Ryukyu
-
Itosu-Tokashiki family connection
Yesterday, I could obtain an extract of the book Ryūkyū genbunroku 琉球見聞錄 originally written in 1914 by Kishaba Chōken 喜舎場朝賢 (1840–1916), a Ryūkyūan official at the end of the Ryūkyū Kingdom. In his book, he recorded the process of the abolishment of the Ryūkyū Kingdom (1879) from the Ryūkyūan point of view. Interestingly, in his… Continue reading
-
1851 English-Loochooan dictionary with references to martial arts
From 1846 until 1854, Bernard Jean Bettelheim (1811–1870), a Hungarian born Christian missionary lived with his family in the Gokoku-ji 護国寺 temple in Okinawa. Bettelheim despite of all the problems he caused the Ryūkyūan officials, he was an attentive observer of many things around. In the course of his year-long stay, he worked on a… Continue reading
-
Review of important German karate history book
Heiko Bittmann has been one of the most important German experts in the teachings and history of karate, not least since his highly acclaimed German dissertation Karatedō. Der Weg der Leeren Hand (Karatedō. The Way of the Empty Hand) (1999). This was followed in 2000 by Die Lehre des Karatedō (The teachings of Karatedō), a… Continue reading
Investigations into the history of karate 