AFRICAN FLAG

EXCERPT FROM

THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN INDIA: A PHOTO ESSAY

By RUNOKO RASHIDI

One of the foremost tasks for contemporary African centered scholars is to provide an historical overview of the global African community. This is a critical task that must be completed in its entirety. This includes the history, culture and present condition of African people both at home and abroad. We are already aware, it should be pointed out, based on recent scientific studies of DNA, that modern humanity originated in Africa, that African people are the world's aboriginal people and that all modern humans can ultimately trace their ancestral roots back to Africa. If not for the primordial migrations of early African people, humanity would have remained physically Africoid, and the rest of the world outside of the African continent absent of human life. This is our starting point.

Since the first modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) were of African birth, the African presence globally can be demonstrated through the history of the Black populations that have inhabited the world within the span of recent humanity. Not only are African people the aboriginal people of the planet, however, there is abundant evidence to show that Black people created and sustained many of the world's earliest and most enduring civilizations. Such was the case in India.

The questions we pose here are simply these: Who are the African people of India? What is their significance in the annals of history? Precisely what have they done and what are they doing now? These are extremely serious questions that warrant serious and fundamental answers. This series of articles, "The African Presence in India: An Historical Overview," is designed to provide some of those answers.

INDIAN FLAG

The historical Bodhidharma was an Indian sage who lived sometime in the fifth or sixth century AD. He is the undisputed founder of Zen Buddhism, and credited with Zen's introduction to China (Shaolin Temple) during his travels to the Middle Kingdom. It was Daruma who taught the Shaolin monks the famed “:muscle change classic”.  (Note: Zen Buddhism is the term used in Japan, but Daruma's philosophy arrived first in China, where it flowered and was called Chan Buddhism. Only centuries later does it bloom in Japan, where it is called Zen).

CHINESE FLAG

It is well documented that many of the Okinawan kata were learned from Chinese military personnel traveling throughout Okinawa, and Okinawans traveling to China.  Many of the names of the kata lean toward the Shaolin Temple of Hounan Province.

OKINAWAN FLAG

The system of Japanese Shotokan has extremely deep roots in Okinawan Karate-do.

Indeed all of its kata are slighted variants of the Okinawan originals.

JAPANESE FLAG

The nineteen kata contained in KARATE-DO KYOHAN are the required learning kata of S.C.O.K.D.A as was intended by Funakoshi Gichin Sensei.  This is Japanese Shotokan as it was given to mainland Japan.  All other kata executed by many o today's traditional martial artist are in fact "not" part of the original Japanese shotokan karate system of Funakoshi Gichin Sensei.  The "other" kata that didn't make it into the Kohan text were not ment to be in to Kohan thus, not meant to be part of japanesse shotokan as presented by "Karatedo Kohan." 

S.C.O.K.D.A. EMBLEM AND AMERICAN FLAG

The South Carolina Original Karate Dojo Association was officially birthed and solidified as a non-profit corporation  in August of 2004. 

S.C.O.K.D.A. was founded and spearheaded by Raymond A. McRinna. 

Shihan McRinna is a martial arts instructor who migrated to South Carolina in December of 1999 from his birthplace of New York City.  It was in New York that McRinna learned the art of Japanese Shotokan Karate-do from his instructor, Master Frederick J. Hamilton.  S.C.O.K.D.A. is USA born however its karate-do is directly patterned from Gichin Funakoshi’s “KARATE-DO KYOHAN.

RANK-DO

            WHITE BELT

            The way of the white belt is to strive!  This is the beginning!  Anyone entering the way must do so of their own free will.  No enticement, trickery, deception, or any type of coercion should be used to edge the beginner.  The desire of the entry level practitioner should be just that, their own free desire!

            Entry practioners should assist one another in the setup, cleaning and maintenance of any and all areas used in the training, under the watchful eye of an appointed supervisor.  The way of the white belt is to learn through resolute acceptance of all tasks given, with minimal questioning.  Questioning as to

“why this or that” at the early stages only slows down the process for the beginner.

            The entry level trainee must learn the way of placing his trust in the Sensei through “Blind Faith”.  Not flinching when the Sensei calls upon him/her for a task, nor showing apprehensiveness toward learning.  At the white belt level the student learns respect for: the Dojo, the Gi and Obe (the latter never being washed).

The Gi (in a traditional setting), must be correctly folded when stored away, kept clean and cared for.  The Gi  is part of the spiritual armour of the martial artist.  The trainee must come to know his/her Gi as a part of his/her soulfulness.

            Training at the entry level is rigorous, therefore the trainee must be willing to endure hardship.  Without the willingness to endure, most never tread far on the martial path, even at the higher ranks.  The wearing of the white belt is special.  It denotes the undertaking of a new way of life, one with rigors which sometimes boggle the imagination.  In this realm of the martial arts (although it seems purely physical), is where spirituality of the art begins.