James Coffman's Thoughts
A lot of history has been written about the Martial Arts, but I’d like to give you a version you probably haven't heard. From the early 1950s to the mid 1970s, karate received a big shot in the arm when thousands of American soldiers were stationed on the island after World War II and during the Vietnam War. If it were not for the conflicts I believe two things would have happened: First, Okinawan karate would have stayed somewhat secret. Second: The art would have retained its roots, with instructors still teaching the old ways, still being interested in keeping their history and traditions, not just making money off of them.
Lets take a look at why I think they have chosen the path of money over history, honor and tradition. In the early 1960s Okinawa became a supply link for our troops during the wars. Thousands of American troops were stationed there and Okinawa became dependent on income from the Americans.
We were young, eager, strong, and had more money than the Okinawans had ever seen. Okinawa had some of the best fighting arts in the world – karate, which was rich in history and tradition, plus an abundant number of karate instructors who were real. As the Vietnam War heated up, Americans were spending less and less time on the island as they were rotated back and forth to Vietnam on temporary duty. Americans were eager to learn karate and some of the Okinawans were eager to teach us – but neither they nor us would know what the future would bring to the island.
Originally, karate systems were demanding and difficult to learn. You needed to devote large amounts of time to training; classes were seven days a week; and it required years to get good at any of the different styles. But Americans were spending shorter and shorter time periods on Okinawa - 18 months was the normal tour for the single soldier, maybe 36 months if he was married, with wife on the island. Which meant that the average soldier who was stationed on Okinawa and rotated to Vietnam often studied for less than a year. Suddenly the training that once took years to learn was now condensed to just months. And the amount of money being exchanged continued to grow, as larger and larger numbers of Americans started to train. It became easier and easier to earn rank, and easy for the Okinawans to earn larger and larger sums of money from training American soldiers.
Then one day the war was over. The number of Americans on Okinawa shrank, and their incomes were suddenly reduced. Making matters worse, Okinawa was now under the control of Japan, which was pouring money into the island. The 1980s had arrived.
Okinawans no longer had their island, and it became a vacation spot for the Japanese. Paradise? Not for the Okinawans. They didn’t have the money needed to keep up and found themselves fighting for survival. What could they do?
I think we know the answer: they turned to their friends, the young American students, first their most trusted, then whomever would help them get into the States. They grew karate associations, made trips to the States to teach, and promoted large numbers of students quickly, so they could return home with the funds to be able to live in their once quaint little island. They had to sell out themselves, their history and their honored art of karate to survive.
I guess we all would have done the same thing if we were in their place.
