Investigations into the history of karate

In the reportage “Ryūkyū no Fūbutsu” 琉球の風物 (Ryūkyū scenery), karate in Okinawan was probably captured on film for the first time. Yanagi Muneyoshi 柳宗悦 (1889–1961), founder of the Japanese folk art movement, traveled to Okinawa with his team in 1940 and captured the unique karate training scenes.

Recently, Sakihara Kyōko from the Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum conducted a comprehensive scientific analysis of this reportage. She published her findings in January 2022 in the museum’s bulletin in an article entitled “A study of the film ‘Ryūkyū no Fūbutsu’ with a focus on karate” (映画「琉球の風物」に関する一考察 ~空手関連を中心として~ ).

The karate group shown in the film was led by Miyagi Chōjun 宮城長順 (1888–1953), one of the highest-ranking representatives at the time. The film is a valuable piece of karate history and has now received the scholarly attention it deserves.

A few images of this film were already known. A few years ago, I was interested in the historical footage and in August 2019 I was even able to find a set of 14 karate-related photos taken during the filming at the Tōkyō Mingeikan 日本民藝館 Museum of Japanese Folk Art. However, I later learned that copies of it were already in the possession of the Okinawa Karate Kaikan.