Who created the Te martial art?
- Thread starter panzer86
- Start date
Same Trick
Black Belt
Wasn’t it called “tode/(tote)”, where “to” referred to “Tang” as in Tang-dynasty of China, which would mean the origin/(creation) of Te was in China, and as your forum avatar suggests “shorin-ryu”, where Shorin means Shaolin - so Te came from Shaolin in China
isshinryuronin
Senior Master
Not quite. "Te" refers to the native Okinawan MA (which no one knows exactly what that looked like). "Tode" refers to the hybrid art, the combining of te and Chinese kung fu, and became the art now known as "karate."
This kung fu was not of direct Shaolin lineage from the northern Chinese temple in Henan, but mostly southern Chinese MA influence (though elements of northern style survived and were melded in with the southern style). The southern province of Fujian was the major source of Okinawa's exposure to Chinese ways. In those days, Okinawa was more closely connected with China than Japan.
