The History of Fighting

Sensei Keinosuke Enoeda performing Wankan.

Wankan (Kings Crown) is also known as Ohkan (which means the same thing in Japanese). The history of all the Shotokan kata is hazy at best and this applies doubly for Wankan as not much at all is known about its origins. 

In some styles there is another kata practiced that shares the name but has totally different moves to the Wankan of Shotokan, which may suggest that they are both only a portion of a longer, lost original kata. If this is the case, then we can say that it may have been brought to Okinawa from China and taught to Sokon Bushi Matsumura, but this is mostly speculation.

The name is thought to be taken from the first three moves, which when viewed from the front, resemble a crown. The first two moves resemble the two side diadems and the third move creates the centre piece of the crown. If this is more than mere coincidence then it is very interesting as Okinawan kings are not recorded as wearing metal crowns as medieval kings did in Europe.

More Kata History

Title:  The Battle Between the Gods and the Titans

Date:  1600

Artist:  Joachim Wtewael

Information:  According to Greek mythology, the world was once run by a group of deities known as the Titans. Their leader, Cronus, had eaten most of his offspring in a bid to prevent their prophesised rebellion however his youngest son, Zeus, escaped this fate. After freeing his siblings from their father’s stomach, they moved to Mount Olympus from which they waged war on the Titans.

Read more on the Battle Between the Gods and the Titans

A formation of low-flying German Heinkel He 111 bombers flies over the waves of the English Channel in 1940.

Title:  Combat and Defeat of Benkei on Gojo Bridge

Date:  c.1830

Artist:  Hiroshige

Information:  A woodcut print of samurai legend Yoshitsune Minamoto (jumping on the right) attacking the warrior monk Benkei. The holy man had vowed to collect 1000 swords by dispossessing them from their owners in a series of duals. When he met up with the 15 year old Yoshitsune, he needed just one more for his collection but would soon realize that he had met his match. After being defeated but the young samurai, Benkei would become his faithful retainer and fight alongside him until the day they both died.

Akiyama Yoshitoki, a physician from Nagasaki was instrumental in the development of the Yoshin School of jujitsu in the 17th century. After studying medicine in China, he learned hakuda, a fighting style that mainly consists of striking and kicking techniques and applied his knowledge to his jujitsu. This allowed him to develop hundreds of ways to subdue an opponent, and to be able to revive those he rendered unconscious or heal those he had caused injury to.

Picture taken on October 26, 1951, of the fight between the aging former champ, Joe Louis and a much younger up-and-coming fighter, Rocky Marciano. Louis had returned to the ring after retiring to clear his considerable debt to the IRS so when offered $300,000 to fight one of the hardest hitters around, it was too good to refuse.

Marciano, who grew up idolising Louis, demolished the former champion, knocking him to the floor in the eighth round before hitting him clean out of the ring, causing the fight to be stopped on a TKO. Louis retired for a second and final time after the bout, with his debts all but paid in full. After the fight, Marciano apologised to his opponent who humbly replied;

"What’s the use of crying? The better man won. I guess everything happens for the best."