Uechi Ryū Family History
Kōburyū is based on Uechi Ryū. Therefore, the history of Kōburyū begins with the history of Uechi Ryū. The founder of Uechi Ryū is Uechi Kanbun, who traveled to China and studied kung fu at the Southern Shaolin Temple. Therefore, both Uechi Ryū and Kōburyū have their distant roots in China.
Why China?
I hope that Kinjō Kaichō will discuss the history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom and how it led to the development of karate. Until then, this is a brief overview of 400 years of the history of Okinawa as the Ryūkyū Kingdom.
The Ryūkyū Kingdom
Okinawa, now a prefecture of Japan, was once a tiny independent country called the Ryūkyū Kingdom. How the Okinawan art of ti (te) became influenced by Chinese chuan fa (kungfu) is the story of the Ryūkyū Kingdom and the ancient origins of karate.
The Ming Dynasty
Beginning in 1372 and continuing for 400 years the Ryūkyū Kingdom was a vassal state of the powerful Ming Dynasty of China. In order to deliver tribute payments to the Ming Dynasty, in the absence of banks and on-line transfers, periodically nobles and dignitaries of the Ryūkyū Kingdom travelled to the city of Fuzhou in the Fujien Province of China by way of huge caravans, sometimes up to 400 people. These were occasions of great ceremony and cultural exchanges. It is not hard to imagine that demonstrations of the local martial arts were part of the entertainment.
In 1392, known as the “Thirty-six Families,” a number of Chinese bureaucrats and craftsmen were sent to live in the Ryūkyū Kingdom by order of the Ming Dynasty to serve the local government and bring learning and culture, Chinese style, to the locals. Many were experts in a variety of skills, such as astronomy, navigation and shipbuilding – and quite probably the martial arts. Descendants of the “Thirty-six Families” were required to return to Fuzhou, Fujien Province, to study. They often served as members of tributary missions, knowing the Chinese language and customs.
The Golden Age of the Ryūkyū Kingdom
With the aid of the Ming Dynasty the tiny Ryūkyū Kingdom became a great maritime trading nation throughout East and Southeast Asia, ushering in the “Golden Age of Ryūkyū.”
More than just monetary tribute, the Ryūkyū Kingdom offered the Ming Dynasty gratitude for their success, honesty in their financial dealings and admiration for all things Chinese, including Chinese chuan fa (kungfu).
Higaonna Kanryō, already known as a Naha-te master, is just one example of a karate master travelling to China to study kungfu. From 1873 to 1882, many years earlier than Uechi Kanbun, Higaonna Kanryō trained at the same Shaolin Temple, but studied White Crane kungfu. This style of chuan fa combined with Naha-te was to become known as Gōjū Ryū.
Historically, Fuzhou, capital city of Fujien Province, was the port of entry for Ryūkyū tribute missions to China. It later became the center for Ryūkyūan activity in China, including a dormitory for Okinawans passing through. Fuzhou, therefore, was the natural destination for Uechi Kanbun and his friend, Matsuda Tokusaburo, to begin their martial art adventure.
Today, as a symbol of their linked past, Fuzhou is the sister city of Naha, the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture. The kanji for Fuzhou (福州) is pronounced Fukushū in Japanese.
The Ming Dynasty
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Chinese chuan fa (kungfu)
| Kenpō | 拳法 |
Karate developed from Chinese chuan fa (kungfu) combined with the Okinawan fighting art of ti (te). Kungfu is actually a catchall phrase referring to any skill that is acquired through learning or practice, even dance or the tea ceremony. The term chuan fa is better, translating as “fist method” or “fighting technique.” The Chinese characters for chuan fa are pronounced kempō in Japanese. Kenpō (often spelled kempō) martial arts schools remain popular in Okinawa.
The origin of the word “karate”
| Tōdi | 唐手 |
| Karate | 空手 |
Originally the art of karate was called tōdi (唐手), meaning “China hand.” Another pronunciation of the kanji 唐 is kara. Only in the early 1900s did tōdi (唐手) become karate (空手), meaning “empty hand.”
