Map showing Okinawa in relation to Japan, China, and Southeast Asia
Much is made of the influence of Chinese martial arts on karate, from the “36 families” of Kumemura (LINK), to the Oshima incident (LINK), to the mysterious Hakutsuru kata (LINK), and of course the more solid connections found in Naha-Te styles like Goju-Ryu and Uechi-Ryu. While Chinese martial arts would certainly have had an influence on Okinawan martial arts, given the history of trade and cultural exchange between the two nations, it is hardly the only influence. The Ryukyu Islands stretch across the East China Sea between Japan and Taiwan, putting them in a perfect position to act as a layover for any ship traveling between Japan and Southeast Asia, or even luxury boats from online services you could find here. That region–the continental portion of which is sometimes called “Indo-China”–includes modern-day Java, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines, and many more. The Okinawan people, as a sea-faring nation that relied heavily on trade, would have certainly had encounters with people from this region, and it is plausible that they would have exchanged not just goods and services, but weapons and cultural practices like martial arts. Indeed, we have written records to indicate that such exchanges occurred, and noted diplomat and academic, George Kerr (LINK), wrote in his book, Okinawa: The History of an Island People; “It is noteworthy that songs, dances, and festival sports incorporated many elements which came from overseas in the high days of Chuzan trade in the Eastern Sea; boxing (karate) in which both the hands and feet are used had come from Indo-China or Siam; “dragon boat” racing from South China; the use of teeterboards from Korea; and wrestling from Japan.” This article will specifically explore the connection between Okinawa and the Kingdom of Siam, which we now call Thailand.
Tony Jaa, lead actor in the Ong Bak series of films, dressed in kard cheuk Muay Thai garb
Most martial artists, and fans of combat sports, will be familiar with Muay Thai, also known as Thai boxing or kickboxing. It is known for brutal, often bloody, full-contact fights, generally held in a boxing ring while wearing boxing gloves, but incorporating kicks, knees, and elbows into its striking repertoire. Some may also be familiar with “kard cheuk” Muay Thai fights, where knotted ropes are used in lieu of hand wraps and gloves, as seen in Kickboxer, and the Ong Bak series of films. Recently, prolific Muay Thai fighter and writer, Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu, competed under that ruleset (LINK), making her one of the first women to have done so, and bringing more awareness to it in the process. The kard cheuk ruleset is inspired by Muay Thai’s ancestor, Muay Boran (lit. “Ancient Boxing”), or Toi Muay, which was a more comprehensive fighting art intended for self defense and military training, as well as sport fighting. If one compares Muay Thai to what most people see from karate, they will tend to only see the basic similarities of two striking arts, but by comparing Muay Boran to old-style Okinawan karate, we can see much more crossover.
Comparison of Siamese, Okinawan, and Western bare-knuckle boxing stances
Many of the kamae (postures) of karate can be found in the postures of Muay Boran, which should not be surprising, given the crossover that can be seen across all fighting arts. Of course, there is bound to be crossover in the preparatory fighting stances of unarmed martial arts, particularly when they use little to no hand protection. Such “guard” positions tends to make use of “Clayton’s gap,” which Dan Djurdjevic Sensei has written a good article about (LINK). Beyond that, however, are a number of combative postures, which go beyond simple “guard” positions, and get into actual fighting techniques (which I have written about previously, here: LINK). These are postures which essentially act as a freeze-frame representation of either the beginning, ending, or midpoint of a technique. As “guard” positions, they are often poor choices for anything but intentionally leaving yourself open for an attack, in an attempt to bait your opponent. As active techniques, however, they become functional, with effective combative applications. In order for these techniques to be seen in the kata of karate, understood from a combative perspective, and recognized in the postures of other arts, one must study them by applying bunkai (analysis) as a process (which have I written about previously, here: LINK). Without that understanding, it can be very difficult to see the presence of kata movements in the fighting methods of other arts.
A fighter from Tiger Muay Thai demonstrating a Muay Boran technique, compared to Uechi Kanei (son of Uechi-Ryu founder, Uechi Kanbun) demonstrating a posture found in Sanseiryu
Muay Boran contains a number of techniques, some of which have transferred to Muay Thai, but many of which have not, which can also be found in karate. Obviously, the presence of punching, kicking, elbows, and knee strikes, are no surprise when comparing any striking martial arts. Given the connection between the Ryukyu Kingdom and the Kingdom of Siam, however, one would expect to see some more specific examples of similar techniques and methods. Indeed, many such examples can be found when looking at the techniques of Muay Boran and the kata of karate, covering not only striking techniques, but joint locks and takedowns as well. The details of the execution of these techniques may vary, but the underlying principles remain.
