Zitat von
graham noble
The War Years and Special Training
Throughout the 1930s Japan was geared up as a wartime economy. Manchuria was annexed in 1932, the war with China began in 1936, and then in 1941 came Pearl Harbor and the entry into "The Great Pacific War". Many karateka were posted overseas, and the turnover of young students was heavy. Funakoshi recalled: "I would often hear a young man say, as he knelt before me: "Sensei, I have been drafted and I'm off to serve my country and my Emperor." Every day I would hear my students report to me in this fashion. They had been strenuously practicing karate day after day in preparation for hand-to-hand encounters with an unmet enemy, and they believed they were ready. . . Of course, many students died in battle, so many, alas, that I lost count of them. I felt my heart would break as I received report after report telling me of the deaths of so many promising young men. Then I would stand alone in the silent dojo and offer a prayer to the soul of the deceased, recalling the days when he had practiced his karate so diligently. I once asked Mitsusuke Harada who had been the karate instructors at certain university clubs during the war. He replied that because of the constant coming and going to the front it was impossible to say. How did karate change during the war? Well, the art has little relevance to modern warfare but it seems that the whole atmosphere of the times led to greater seriousness in training.
Taiji Kase, who trained at the Shotokan in the last year or so of the war, remembered that emphasis was placed on strong basics and intense practice of kumite (especially jiyu-ippon) with much physical contact. Kase, a person not given to exaggeration, described it as "very hard". Tatsuo Suzuki told me that the well rounded pre-war training gave way to practice on "fighting", and he stressed "fighting" rather than sparring (jiyu-kumlte). I had heard stories (without details) of Yoshitaka Funakoshi and Shigeru Egami teaching special troops during the war. I asked Harada sensei about this and he told me what he had heard.
The institution concerned was the Nakano School, a training school for military espionage analogous to our MI5. Trainees were on a one year course covering undercover work, guerrilla warfare and so on. Unarmed combat was also included and the original teacher for this was Morihei Uyeshiba (of Aikido). Uyeshiba himself was good but when the students tried to apply the techniques they couldn't make them work under real conditions. In a way, Aikido had too much "technique" for the limited one year of training. The military leaders decided to look at karate as an alternative, and they observed the different styles, such as Goju, Wado, and Shotokan.
Goju-ryu, with its heavy stress on sanchin training, did not seem to have the practical application necessary, at least in its initial stages, and Wado-ryu technique seemed too "light". However, the Shotokan style as demonstrated by Yoshitaka looked impressive, and he was asked to teach at the Nakano School. Unfortunately, he was too ill and it was Shigeru Egami who did the actual teaching. Egami concentrated on two techniques: choku-zuki (straight punch) and mae-geri (front kick), and when he began teaching a class he would pick out participants and tell them to attack him as hard as they could. In this way he was able to prove the validity of his technique. Injuries were frequent. Kicks were often delivered to the shins - and this was while wearing boots.
After the war Harada sensei met someone who had trained in these classes under Egami. He recalled one time when he had hardly been able to walk for a week because of such shin kicks. But injuries were no excuse for missing training. If someone was wearing bandages, they had to be removed. If a bad injury occurred, then no doctors could be called for during training. A hard rule, but no doctors would be present on the battle front. All in all, however, this "Nakano-ryu" was successful in achieving its objectives. The military was pleased with the results and Yoshitaka and Egami gained prestige from it. Something similar was recounted by Wado-ryu karateka Takatoshi Nishizono in a chapter he contributed to the 1977 book "Karate-do". (Sozo Co. Translation courtesy Ian McLaren and N. Karasawa). Nishizono began karate training when he entered Tokyo University in 1941. He became so wrapped up in karate that in fact he neglected his studies and his academic performance was poor. But after graduation he managed to get a job with the North China Transportation Company in Peking; a boring, routine job as he recalled.
In early 1945 however, he was summoned by head office and asked to take on a role as karate instructor to a Special Army Squadron in Taigen. Nishizono felt he was not really up to this but after he was told it was his duty he agreed:
"When I arrived at the special squadron I was introduced to the young Commanding Officer and the other officers. I was made aware of the aim and organization of the squadron but was ordered to keep it secret for security reasons.
"Taigen was the HQ of the 1st Army Group, North China, but our squadron consisted of only 250 volunteers, all of whom had distinguished themselves in battle. We usually wore normal military uniform with the Cherry Blossom badge, but when we began operations we changed into normal Chinese wear and we acted like ninja, carrying no weapons. We were an intelligence and guerrilla unit named "Sakura Squadron" We trained in horse riding, martial arts disguise technique and physical exercise. We never trained with swords or guns; it was required that the Sakura Squadron be able to defeat the opponent with bare hands, and this was why karate was selected.
"I began instruction immediately, on the first day. I was led to a building to be used as the dojo and found the whole squadron lined up, all stripped to the waist. They had superb physiques and sharp eyes. The commanding officer gave a briefing which included the words: "Our training must be real, just like a battle! So it may be that some of you will be killed!"
"That briefing was very effective in impressing the soldiers. Even though they were brave men, some said afterwards that it had made them feel uneasy.
"You cannot teach 200 men sufficient karate to defeat an enemy in one month if you rely on the normal methods of training. I made an instant decision and, selecting two soldiers who looked strong, ordered them to attack me using any technique they wished. They had no experience of karate so I was able to beat them easily; my kicking technique was enough. But they were very brave and continued to attack. But despite the briefing by the commanding officer I did not have the heart to attack the kintekki (testicles). I refrained from using that technique and using only sokuto I knocked them to the floor. After this the soldiers respected my ability and it was much easier for me to teach them.
"My method of training was a simple one. For punching (tsuki) I demanded that they strike to the enemy's face, and for kicking, that they attack the kintekki. For defense we used jodan-uke and gedan-barai. I trained them every day repeating these basic techniques many times. As training progressed the soldiers' stances became stronger. Then we moved on to hon-kumite--serious kumite.
"There was no stopping in our kumite and naturally some arguments arose during this practice. Also, as I could not easily oversee over 200 men I learned that when I was near they would go full force, but when my back was turned they took it easy. I knew that they were tired after their battlefield experiences and at first I pretended not to notice. However, my task was to train them to combat readiness in a month, so eventually I had to be hard with them. If I found anyone being idle I pulled them out and and fought them till they could no longer stand.
"They had all practiced judo, kendo and tsuken-jutsu (bayonet fighting) and were able to pick up karate technique quickly. After training we would take a bath. Some of the soldiers had powerful physiques and I was somewhat ashamed of my own small body.
"That month passed so quickly. All the soldiers trained hard and performed well. On the final day we said our farewells, the officers expressed their gratitude to me, and we had a party. Then I left Taigen and returned to Peking where life continued in the same way as before.
"I never found out what happened to the Sakura Squadron. I heard stories that they had been sent south on a mission and that all had been killed. The men who wore that Cherry Blossom badge were all from Northern Japan; they were so naive and kind. Now it all seems like a dream."
ww2 karate
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