karate

hidden unity

By Kulamarva Balakrishna

Vienna,SundayMarch 16,2008: It was a great experience with Prof.
Kazuyuki Funatsu of Communication Art at the Shinshu University
of Matsumuto, Japan, who demonstrated last evening in Vienna´s
experimental Lalishtheater, intended to point at the indivisible
nature of art,culture and nature at all times.How classic and folk
art forms of all kinds derived lessons from nature surrounding
those who created them. For example, he showed how karate
weaponless self defense art of Japan imbibed from India´s southern
Kerala via China as kempo to become karate in Okinawa in the
nineteenth century intermingling Japanese rice planting and fishing
movements with Kerala´s own steps of elephants,lions,tigers,
snakes,wild boars,horses and of course fish,with the martial art
of defense ´kalaripayattu´. The art was taken to China in early
fifth century by Mahayana monk Bodhidharma.It became kempo,
kung fu in China, karate in Japan.It was indeed an education to a
mixed audience made of Austrians,Indians,Kurds,Ukranians,
Kosavars, Albanians, Turks and of course Iranians. It was the
western route of the one branch of Arctic Siberian shamans from
the region of Kamchatka Peninsula, who came to India several
thousands of years ago following the seasonal birds using the Khyber
pass. Yet another route to India was via Mongolia,China and Tibet
to enter India from the North East.His hidden message: the identity
of unity of humans remains unobtrusive as if forgotten by the
whole world. (end)