Section 1: Did karate originate in the Tang Dynasty?

It is often seen that there is a saying in the domestic karate circle: "The predecessor of karate is the Tang hand, which originated in the Tang Dynasty, and karate is the culture of China." This view has even entered the level of national scientific research and publicity.

However, I have great doubts about this view. So far, neither the materials I have read nor the predecessors I have asked have said that karate originated in the Tang Dynasty. So it is not rigorous to promote this view rashly.

There are many schools of karate, and it is undeniable that each school has some elements of China, but the history of absorbing elements of China is not long, and each school has left relevant evidence. Among them, the first hand (now Xiaolin Creek, Songlin Creek, Songtao Pavilion Creek, etc. ) China can only be traced back to the conferring of Ryukyu envoys in Hongwu period of Ming Dynasty, and it was in Daoguang period in the middle of Qing Dynasty that Sasakawa He Kuan came to China. However, tyrants (such as rigid and flexible flow, shangdi flow, etc. ) It was not until the reign of Guangxu in the late Qing Dynasty that Dong Enna gave generously, and Shangdi Wan Wen and others came to China, which was fully rolled out. The naming of various schools, whether Naha players or ceremonial players, can be traced back to the Republic of China, not to mention the karate groups such as Hui Zhen, which appeared only after World War II. No matter which school, it is really reluctant to trace back to the Tang Dynasty.

You will know everything when you listen to it, but it is dark when you listen to it. We should not only look at foreign materials, but also look at our own martial arts history. The materials on our side may be difficult to support the theory of the origin of karate in Tang Dynasty. The following is a simple list:

China should be the first person in East Asia to organize martial arts techniques. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, there were written records of unarmed combat. In addition to wrestling, which originated earlier, there is also unarmed fighting which contains the concept of wrestling and is close to the present fighting. This unarmed combat technique and activity is called "hand fighting", which literally means hand fighting, and later boxing is considered to be based on it. Some contents of Sun Tzu's Art of War are recorded in Hanshu, mainly some techniques of riding, shooting and fencing, but some of them are classified as hand-to-hand combat techniques, which are included in Six Chapters of Hand-to-Hand Combat. Unfortunately, it has been lost, and only some abstracts are mentioned in the bibliography of future generations. Cao Pi's "Self-Narrative Classics" mentioned that some people can "go into the white blade empty-handed", which shows that unarmed martial arts also had a fairly high level at that time.

Although boxing originated very early and some people reached a high level, unarmed martial arts at that time was not complete and failed to form a system that could be passed down and spread. Moreover, for a long time, unarmed technique was only an accessory of weapon martial arts, or just used as gymnastics to exercise bones and muscles. Most systematic boxing documents were formed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Before that, there were few theories and records about unarmed martial arts, and the records about unarmed fighting of some brave people were basically superior to natural divine power, without emphasizing skills and theories. Although the Tang Dynasty attached unprecedented importance to military armament, it can be seen from the book Records of Officials in the Old Tang Dynasty that "all people who live in it are accustomed to shooting" that the Tang Dynasty attached importance to weapons, mainly archery. The martial arts system also originated in the Tang Dynasty. However, there are only four exam contents explicitly mentioned in "Selected Three Classics" and "Selected Books of New Tang Dynasty": shooting skill, carbine, force measurement and material appearance. To sum up, at that time, the requirements for martial arts talents were proficient in weapons and riding, at the same time, strong and strong, both civil and military (considering the command ability of leading troops to fight), and there was no requirement for unarmed martial arts. In the Tang dynasty, chivalry was strong. However, although folk martial arts flourished, they only practiced sword instead of boxing. For example, Li Bai, a teenager, practiced his sword and struck back several people. In addition, although there is a historical fact that Shaolin monks assisted Tang Wang, this cannot be used as the basis for Shaolin Temple to practice martial arts. In fact, there were records of Shaolin Temple martial arts in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, and the names of monks were first seen in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, whether Shaolin Wushu originated in the Tang Dynasty is debatable.

In the Tang Dynasty, unarmed martial arts was very popular in gladiator and sumo. Although there is a record of winning with fists occasionally, it is mainly wrestling. The unarmed martial arts that really covers "kicking and falling" can only be traced back to the Song Dynasty at the earliest. Weapon routines may have appeared long ago. "Xiang Zhuang sword dance means Pei Gong", and the "sword dance" in Qin Dynasty can be regarded as the earliest weapon routine. The routine of unarmed combat was first mentioned in the Song Dynasty, and it was called "condom". This routine was called "Shiquan" for the first time in Gong Ji, the capital of China. The martial arts described attach importance to fighting, which is very different from sumo. The inheritance characteristics of Wushu in China and even East Asia are almost reflected in the existence of routines, which provide a medium for the establishment, inheritance and dissemination of Wushu. The prosperity of unarmed martial arts is based on this. Martial arts, folk martial arts associations and martial arts venues are all named after surnames, and they also flourished in the Song Dynasty. In addition, the well-known "Water Margin" also describes the martial arts of the Song Dynasty, among which the appearance of moves such as Yuanyang Leg, Yuhuan Step and Shuttle Turn can be regarded as a sign of the gradual systematization of China martial arts. In the literature records before the Song Dynasty, there was only a rough description of the knockout, and almost no description of the specific action was found. It can be seen that China's unarmed martial arts originated very early, but it really matured in the Song Dynasty after the Tang Dynasty. As a matter of fact, there are only the first famous martial arts schools in China in the Song Dynasty, such as Taizu Boxing, Xingyiquan, founded by Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, and Yue Fei, a famous martial artist in the Song Dynasty, and so on. Other Bajiquan, Tai Ji Chuan and Baguazhang can only be traced back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

