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| Printable Short History of Butokukan | ||
| Detailed History Of Butokukan | ||
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American Butokukan Blackbelt Lineage Tree ( Excel Spreadsheet ) | |
| ( You will probably need the Office 97 version of Excel or something not too far behind it to view this document, if you wish to download the lineage sheet ). | ||
| Outlined History of Butokukan |
522. Bodhidharma ( Daruma Taishi or Da Mo ) comes to China from India, bringing breathing exercises and physical training to the Buddhist temple of Shaolin in Hunan province.
618. Shaolin fighting skills revised with additional techniques to become ch'uan fa.
1372. Chinese immigrants to Okinawa ( the 36 families ) bring fighting skills to the Ryukyu Islands.
1470. Okinawa unites under King Sho Shin, peasants are banned from carrying weapons. 1609. The Japanese Satsuma clan invades Okinawa, furthering the ban on weapons.
1791. Kusanku moves to Okinawa. He begins teaching ch'uan fa.
1820-1860. Matsumura learns from Kusanku, becomes Royal Captain of the Guard. He comes to teach Itosu his karate that he has learned.
1903. Anko Itosu begins teaching karate in the Okinawan public school system.
1936. Several karate masters get together to change "Chinese hand" to "empty hand", to give the martial art a Japanese flavour.
1962. Nakachi meets Bruce Lee; was purported to get Lee to switch to nunchaku in place of the more clumbersome 3-section staff.
1966. Dennis Clive receives his black belt.
1978 Sensei Harry opens up the New Westminster dojo.
3000 B.C. Evidence of martial arts from the pyramids. Further ancient history traces skills going back to the Greeks and Romans.
Gichin Funakoshi goes to Japan to give the first karate demonstration to Japanese royalty. Other Okinawan masters follow and come to Japan to teach.
1920.
Kenwa Mabuni, after demonstrating earlier at the Butoku-kai, starts teaching Shito-Ryu in Osaka, Japan.
1928.
Yoichi Nakachi learns Shinpu-ren from Yon Pon Gun.
1944.
Allied occupation of Japan. All Japanese martial arts are banned.
1945.
Ban on martial arts is lifted. Yoichi Nakachi obtains his Nidan ( 2nd degree black belt ).
1948.
Yon Pon Gun returns to Korea. Yoichi Nakachi is left in charge of Shinpu-ren.
1950.
Yoichi Nakachi comes to Seattle under a philosophy scholarship funded by the Tenri-ko religion. Starts teaching in the University of Washington district.
1959.
Nakachi switches studies to Olympic College in Bremerton, and also teaches at the "Y" in downtown Seattle, and at a health club. Robert Hill starts his study of Shinpu-ren.
1961.
Nakachi changes the name of the style, the crest, and the katas from Shinpu-ren to Butokukan. Sensei Hill receives his black belt in June.
1963.
Don Williams brings Butokukan to Canada, starts teaching Dennis Clive.
1964.
Yoichi Nakachi has to return to Japan, because his study visa had expired.
Sensei Hill, who is Nidan at this time, takes over Butokukan in North America.
1965.
Sensei Harry Charalambous begins his study of karate under Sensei Dave Annal and Sensei Robert Long from the states.
1970.
Sensei Harry receives his black belt from Master Hill in August.
1977.
Shihan Hill attains the rank of Kyudan, or 9th dan blackbelt.
1997.
Shihan Yoichi Nakachi, Nakchi Sensei, passes away at the age of 66.
1998.
Shihan Hill attains the rank of Judan, or 10th dan blackbelt ( Grandmaster ). Sensei Chris Olson is promoted to Shihan, 8th dan.
2003.
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