Karate and Te

本土普及時におけるスポーツ化によって，「空手」というと，どうしてもスポーツのイメージが強い。その意味でも，本来の沖縄伝統武道としての「手」（ときに「沖縄手」という人もいる），もしくは，個別的具体的に「首里手」「那覇手」と称するのが適しているかもしれない。また，近年，沖縄では，スポーツ空手とほぼ同義の名称としての「本土空手」と区別するために，「沖縄空手」という概念を提唱している。しかし，空手は本来，沖縄の伝統武道なので，「沖縄空手」という言い方は，同義語反復（重複表現）であると言えなくもない。ただ，沖縄の空手の中にも試合を導入している流派や道場があることを鑑みると，「沖縄空手」という言葉は，決してスポーツ空手の対義語ではない。また，たとえ本土であろうとも，スポーツ化していない本来の「手」を追求している団体はいくつか存在する。だとすれば，「沖縄空手」という表現は，スポーツ空手の対義語ではなく，あくまで本土空手との弁別を図るためであって，もし仮にスポーツ空手との明確な峻別を求めるのならば，その場合は「武道空手」という表現が妥当だろう。しかし，厳密に言えば，空手は本来，武道なので，「武道空手」という言い方も，同義語反復（重複表現）であると言えなくもない。このように，「○○空手」のような形容は，多重な意味を含むので，沖縄で構築・発展した徒手空拳の伝統的武術のことを指す場合は，かつてそのように称されていた通り，「手」もしくは「首里手」「那覇手」と称した方が良いのかもしれない。

People have a stable image of "karate" as a sport, because of the sportization during its prevailing in the mainlands of Japan. Then, it may be better to use "te (tiy)" (some say "Okinawa-te [Uchina-diy]" ), or respectively and concretely call "shuri-te (diy)"and "naha-te (diy)," if you want to refer to the primary Okinawan classical martial arts. Besides, in recent years, Okinawan karateka have advocated the word or concept "Okinawa Karate" in order to distinguish their own karate from "Hondo (mainland) karate, " which is regarded as a synonym for karate sports (sport karate). But, the word "Okinawa karate" might be thought to be a redundancy or tautology, since karate is essentially one of the Okinawan classical marital arts. However, considering that there are some schools and dojos in Okinawa importing competitions into themselves, "Okinawa karate" is not definitely an antonym of "sport karate." On the other hand, even if they are in the mainland of Japan, there are some groups pursuing the original "te (tiy)," which has't got sportized. Then, they would be wrong if they used the expression "Okinawa karate" as the antonym of "sport karate" in order to distinguish themselves from "Hondo karate." It would be more appropriate to use the expression "budo karate," if they want to draw a clear distinction between themselves and "sport karate." However, strictly speaking, the expression "budo karate" also might be thought to be a redundancy or tautology, since karate is "budo" from the beginning. In this way, the expressions including any adjective like "something karate" has multiple meanings. So, when we refer to classical martial arts with no arms organized and developed in Okinawa (Ryukyus), we should call them "te (tiy)" or "syuri-te" and "naha-te, " as they once had been called.