This Muay Boran technique makes use of a principle frequently found in Okinawan martial arts–using three of your four limbs at once in order to control and damage the opponent. In this particular example, you see that the attacker’s head has been grabbed by the defender’s right hand in order to set a datum (reference point) for striking with the left downward elbow, while the right leg executes a shovel kick to the knee. This is quite similar to an application for Passai, where in the kata a crescent kick is thrown to the open hand, followed by an elbow strike being thrown across into the open hand (LINK). For somewhat more static examples of a similar posture, one can reference these kamae found in Gojushiho and Naihanchi Shodan, respectively. Obviously, these three karate examples are not exactly the same as the Muay Boran technique pictured, as they do not explicitly show a downward elbow, although some versions of Naihanchi Shodan do a large, circular, dropping backfist motion prior to the sweep, which can easily be applied as a downward elbow strike without any changes to the movement. Regardless of the differences, however, they can all be applied by setting a datum with one hand, striking with the other arm, and executing a shovel kick to the opponent’s leg at the same time. Additionally, karate frequently exchanges striking techniques between solo kata performance and kata application, so it would not be unusual to see this Muay Boran technique taught as a karate kata application.
An example of a kick-catch takedown from Muay Boran, taken from the Fight Vision YouTube channel, which is also common in karate
A number of sweeps and takedowns are present in Muay Boran, several of which carried over into modern Muay Thai, and many of them can also be found in karate. Quite possibly the most popular example would be the classic kick-catch takedown seen in this animated GIF. If you were to freeze the clip as the takedown is being performed, and remove the opponent, the person performing the takedown is in manji-gamae/uke (swastika posture/receiver: LINK). Indeed, this is a commonly-taught application for manji-gamae/uke amongst many karateka, including Nakazato Minoru, who is the head of the Shorinkan (which is the organization my dojo belongs to), and Iain Abernethy (LINK), who is well known for his practical approach to kata bunkai. Variations of this takedown can also be found in a variety of other kata postures–from the sukui-uke (scooping receiver) movements found in Passai (LINK) and Kusanku (LINK), to the elbow motions of Pinan Sandan (LINK) and Seipai (LINK, LINK).
The technique, “Mighty Bird Battles with Serpent Snake,” from Master Lee’s book, Muay: Submissions, Breaks and Locks of Muay Thai and Muay Boran, compared with a kata application being taught by Jesse Enkamp
In Master Lee’s book, Muay: Submissions, Breaks and Locks of Muay Thai and Muay Boran, another example of manji-gamae/uke applications can be seen in the technique called “Mighty Bird Battles with Serpent Snake.” The book shows two variations, the first of which is the setup for a combination armbar and neck wrenching technique, while the second is a combination armbar and head control takedown. In the case of the first technique, one hand gains control of the opponent’s wrist, while the other arm wraps around their neck, pinning their head to you, at which point the opponent’s extended arm is pulled across the chest to apply an armbar. This is essentially the setup for the karate version of this technique, where we then use the arm wrapped around the opponent’s neck as a lever, hooking their chin with our hand and dropping our elbow behind their back, in order to painfully twist their head to the side while applying the armbar. If you were to take away the opponent, the arm wrenching the head is the raised, bent arm in manji-gamae/uke, while the arm controlling the wrist is the extended arm. The other variation shown in the book still has one hand in control of the opponent’s wrist, but the other arm extends in front of the opponent’s head, pressing their head and neck backward in order to take them off balance and throw them down. This is essentially applying manji-gamae/uke in the other direction, as the raised, bent arm is controlling the opponent’s wrist, and the extended arm is controlling their head. This is a very common karate technique (you can see Nakazato Minoru teaching it here: LINK, and Jesse Enkamp teaching it here: LINK), and although some smaller details may change from style to style, the principles are the same. In both cases, this technique can also be seen as an application for the morote-tsuki (double thrust) found in Naihanchi Shodan (as demonstrated by Funakoshi Gichin, founder of Shotokan, here: LINK), as leaving the arm wrapped around the head in the first version already resembles that posture, and simply pulling the opponent’s arm lower across the chest in the second version will change it to fit the morote-tsuki posture, as well. Of course, as with most fighting techniques, this is not isolated to just karate or Muay Boran–indeed, we can see this same technique in medieval European martial arts treatises, such us the Flos Duellatorum, written by Fiore dei Liberi (LINK).
