "Nei Jing" dates back to the time of the Yellow Emperor (2697-2597 B.C.), and is known as the "Yellow Emperor's Classic."
From 260-265 A.D., the famous physician Huang Fu Mi, organized all of the ancient literature into his classic text -"Systematic Classics of Acupuncture and Moxibustion." The text is twelve volumes and describes 349 Acupuncture points. It is organized according to the theory of: zang fu, chi and blood, channels and collaterals, acupuncture points, and clinical application. This book is noted to be one of the most influential texts in the history of Chinese Medicine. (Acupuncture and Moxibustion - Beijing Press) By the Tong Dynasty (618 AD to 907 AD), there were some soft styles of the martial arts of which the Thirty Seven Movements of Hsu Suan Ping was the main one (Tai Chi Transcendent Art, by Cheng Tin Hung). Pai Yu-feng must have been a practitioner of Hsu Suan Ping's style or some other early Internal Martial Art system that is unknown to us. During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), a famous physician Wang Weiyi wrote "The Illustrated Manual on Points for Acupuncture and Moxibustion" in 1026. This book included 657 points. He also cast two bronze statues on which meridians and points were engraved for teaching purposes.
Clearly the knowledge of Acupuncture and pressure points and its relationship to Taoism, the yin and yang, and the five elements leads one to believe that these techniques were well known to Pai Yu Feng. It should also be noted that during Pai Yu Feng's time (Yuan Dynasty) the extensive application of printing technique greatly promoted the accumulation of medical literature and speeded up the dissemination and development of Chinese medicine and acupuncture theories.
The incorporation of Chinese Traditional Medicine; the Acupuncture points, their effects with the Cycle of Destruction, the Lo-Han hand movements, and the 170 movements was a great accomplishment that forged a deadly fighting art. The forming of the Five Forms Fist (5 animal) Style of Shaolin was accomplished during the Yuan dynasty (1280-1368) as previously noted.
Another important development was the advent of Chang San Feng. Most sources give his time of birth to be 1247, though sometimes other dates are given. He created the Taoist method of Tai Chi Chuan in the generation just after the 5 animal styles. According to tradition he studied Shaolin Chuan Fa for 10 years and then developed Tai Chi based on the Crane and Snake forms and the notion of yin-yang from Taoism and stressing the 'internal' aspects of his exercises, he is credited with creating the fundamental 'Thirteen Postures' of Tai Chi corresponding to the eight basic trigrams of the I-Ching and the five elements. Certainly Tai Chi contains many pressure point techniques derived from the crane and snake arts that was devised at Shaolin and they are closely related in the times of their origins demonstrating that this is the general time when these types of techniques began to be known by martial arts masters. The Kung Fu of the Northern Hunan temple was brought to the Southern Fukien Temple during the time of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) as monks traveled to spread Buddhism and the martial arts. The Ming dynasty also saw an eruption of knowledge in the area of acupuncture knowledge. We have the spread of martial arts and the knowledge of acupuncture both on the increase during this period.
In 1647 the Hunan temple was utterly destroyed by Manchurian invaders and many of the monks fled to the Fukien Temple. The Fukien Temple was a hotbed of rebel activity during the Ching Dynasty (1644-1911). There was much unrest and dissent when the Ming Dynasty fell to the Ching's because they were foreigners that were now ruling all of China. So, many Ming supporters gathered at the temple to plan uprisings and rebellions, from 1644 till around 1800 when the Ching Imperial Army finally sacked the temple. During the Ching Dynasty many Shaolin Monks were willing to teach foreigners in order to aid them in their battle against the invading Manchu's.
According to tradition, five elder monks survived the burning of the Fukien Temple- these were called the Venerable Five and are said to be the founders of numerous secret societies, including the notorious Triad society known to exist today, these 5 and there students are also the founders of various Kung Fu styles still in existence today. While revisionist historians dispute the claim of a Shaolin temple in Fukien stating lack of physical evidence (it was destroyed), the oral tradition passed down by generations of masters and new physical evidence, which is beyond the scope of this article, demonstrate the fact.
The five animal styles of Shaolin were actually one style that took many years of dedication to master, and no doubt other forms were added to the curriculum over time. After the fall of the Hunan temple in the North, the masters needed to teach more quickly to aid them in the rebellion against the Manchu's so some masters began to specialize in one of the 5 animal forms. It is noteworthy that the Fukien White Crane Kung Fu uses short forms compared to Chang Chuan or the Northern Long fist form. The Crane system was the easiest of the Shaolin five animal forms to learn and many new styles were developed based on elements of Crane techniques.
