Introduction
Ten years ago I began a slight study on the Okinawan Bubishi by comparing the Ken Penland and Patrick McCarthy translations and speculating on the role that work played in the development of Okinawan Karate. That original study discussed on the CyberDojo discussion group led me to worldwide contacts, ever interesting Bubishi resources and even the chance to translate Roland Habsetzer’s book on the Bubishi from French into English for personal research and to share with friends.
I live in New Hampshire in the United States of America. I don’t travel to Okinawa, nor are my instructors Okinawan, leaving me to my own efforts in this study. I don’t teach the Bubishi or require it for my students study. I also don’t read Chinese or Japanese.
That leaves logic as my primary tool in this study. Logic is never truth in itself, but it is a useful tool in analysis. So it’s logic and of course a lot of help from my friends.
The art I practice, Isshinryu, includes the Kempo Gokui, aka ‘the Code of Karate’, which comes from the Bubishi, in Patrick McCarthy’s book it is Article 13. The Eight Precepts of Quanfa. Its use is an active part of many Isshinryu karate-ka’s studies and provided additional incentive to my efforts, for the Bubishi had touched Isshinryu too.
In 1993 when I first saw the Penland translation, and then the McCarthy version, what struck me was this should be of value to students of the Chinese arts foremost. It displayed a range of studies that few today associate with the martial arts, especially the amount of material focused on Chinese medicine and treatment of injuries and illness.
Past that point though, the question was there, how was this work used by instructors of the Okinawan arts? Most of the questions that came to me remain as open today as when I started but I’ve never stopped thinking about them.
About a year ago Patrick McCarthy asked me if I would like to contribute a commentary on the Bubishi for the upcoming publication of a new edition of his translation.
While I’ve never met Patrick, our mutual interests in understanding the Bubishi allowed me to translate Roland Habsetzer’s book ‘BuBiShi, encyclopedie des arts martiaux’ from a copy he shared with me.
That act of translation from skills learnt 40 years before when studying Francais in high school and university is a true study in humility. Not being a translator I even discussed with George Donahue, then of Tuttle Press about the role of the translator in shaping a work into another language.
So when Patrick requested I might contribute to his new edition, it gave me reason to go back through my studies as I prepared my contribution. Doing so also allowed me to take a look at the Bubishi with the insight of all I’ve experienced in the past few years.
I ended up with more than just that contribution. I started seeing a way to consider the Bubishi differently than I had before.
Then a month ago the new edition went on sale. In addition to the original material Patrick has added additional commentary, photographs of the Bubishi, etc. Reading the details of how, who he studied with, where he studied and how he translated was more than just interesting, it provided me some more material in my growing understanding.
I propose to discuss some of these thoughts, share them on my blog and on various discussion groups around the net, and see what discussion may come from this attempt.
Finally on a personal note, there is an additional value in purchasing the new Bubishi edition, it no longer calls itself ‘the Bible of Karate’.
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For some background internet reading I would like to suggest the following url’s
Enter the Bubishi - Victor Smith at FightingArts.com
Part 1 http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=200
Part 2 http://www.fightingarts.com/content02/bubishi_enter_2.shtml
Bubishi – my original analysis still on a greatly degraded site
http://www.funkydragon.com/bushi/bubushi.html
Analysis of the Okinawna Bubishi – Fernando Camara
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Bleachers/6758/bubishi.htm
Mario McKenna – No Mention of the Bubishi Here.
On the development of Tensho
http://okinawakarateblog.blogspot.com/
Bubishi – Russ Smith comments
http://www.goju-ryu.info/Misc/Bubishi/tabid/59/Default.aspx
Okinawan Bubishi – Stanic Milos
http://www.uechi-ryu.com/bubishi%20article%20by%20stanic%20milos.pdf
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