From this point of view, it is far-fetched to say that the Tang hand, the predecessor of karate, was introduced to Ryukyu (now Okinawa) in the Tang Dynasty. China's own martial arts began to improve in the Song Dynasty, and it was impossible to spread it from the Tang Dynasty through time and space. The Sui Shu Liuqiu Biography of the Tang Dynasty has recorded the Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan Province Province, in which it is mentioned that there was a small village in Liuqiu in ancient times to support warriors to manage village affairs. According to the description, it can be seen that this area is still in the ancient tribal state, at least until the Sui Dynasty, it was "vulgar without words", and martial arts is unlikely to be introduced into this area in the form of written boxing scores. According to the official history, there was no communication between exile and China in the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties. Although there are some folk records about the trade between Fujian people and exiles, there are few records about their political and cultural exchanges. What's more, some people think that this exile refers to Taiwan Province province, not an island in the northeast of Taiwan Province province. Taiwan Province Province was so uncivilized at that time, not to mention remote islands.

To sum up, it is not only unbelievable that the Tang hand came to Ryukyu (now Okinawa) directly from the Tang Dynasty, but I also doubt that the Tang hand inherited the statement that "China Wushu originated from the Tang Dynasty", so the statement that karate originated from the Tang Dynasty seems far-fetched and groundless to me.

Then why is Tang holding the word "Tang" in his hand? In fact, "Tang" not only refers to the Tang Dynasty, but also can be used as another name for China. The Tang Dynasty had a great influence on foreign countries, even after the change of dynasty, so foreigners, especially the island countries in the east and southeast of China, added the word "Tang" to things related to China. For example, China's surname is Tang, China's is Tang, etc. That is, it was mentioned in Zhufanzhi written in the Song Dynasty. China's clothes are called Tang suits, and China's boats are called Tang boats. The appellation of things in China was recorded in the Records of Yidao in Yuan Dynasty. As for the biography of Shi Ming Zhen Huan, "people in the Tang Dynasty were called China people, and overseas countries were completely." It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, the island countries around China still called China "Tang". Okinawa today is no exception. For example, the Chinese name "Wu Chengda" of the ancestor Matsumura Zonggun is called "Tang Ming". There is a folk song in Okinawa called "Tang Fleet", which describes the situation of welcoming China's envoys, and it was after the Ming Dynasty that the envoys came to Ryukyu (now Okinawa). As for the Tang hand, it is not credible to say that it originated from the Tang Dynasty, and it is much more credible to say that Tang refers to China. From this point of view, the title "Tang Hand" should refer to "China Boxing" rather than "Tang Boxing". In my opinion, the Okinawa people named the martial arts Tang Shou, which reflected the cultural influence of China at that time. Everything related to China is very fashionable and advanced. It's called Tang Shou, which is more advanced than the old Ryukyu martial arts titles such as "He" and "Shou", and it feels similar to the foreign names we now give our company and products.

In addition to the view that karate originated in the Tang Dynasty, there are also views that karate is the inheritance of Japanese martial arts, whether it originated in the Tang Dynasty or not. But the first thing to be clear here is that the birthplace of karate at that time was Ryukyu, not Japan, and Ryukyu was later annexed by Japan to become Okinawa. Secondly, except Treatise on Febrile Diseases, which is an obvious inheritance of Zhou Zi and Hu Zun's boxing, the rest can only be said to have origins and absorbed elements from China. However, the absorption of China elements does not mean that it is China Wushu. In addition, Sanda draws lessons from foreign modern fighting training methods, rules and a series of standards. Isn't Sanda also the inheritance of foreign martial arts? So I don't agree with the practice of using karate under the banner of China, which is disrespectful to regional culture and is suspected of cultural plunder. Compared with pot calling the kettle black, a "Korean scholar" in previous years. Okinawa, as the birthplace of karate, has a say in this issue. However, I have never seen any Okinawa organization or research group think that karate is China martial arts. Even if we discuss the origin of its own school and China on a small scale, our views are not uniform. For example, it is still controversial whether the generous teacher Ruzi of Naha player refers to Xie or someone else. So far, such historical issues have not reached a unified conclusion, and the origin of karate can not be completely clear. In this case, it is difficult for China to unilaterally believe that karate belongs to China, even if it is emotional.