Official research in China has traced the origins and history of the White Crane style of Kung Fu. The founder of the style was Fan Qiang Liang (aka Fang Jinyang) daughter of a famous Quan Fa Master. According to the Bubishi, she was a master of Shaolin Crane style and had a battle against Zheng Chisu a Tiger style master. In the battle she evaded, used deception, and aimed for her opponents vital points, but didn't have enough strength to defeat Zheng who was much stronger. He attacked with direct punches and sought to catch her in his vise like grip but was unable to land a serious blow so neither stylist was able to win. Eventually they fell in love and together created the ultimate White Crane style. Notice in the creation story we also have the metaphoric union of male and female, hard and soft, yin and yang.
White Crane is a short range boxing style that emphasizes body evasions, rapid hand combinations, pressure point striking, and specializes in chin-na grappling techniques. There was a martial arts explosion during the Ching dynasty as monks, masters, and their students were willing to teach their deadly arts or at least part of them to foreigners who were recruited to combat the Manchu's. White Crane became a highly effective style and was quicker to learn than the Five Form Fists.
Many styles have stories about how White Crane was developed or added to their system, for example Master so and so saw a Crane fight an Ape, or had a fight with a Crane, or saw a Crane and a Snake fight or had a dream about a crane etc. While all styles want to take credit it is most likely that White Crane techniques were simply available during the Ching Dynasty for the reasons previously stated. If one looks at some of the styles that developed in this period White Crane influence is heavy. According to legend, Master Gee See, a monk of the Fukien Shaolin Temple, taught Hung Hee Goon the Shaolin Tiger Style and Hung added elements of the White Crane system to form his art of Hung Gar, this was in the late 1700's (again similar to the White Crane story).
In like manner the nun Ng Mui developed the Wing Chun style according to tradition. Yip Man credits White Crane techniques in Ng Mui's origin of the system. Again here we have the story of the women having to fend off a bully who wanted to marry her. Wing Chun history also claims the masters were working on a system that could be taught quickly to aid the Chinese in rising up against their oppressors. If one looks at Wing Chun and Shaolin Crane closely the connection is obvious, the close quarters fighting, palm strikes, spear thrusts, and even trapping techniques can be clearly seen in both systems. The White Crane's 4 main principles of evade, intercept, penetrate, and destroy also form a fine parallel.
Fukien White Crane also developed as an independent art. There were masters with several versions of white crane forms flourishing during the early Ching dynasty, forms such as "flying crane", "dancing crane", "swooping crane", "directional crane", "graceful crane" and "feeding crane" were all part of or variants of the original Crane system taught at Shaolin temple.
Karate developed on the Ryu Kyu Islands of Okinawa. Originally it was known as Te or Ti, which means hand. For the longest period it was called "Tode" which means "china hand." The word Karate itself is written with two characters (kanji) that also mean "china hand." The Okinawan masters chose this name as it reflected the Chinese roots of their art.
In 1340, Ryukyu (Okinawa) entered into a tributary relationship with China and by 1372, Ryukyu became a tributary state of China by the Ming Chinese Emperor. At this time, the first of a succession of 23 Chinese envoys was sent to Ryukyu the main island of the Ryukyu Island chain located about 3000 miles south of mainland Japan, 300 miles north of Taiwan and 400 miles east of China. These Chinese Imperial envoys traveled with several hundred craftsmen, artisans, monks, navigators, scribes, etc., and resided in Kumemura village.
Chinese martial arts were first brought to Okinawa from monks spreading the Buddhist religion. The original date of when Chinese empty hand fighting first entered Okinawa is unknown, but it is believed that the monks taught self- defense aspects of Shaolin and contributed to the primary use of the fist as an Okinawan weapon. It is believed that these military envoys introduced Chinese Quan Fa (Kung Fu or Kempo) to the native Okinawan royalty.
In 1477, King Shoshin of Okinawa banned the possession of weapons by the warrior class, and forced the nobility to reside near the royal castle. Only the upper classes were allowed to practice Kobudo (weaponry) and empty hand fighting techniques.
In 1609, the Japanese under the Satsuma clan invaded and conquered Okinawa. The Satsuma samurai enforced the ban on carrying weapons for both the general populace and upper classes alike. Due to the ban, Kempo and Kobudo commenced to be taught in secret, in response to the prohibition. This ban spurred refinement of the Chinese Quan Fa.
The need for accelerated fighting techniques was even more desperate in occupied Okinawa than it had been on Mainland China due to the size of the islands and the prohibition. The Chinese forms were definitely changed. The Chinese Kata were shortened from up to 200 movements to fewer than 50, so they could be learned in a shorter time period.
After the 1609 ban one of the first Quan Fa practioners of interest was a Chinese envoy to Ryu Kyu named Wang Ji also known as Wansu to the Okinawans. He arrived on the Ryu Kyu islands in 1683. Wansu taught only a few select students, who in turn passed on a form he taught them, a Crane style form known as "flying swallow" the kata now bears his name of Wansu. It introduces in this kata the 'sagiashi' or crane stance.
The next most important person of interest is a man named Chatan Yara born 1668) in Shuri was sent to China at the age of 12 to learn the Chinese martial arts. In 1700, he returned to Shuri and began to teach. He trained for 20 years in Monk Fists, and since White Crane's influence was strong in Fukien and southern China it is not hard to assume that he learned some White Crane while studying martial arts in China.
