THE RITUAL DIMENSION OF KARATE-DO John J. Donohue Abstract Public familiarity with the modern Japanese martial art of karate-dô emphasizes its physical efficacy as well as its "mystical" aspects. Whatever the rather stereotyped reasons for karate study, the author maintains that a large measure of its attraction is the result of its ritual nature, which creates a psychological dynamic that proves immensely attractive to a wide variety of individuals. The article includes a brief outline of karate's development and characteristics, particularly its adaptation of the symbolic complex associated with the classical Japanese martial ways (budô). It also explores the ritual organization of the training experience. The psychic dimensions of karate training suggest links between this experience and those labelled as "intrinsic" or "autotelic" in social science literature. In more general terms, the ritual nature of karate—including practice in special times and places, the use of "liturgical orders," rich symbolism, and implicit meanings—points to its role in addressing the questions most often dealt with in ritual situations: mortality, control, and ultimate purpose. It is a truism among Westerners that training in the martial arts involves something more than mere physical activity. In the popular imagination, a sense that there is a mystical, quasi-magical dimension to these arts elevates them from the realm of the mundane and invests their practitioners with vaguely-defined powers, insights, and abilities. Karateka {karate students), for instance, break boards and bricks with their bare hands. Many observers unfamiliar with the dynamics of this activity, known as tameshiwari, believe that some occult element contributes to this skill. The whole complex of ideas regarding ki (internal force), meditation, Zen, enlightenment, and power in the martial arts is indicative on one level of both excessive stereotypes and extreme romanticization. On another level, however, this sense of "something more" can be understood as a response to the ritual dimensions of training in these arts. The expectations, opinions, and feelings generated in martial arts training are at least partly the result of the dense concatenation of symbolic action and implicit meaning that makes the atmosphere in a martial arts training hall pregnant with significance. The art of karate-do, a modern form of the Japanese martial arts, exhibits the strong ritual characteristics of all these systems. It is perhaps the most popular of the Japanese martial arts in the United 106 DONOHUE: RITUAL DIMENSION States and, as such, its techniques are familiar to a wide variety of people. It has, in fact, become ingrained in our popular culture through presentations (however stereotyped) in the mass media. While a definitive treatment of the integration of the Asian martial arts into the mythic tradition of American violence lies somewhat out of the scope of this work, I may note in passing the gradual integration of the martial arts into American imaginations. In the last two or three decades the United States has seen an explosion of public awareness of the martial arts. This is a phenomenon seemingly unrestricted by the boundaries of age or class. Knowledge (however stereotypical) of the martial arts is imparted to pre-schoolers viewing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons and to parents who must purchase the toys, costumes, and accessories that are an integral part of the TMNT industry. Such knowledge extends to suburban towns, where children study karate after school; to the inner city, where the movements in break-dancing have been at least partially inspired by scores of B-grade kung-fu movies; to college campuses, where martial arts teams and clubs are commonplace (as are credit-bearing courses in the martial arts). "Sport" karate is featured on cable television. Novels about ninja make the best-seller list. Businessmen comb ancient manuals on swordsmanship for guidance, and it is a rare action movie that has not been in some way affected by the psychology and technique of the martial arts. Indeed, the careers of "actors" such as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and Steven Seagal rest almost entirely on their martial arts skills. This familiarity tends to cloud an objective assessment of what is partly responsible for this art's popularity. While one may argue that concern for self-defense or fitness may impel students into training halls, the tenacity with which karateka pursue their training bespeaks an appeal more profound than that of combat utility. In my opinion it is the ritual dimension of karate-dô and the internal resonances it creates for its students that is the most significant aspect of American participation in this art. KARATE-DO: AN HISTORICAL OUTLINE Many different types of karate are practiced in the world today. Most people are probably familiar with the various Korean arts generally lumped under the generic heading of tae kwon do and the many schools of Chinese boxing erroneously labeled kung fu. Most Americans' exposure to karate, however, has been through Japanese karate-dô and the various schools of Okinawan karate. All these different styles have a certain amount in common, since the histories of these arts, like the histories of these countries, are intertwined. For JOURNAL OF RITUAL STUDIES: 7(1) (WINTER 1993) \Q7 clarity, however, when I talk about karate-do, I am referring specifically to the systems developed in Okinawa and refined and modified by the Japanese. The hand arts from which karate developed had their genesis in techniques developed in China. China's cultural heritage has had a profound impact on the development of all the countries of East Asia, and so this link of karate with China should come as no surprise.* Chinese boxing techniques spread from China to Okinawa, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands, a chain that lies southwest of Japan and east of the Chinese mainland. Strung out like a series of stepping-stones between China and Japan, the society and culture of the Ryukyu Islands were strongly influenced by both these powerful neighbors. The Japanese conquered Okinawa in the seventeenth century and placed a ban on the indigenous possession of weapons. This acted to spur the development of a truly weaponless system of defense and offense. The Japanese banned the practice of even unarmed systems in 1669, and henceforth martial practice of any type was done in secret. Despite this repressive atmosphere, the clandestine practice of various fighting methods brought over from the Chinese mainland continued. These techniques gradually took on a distinct Okinawan flavor and were simply called te, meaning "hand." Thus, the Okinawans were compelled to develop te, not because it was more efficient or deadly than systems using weapons, but because the political and social contingencies of the time made an "empty-hand" art their only choice.^ Okinawan te is essentially a system that has combined Chinese systems with techniques of peasant agriculturalists and transformed them into a potentially deadly art. Te emphasized the efficient use of the body as a natural weapon, concentrating on stance to support the attack, efficient methods of striking and careful selection of body targets. Thus we find an emphasis on strikes using the fist, edge of the hand, elbow, knee, foot, and even the head—the basic weapons with which all people are equipped. Te also developed techniques using common agricultural implements—staves and rice flails, for instance.^ Okinawa's Japanese conquerors had a rich martial tradition of their own. Beginning in the tenth century C.E., Japanese warriors (bushi or samurai) became a dominant political force and assumed direct political control over the destiny of that country. In such an environment the Japanese developed a wide variety of martial techniques (bujutsu) for a number of weapons. Many of these techniques were codified into schools or styles known as ryu. The mastering of a martial art was an indispensable achievement for the dominant social class, since the samurai's exalted social position was symbolized by the wearing of two swords. Japan was unified in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who ended a period of civil war and established a stable feudal government which endured 108 DONOHUE: RITUAL DIMENSION until the Meiji Restoration of 1868. This outbreak of peace meant that the arts of the warrior were no longer needed in a practical sense. There was a subsequent emphasis in these arts on their moral and spiritual utility rather than their military use. Training in these systems was seen as part of the activity of a refined individual, and these arts came to be understood not simply as techniques (jutsu) but as "martial ways" (budô) which could lead to spiritual development. Even after the modernization of Japan in 1868, these arts were still practiced, both as ways of preserving traditional culture and as vehicles for spiritual development. With the modernization of Japan, there was a growing interest in weaponless arts of self-defence that were more in tune with the social and political climate of the times. A stress on more non-lethal forms of martial activity led to the reforms in swordsmanship that resulted in modern kendo and the refinement of various jujutsu schools into what became known as judo. When a Japanese physician examining Okinawan army conscripts in the early years of this century saw evidence of the positive physical benefits of practicing te, it was made part of the local school curriculum, along with the Japanese arts of judo and kendo. The name the Okinawans chose for their art was karate-jutsu. The character for kara is the same as that used for the Chinese T'ang dynasty, during which period the basics of the art were considered to have been transmitted to Okinawa. Te was the Okinawan and Japanese word for hand, and jutsu was the Japanese character for art or technique.