“Thai Dance Break” found in Master Lee’s book, Muay: Submissions, Breaks and Joint Locks of Muay Thai and Muay Boran
There are many more examples of karate techniques that can be found in Master Lee’s book. One of these is a technique that actually makes use of both a cultural reference and a bunkai concept that can also be found in karate. The book labels this technique, “Thai Dance Break,” and specifically makes the connection between traditional Thai dancing and fighting techniques found in Muay Boran. The technique, itself, is a method of hyperextending the opponent’s knee by using your stance–in this case, zenkutsu-dachi (forward leaning stance). This is a popular ashi-waza (leg technique) in karate for disrupting the opponent’s structure, and is actually included as a drill called ashi-kakie (crossed/hooked legs), which you can see Paul Enfield and Taira Masaji demonstrating here: LINK. The way this is represented by the dance posture pictured actually follows a tenant of the hosoko joko (supporting/supplemental rules) of kaisai no genri (principles for developing solutions), which Toguchi Seikichi wrote about in his books on Goju-Ryu–specifically, the idea that touching part of your body can indicate touching your opponent. In the dance posture, the knees are touching in a stance karateka would recognize as kosa-dachi (cross stance), indicating that your are using one of your knees to attack your opponent’s knee, as shown in the application. This stance can be applied in precisely this way in karate, as well. Notably, this stance appears in the opening of Passai/Bassai (LINK), but it can be found in a number of other kata, as well, from Naihanchi to Sepai. Additionally, the connection to traditional dance is one that is frequently made in Okinawan martial arts, particularly in Motobu Udundi (Motobu Palace Hand). You can see Uehara Seikichi demonstrating some of those connections, here: LINK. In fact, traditional Okinawan dance even includes some postures that are very similar to the Thai dance posture shown in Lee’s book (LINK). The hand and arm positions are also similar to those found in the kata, Seisan (performed, here, by Angel Lemus: LINK), and even the crossed leg position of the dance posture can be seen as indicative of the full step done in the kata to transition from one side to the other.
The technique, “Elephant Whips its Trunk,” as seen in Master Lee’s book, Muay: Submissions, Breaks and Locks of Muay Thai and Muay Boran
Yet another example of a karate application found in Lee’s book is called “Elephant Whips its Trunk,” which traps the opponent’s wrist between the neck and shoulder with one hand, while the other hand rolls over the top to apply an armbar or shoulder wrench, forcing the opponent down. A very similar technique is fairly commonly taught as an application to the “elbow wing” sequence of movements found in the kata, Naihanchi Nidan, as demonstrated by Nakazato Shugoro (founder of the Shorinkan) in this animated GIF: LINK. We can see such a tuidi-waza (seizing hand technique) application for that movement in vintage photos of Motobu Chosei (LINK), and back in 2016 this application was featured on Waza Wednesday (LINK). Lee’s book also features a joint lock where you wrap over the top of your opponent’s arm to wrench it, called “Elephant Raises its Trunk,” (LINK) which is essentially the opposite arm movement of this technique, and is an application found in the circling arm movements of Naihanchi Sandan (demonstrated by Chibana Chosin, founder of Shorin-Ryu, here: LINK).
Khru Yai Sergio Donato demonstrating a takedown found in Muay Boran
In this clip, you can see a takedown found in Muay Boran which, at first, may not appear to have much connection to typical karate kata. Some karateka may recognize the ending posture as being similar to that of the opening movement of Enpi (shown by Funakoshi Gichin, here: LINK), but while the ending position is similar, the movement of the kata does not fit the movement of the Muay Boran technique. Despite the difference in appearance, a very similar technique can be found in the Naihanchi kata. Specifically, this takedown can be used as an application for the crossing forearm motion seen in Naihanchi Shodan (demonstrated here by Ryan Parker: LINK). The technique becomes a bit more evident in the KishimotoDi version of Naihanchi, as that movement is executed at a downward angle (LINK). You can see Ulf Karlsson (Shihan, KishimotoDi) demonstrating this application for Tachimura no Naihanchi here: LINK. Interestingly, in the clip of Ulf Karlsson’s demonstration, you can see that he begins by entering into an application similar to the ones described earlier, related to the Muay Boran technique called “Mighty Bird Battles the Serpent Snake,” and then steps behind the opponent to complete a takedown nearly identical to the one shown here by Khru Yai Sergio Donato.
