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Just remember to keep thinking, “Pure Conjecture.” The Okinawan discipline of karate or empty hand began, so we are all told, as a system called, “Ti.” Then some called it, “Toudi.” Then at some time they called it, “China Hand.”
Funakoshi Ginchin Sensei then changed it to, “Empty Hand,” using the Japanese characters/ideograms so that it could become an accepted martial art of Japan. The transitions and evolution of the naming of this, “Traditional or Classical” discipline of Okinawan martial discipline cannot be explained, it is just accepted.
I don’t just accept things, I tend to question and come to conclusions from the data and facts I can dig out. Granted, there is not much if any data and/or facts about the naming done on karate. I have some idea’s tho and that is the purpose of this article.
First, if true, the Okinawan’s called their indigenous system of defense Ti, meaning, “Hand.” Whether open, empty or closed no one can say with any certainty. It is just accepted. Assumptions and conjecture can be made but that is all.
I would venture to theorize that the final, “Empty Hand,” naming was derived from the more efficient application of the open hand vs. the closed fist. Using the fist is not exactly efficient in applying the type of force and power necessary to end a threat. Considering the dangerous environment of those early years, i.e., the fifteen hundreds to the late eighteen hundreds, the need to end violence quickly and efficiently was required. The use of the open hand techniques are considered in some circles as superior to punching and striking, especially with the close fist.
Neither empty hand or open hand are about the use of the fist in defense. There are way to many variables that have to align to apply enough force and power to the target to work efficiently in a fight. There are way to many power leaks such as the shoulder, elbow and wrist when not aligned, i.e., when physiokinetic principles are not applied at their very best. I also believe, theorize, that because of this deficiency of fist use for punches and strikes they developed the makiwara in the effort to overcome the other variables that are very difficult to apply sufficiently, efficiently and to their most stable structure, etc.
I also hypothesize that when renaming it to empty hand this type of distinction didn’t occur and since the Okinawans were not really all that keen on documentation they didn’t care if it was called hand, China hand, Empty hand or even, “Open Hand.” It may have been about naming the system after the use of the hands where weapons were not available or lost. An empty hand denotes nothing held within therefore weapons lost or not available leaving on those, “Empty Hands,” available for defense, fighting and/or combatives. This is also supported in that Ti was used primarily to train and prepare military types for the rigors of weapons training. Like a pre-requisite to learning weapons like the sword, spear, halberd, etc.
I also feel that since the chaos and nature of true fighting, combatives and/or self-defense were close, very close, and required a lot of hand and arm applications along with those ju-jitsu like grappling and pressure point type applications that it was that which resulted in the use of Ti, Toudi, China and Empty hand names. It could have just as easily gone toward, “Open Hand (Hirate [平手]).”
The parts of the body used to strike with that are the most efficient and powerful are the elbow’s, the knee’s and the “OPEN” hands. The system we practice as karate today could have been called, “Hira-te,” just as easily as “Kara-te.” I also think that it is possible that since the system of Ti was to be adopted with appropriate changes to the educational systems that when changed the name of “Empty hand” become more appropriate.
Hand [手] Te
China Hand [唐手] touti or toudi or karati/te
Empty Hand [空手] karate
Open Hand [平手] hirate
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