Karate-Do: My Way of Life – Empty Hand

Karate was originally written using the Chinese characters for “China” (literally “Tang dynasty” which came to mean “China”) and “hand”. Gichin Funakoshi writes in his autobiography that the “China hand” version was used most often when he studied karate in Okinawa. Occasionally, however, karate was written using the Chinese character for “empty”; both characters are pronounced “kara”.

After Master Funakoshi began teaching karate in Tokyo he was an active advocate for using the “empty hand” version of kara-te. Funakoshi’s opinion was that “empty hand” better described the martial art in a number of ways.

First, “China hand” was inappropriate because, over many decades, Okinawan Karate-Do evolved away from Chinese Kempo. The differences are enough that, watching a sparring match between a Karate-ka and a Kempo practitioner, a casual observer would easily see that the combatants trained in different martial arts.

Second, although Karate-Do teaches the use of certain old Okinawan farm implements as weapons, Karate-Do is primarily about unarmed combat with “empty hands”.

Third, Funakoshi insists that karate students, “… aim not only toward perfecting their chosen art but also toward emptying heart and mind of all earthly desire and vanity.”

Fourth, there is yet another Chinese character pronounced “kara”. This third “kara” means “void” and is commonly found in Buddhist writings in phrases such as “matter is void”. Funakoshi writes, “Believing with the Buddhists that it is emptiness, the void, that lies at the heart of all matter and indeed of all creation, I have steadfastly persisted in the use of that particular character in my naming of the martial art to which I have given my life.”

And so, “China hand” karate became “empty hand” karate. By the time World War II ended and Americans began to study Karate-Do the “empty hand” version was widely accepted - except perhaps in Korea.

The first martial art I studied was Tang Soo Do, a Korean style of karate. “Tang Soo Do translates as “the way of the China hand” whereas “Karate-Do” written using the Chinese character for “China” translates as “the way of the China hand”. Many Tang Soo Do “pumse” (forms or “kata” in Japanese) share the same names as forms mentioned by Funakoshi, i.e. Pinan, Naifanchi, Chinto, & Bassai. This, of course, leads one to conclude that the two styles share a common Okinawan origin, despite the 2,000 year history claimed for Tang Soo Do.

Link to the Special Report: "Karate-Do: My Way of Life - What All Martial Artists Can Learn From Gichin Funakoshi"