A Muay Boran combination that uses movements found in Passai
Of course, knee strikes and elbow strikes are two of the biggest things that modern Muay Thai is well known for, so it is no surprise that they feature heavily in Muay Boran. Karate incorporates a good number of elbow strikes, as well, although their absence in competitive sport karate tends to give the impression that they are not present in the art. This isn’t surprising, since sport karate focuses on fast, long-range striking, as opposed to working at close range. The kata of karate, however, are intended for close-range fighting (as discussed in this article: LINK), and therefore contain a number of strikes with the knees and elbows. In this animated GIF, you can see a striking combination used in Muay Boran which parries and controls a punch while delivering a knee strike, which is then repeated, and followed by two alternating elbow strikes. Similar methods can be seen in Tawada Passai, where sagurite-gamae (searching hands posture) is used, then followed by a forearm or elbow strike, followed by a knee strike, and then another elbow strike (you can watch this sequence here: LINK). While it is not done in the exact same manner, the methods are similar.
A Muay Boran technique called “Elephant Trunk Split”
Another elbow striking technique in Muay Boran that can be compared to karate is this one, which is called “Elephant Trunk Split.” It is a kick catch, followed by a dropping elbow to the caught leg, which can be used to simply cause trauma to the muscles of the leg, or even attack the knee joint itself. The initial catching movement can be seen in the yama-gamae (mountain posture) seen in various kata, such as Kusanku Dai (example performed by Nakazato Shugoro, here: LINK). The following dropping elbow can be seen in kata such as Gojushiho (performed by Nakazato Minoru, here: LINK), and some versions of Enpi/Empi (performed by Henrik Vandrup, here: LINK). Of course, there are other, less explicit examples of otoshi-enpi-uchi (dropping elbow strikes) in kata, such as performing a chudan-uke (middle level receiver) while dropping your stance (as seen in this Waza Wednesday: LINK), or even simply executing a gedan-barai/uke (low level sweep/receiver), where the elbow drops before the hand.
A Muay Boran limb and head control technique, similar to an application for Passai
Limb control is a major component of Okinawan martial arts, whether it is to clear obstructions in the way of your strikes, or to attack the opponent’s joints, or just to restrain the attacker and prevent them from harming you. Due to Muay Thai and Muay Boran’s focus on clinching and other close-range fighting methods, they share many of the same limb control methods. The circular entry into shoulder control seen in this GIF from Tiger Muay Thai can be seen in the gedan-shuto-uke (low level sword hand receiver) sequence seen in both Itosu and Tawada/Matsumura Passai (LINK). Of course, the Muay Boran technique uses this limb control to set the opponent up for a knee strike, while the Passai version does not explicitly show a knee strike. That said, the neko-ashi-dachi (cat foot stance) used with the gedan-shuto-uke sequence can imply the use of the lead leg to kick, sweep, or knee strike. This is an idea that was explored in the article, How To Bunkai (LINK).
These are just a few readily-available examples of Muay Boran techniques that can be seen in the movements of kata. Of course, the kata simply show examples, and there are innumerable variations possible in fighting, so although it can be difficult to find perfectly matching techniques, several do exist, and even where they do not match, the methods are often clearly similar. It is possible that such similarities between old-style Thai/Siamese martial arts and Okinawan martial arts are coincidental, but given the historical connection between the two nations, it is not a big leap to make. Patrick McCarthy has written about the connection (LINK), as has Jesse Enkamp (LINK 1, LINK 2, LINK 3), and we have other connections to consider aside from the cultural and unarmed martial arts, such as the origin of tonfa (LINK). While these connections do not change what karate is, they do inform us on how the art may have developed, historically, and provides us some interesting points of comparison, especially for those interested in breaking down their kata to work out their practical application. There are other historical connections we can consider, of course, given the significant amount of trade that the Ryukyu Kingdom was involved in. China is the connection that most karateka are familiar with, since it existed for several hundred years, and has become the most well-publicized trade agreement that Okinawa is known for having, but it can be valuable to investigate the martial arts of other areas of Southeast Asia, as well.