Do the Chinese and Japanese compete over martial arts?

Answer 1

Among prejudiced Chinese and Japanese, that is a bitter ongoing rivalry that has been going on since Hideyoshi Toyotomi attempted to invade (unsuccessfully), Ming era China. Legend has it that a single Shaolin monk, brought down 100 Samurai. The Japanese have been ticked off and humiliated ever since. The story goes, that the Ming Emperor wanted to frighten Japan into never invadind China again, at least not for a very long time.

Not wanting to sacrifice the lives of soldiers, he asked the Shaolin temple to send him some men to fight, he specifically asked for masters. The Shaolin temple refused. When the Emperor asked for young men, then the temple accepted, the Abbots assured him, that the young men would do the job. The young men sent to fight off the Japanese were only 16, however, they had all been training in Kung Fu since the age of 5. Their leader and best fighter, single handedly brought down 100 Samurai. When the rest of them fought, 20 in all I think it was, the horrified Japanese general saw a martial arts lesson, the Japanese did not soon forget.

True to form the Shaolin did not kill their opponents; they only broke their limbs, or incapacitated them. However feeling humiliated, Samurai being Samurai, when they returned to Japan they comitted Sepukku (ritual suicide). Japan, has not forgotten that humiliation, and I think the "battle" even has a name, although I forget what it was. The story is I know is very famous all over China; how 20 Shaolin monks, took on 1,000 Samurai, armed only with staff weapons, they didn't even use blades.

Many Chinese see the Shaolin victory as a triumph of the benevolent and humanitarian ideals of the Shaolin temple, over the more blood thirsty code of Bushido of the Samurai. There were 1,000 Samurai, hell bent on killing the young men; nevertheless the young men managed to beat them back, using the Shaolin temple's ideals, they did not kill a single Samurai. The Ming Emperor's ploy worked, and he proudly declared "seeing what manner of men live in China, the Japanese will not bother us anymore." Well, at least not for the next 500 years anyway.

Ironically enough though, in Japanese book stores, which tend to have massive Martial Arts sections, there are more Chinese martial arts books than there are Japanese. For the most part there are no real rivalries anymore, as a matter of fact many Chinese hold black belts in Karate. More well informed and educated Chinese know full well, Okinawans are nothing like mainland Japanese; as a general rule they tend to be a lot less arrogant. With Japanese teachers, Karate did not spread in China, but with Okinawans, their reputation flourished by comparison. In China I know, the most widely practiced styles of Karate are Okinawan, not mainland Japan styles. Lately though, Kyokshin Karate has made inroads into China.