One of Yara's top students was a man named Takahara Peichin who is most famous as the Sensei of the man who later became known as "Tode" or "Karate" Sakugawa. Takahara, Peichin was born in the village of Akata Cho in Southern Shuri on the island of Okinawa in the year of 1683.
The legend says that Sakugawa began training with Takahara in 1750. Sakugawa is the man who is most responsible for passing down the Karate that we have today.
In 1756, Sakugawa became a student of the Chinese military envoy Kusanku. Kusanku was a highly skilled Quan Fa master and famous for his fighting ability. Kusanku did many things, which influenced Shuri-Te's development. He taught many native Okinawans including Chatan Yara and Shionja of Shuri. He brought some of his students from Chinato, Okinawa and they spread the Chinese arts on Okinawa.
The Okinawan art of Te continued to develop over the years, primarily in three Okinawan cities: Shuri, Naha and Tomari. Each of these towns was a center to a different sect of society: kings and nobles, merchants and traders, and farmers and fishermen, respectively. For this reason, different forms of self-defense developed within each city and subsequently became known as Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te.
The now famous Okinawan Bubishi is a text that was secretly handed down from karate master to karate master, and has been revered and mentioned by the founders of virtually all modern karate styles, including Chojun Miyagi founder of Goju-ryu, Kenwa Mabuni founder of Shito-ryu, Gichin Funakoshi founder of Shotokan Karate, Tatsuo Shimabuka founder of Isshin-ryu and Nagamine Shoshin, a grandmaster of Shorin-ryu school, who said, that "48 pictures [describe] methods of self-defense" with the articles about "points-striking a magic key for understanding of application of ancient katas". The very first chapter of the Bubishi is called "The Origins of White Crane Boxing."
By studying the Bubishi one can easily draw the conclusion that White Crane is the basis for all of the Karate that we have today. The creation of karate as a combination of the White Crane and Tiger styles is mentioned very early in the book. This was even illustrated in the article #28, where a woman was presented while performing Hakutsuru no kamae while a man was presented in position characteristic for Tiger style. This symbolic uniting of female (soft, ju, jin) and masculine (firm, go, jang) style resulted in creation of a perfect method of fighting, according to the manuscript. (Stanic Milos "What was Karate like before 1900?")
Let us take a look at some definite White Crane influences in existing karate kata that we have today:
Several kata are directly named after crane systems Chinto= Crane on a Rock, Wansu= (Empi) Flying Swallow, Rohai= Vision of the Crane, and of course Hakatsuru=White Crane.
The Pinan Katas developed by Itosu (Ping 'An in Chinese) are very important. The name Pinan means "Peaceful Mind." This name seems to be inspired by the Bubishi, in article 1 on the History and Philosophy of White Crane, it says, "Immeasurable self-conquests are made possible through a peaceful mind and inner harmony. The strength and resiliency gained from martial art training fosters an inner force with which one can overcome any opponent and conquer worldly delusion and misery."
The Bubishi is a technical manual of ancient Karate. It shows the history of how Karate developed from the White Crane system of Fukien. It gives various pressure points that are effective when struck in combat but does not tell HOW to strike them. No, this is the secret of Karate. The angle, direction, and sequence of blows are hidden in the authentic kata themselves!
The Bubishi puts a strong emphasis on the White Crane style for the origins of Karate. The Karate kata themselves show heavy use of White Crane methods, and some of the kata names even carry crane like connotations. Shaolin Crane forms relied on evasions, interceptions and pressure point striking, and the advanced White Crane system included heavy use of grappling techniques combining hard and soft methods to form a complete fighting system. It should be noted that the Bubishi also mentions Monk Fist boxing, Five Ancestor style, Tiger style, and Drunken Man boxing as contributing to the development of karate. Karate then can be scene as a truly eclectic art with a strong base built around White Crane. The forms were shortened in Okinawa and the techniques were combined so they could be learned faster and efficiently without losing the important dynamic elements such as angle of attacks, directional blows, and sequences of pressure point striking as revealed in the kata.
Martial arts owe much to the battle tested techniques that developed in the Shaolin temple over hundreds of years. Much knowledge has been gained because of the rise of the Ching dynasty when the much-guarded secrets of Chinese Quan Fa were taught to foreigners in their desire to rebel against their oppressors. The crane system was a defensive style aimed at evading an opponent and countering his weakest points, the White Crane added the aggressive strength and power of the Tiger in forming a powerful combat art. The karate we have today is very much a product of the Crane arts.
About the Author
Monte Cox began training in martial arts in 1980. He holds Dan rankings in Ju-jitsu, Chinese Kempo, and Okinawan Kempo. He has studied pressure point theory under Rick Clark. He is also a western boxing historian who has been published in several boxing magazines.