User:JoelReevesUK

Te, also Okinawan-te, ti, udun-di, tuiti, the ancient martial art (both with weapons and without) of the aristocracy of the Ryukyu Islands that is believed to have been introduced to the main island, Okinawa, in the 7th century from Japanese (Yamato) prototypes in the north. Some basis for it having been ‘divinely inspired’ at about this time has also been put forward by Higa Seitoku.

Te involves both fast, light-footed, tiptoe springy footwork as well as grounded slower movements combined with pinpoint striking and grappling. The main weapons parallel in use the hand forms and footwork and originally consisted of bladed weapons such as the curved sword, halberd, and hand spear. Also within its sphere are weapons like the staff, stick and the paddle, as well as more clandestine weapons and everyday accessories such as the paper umbrella, the fan and even the unique Ryukyuan hairpin, or the obi of a kimono.

Throughout the turbulent history of the Ryukyu Islands te has adapted to the various needs of the ruling classes. Before the 12th century several references trace its origins as being more a meditative martial art for self-development, but during the Three Kingdoms period it continued to develop, again mostly through northern influences such as renegade Japanese samurai, into a more battle effective strategic and espionage art for castle and mounted warfare.

With the unification of Okinawa Island and the subsequent extensive trading links, te developed into a personal fighting art among the Okinawan samurai or bushi, especially after various weapon edicts prevented them from bearing arms. The Satsuma invasion of 1609 further spurred te to develop into methods of self-defence on a personal level and required techniques for disarming armed foreigners and Satsuma agents, using implements at hand, e.g. the umbrella, the fan or the pipe.

Te carried through into the 20th century in its entirety due mainly to one family in particular, the Motobu clan, who had been instructors to the Ryukyuan kings for some generations. By the 1920s, with the popularisation of tode (i.e. Chinese boxing) te began to follow suit and was taught publicly by Motobu Choyu. A trainee of his, Uehara Seikichi, brought the style through to the 21st century as Motobu-ryu and it has now become well known in Europe and the United States through a younger generation of teachers such as Isa Shinyu and Mark Bishop. Karate is a development of tode with a greater or lesser admixture of te.

Another branch of te was from Kishimoto Soko who taught Higa Seitoku and Shukumine Seiken, who in turn brought a variation of the style into the 21st century. There was much exchange of information between these teachers, for example Higa Seitoku and his son Higa Kiyohiko, who reintroduced therapeutic bodywork into the system, trained under the auspices of Uehara Seikichi, while Mark Bishop trained under all three. Isa Shinyu, having initially been in contact with a further branch of te stemming from Kanagusku Sanda, also trained under Uehara Seikichi.

At the end of the 20th century, Uehara Seikichi started to break the secrecy code that had surrounded te for hundreds of years by performing group public demonstrations and printing well illustrated pamphlets for these. Various magazine and newspaper articles began to appear and in 1989 Mark Bishop published Okinawan Karate, Teachers, Styles and Secret Techniques that contained a section expressly devoted to the te styles, Higa Seitoku’s Bugeikan and Uehara Seikichi’s Motobu-ryu, or udun-di. In 1996 Mark Bishop further published Zen Kobudo, Mysteries of Okinawan Weaponry and Te, which goes into much detail on the origins and development of te through the ages.