Is the word for hand “ti” or “te” ?
| Ti | 手 |
| Te | 手 |
Te is the standard Japanese word for hand. The word “ti” comes from the Okinawan language, once commonly spoken in southern Okinawa but now only spoken by the elderly. Used in combination, “ti” sometimes takes on the pronunciation “di.”
Uechi Kanbun
| Uechi Kanbun | 上地 完文 |
Our story begins with a young Okinawan named Uechi Kanbun, born on May 5th, 1877. Uechi Kanbun grew up in the village of Izumi on the Motobu Peninsula. Young Uechi Kanbun worked on the family farm growing daikon radishes. In 1897, at the age of 20, considered an adult in Japan, Uechi Kanbun and a friend, Matsuda Tokusaburo, left for Fuzhou in the Fukien Province of Southern China to pursue training in chuan fa (kungfu).
Where is the Motobu Peninsula?
The Motobu Peninsula is the large bulge that juts into the East China Sea along the northwest shore of the island of Okinawa. The village of Izumi eventually became a part of the town of Motobu, which occupies the western part of the Motobu Peninsula. The peninsula is largely mountainous with some areas suitable for agriculture. In 1945 the peninsula was the site of fierce fighting during the Battle of Okinawa.
Why did Uechi Kanbun travel to China?
Young Uechi Kanbun had a keen interest in the martial arts and dreamed of traveling to China to study chuan fa at the source. This was not unusual. Many famous martial artists of Okinawa travelled to China to study chuan fa.
In 1897, Japan initiated a policy to draft young Okinawan men for service in the Japanese military. It is sometimes said that Uechi Kanbun left Okinawa before the policy was to go into effect in order to avoid conscription. Kinjō Kaichō does not endorse this story, but you will see many references presenting this as fact.
Where did Uechi Kanbun and his friend go in China?
Historically, Fuzhou, capital city of Fujien Province, was the port of entry for Ryūkyū tribute missions to China. It later became the center for Ryūkyūan activity in China, including a dormitory for Okinawans passing through. Fuzhou, therefore, was the natural destination for Uechi Kanbun and his friend, Matsuda Tokusaburo, to begin their martial arts adventure.
Where did Uechi Kanbun and his friend first study the martial arts?
| Kojō Ryū | 湖城流 |
Upon arrival, Uechi Kanbun and his friend, Matsuda Tokusaburo, first studied at the Kojō Ryū dōjō. Founded in 1392, Kojō Ryū is one of the oldest of Okinawan fighting styles. In Uechi Kanbun’s time, Kojō Kaho (1849 – 1925) was head of Kojō Ryū. It is said that Uechi Kanbun was ridiculed at the dōjō as dimwitted because he was mild-mannered and had a bit of a stutter. Feeling disrespected, Uechi Kanbun left the Kojō Ryū dōjō after only three months to search for martial arts training elsewhere. Uechi Kanbun’s friend remained at the Kojō Ryū dōjō. The name, Matsuda Tokusaburo, can be found in Kojō Ryū lineage charts.
What other famous martial artist traveled to China to study the martial arts?
Many famous martial artists of Okinawa travelled to the Fujien Province of China to study chuan fa at the source.
Pangainoon in China
At the Southern Shaolin Monastery in Fuzhou, Fujien Province, Uechi Kanbun began apprenticeship with a Chinese man by the name of Chou-tzu-ho, known as Shushiwa in Japanese. Under Shushiwa, Uechi Kanbun studied the Chinese language, Chinese medicine and a form of chuan fa (kungfu) called Pangainoon.
Shushiwa by another name
There is some confusion about Shushiwa’s name. His Chinese name is phonetically rendered as Chou-tzu-ho or Zhou Zi He. Students of Kinjō Kaichō have long known him as Shushiwa, but he also went by the name Shushabu. Kinjō Kaichō believes that Shushabu was his real name but Shushiwa was a pen name that he used when he started publishing books about the martial arts. Some references say that Shushiwa had been mistakenly translated as Shushabu. Either way, until the 1970s the name Shushabu was used by the Uechi Ryū organization, but then the organization began to use Shushiwa. The Uechi Ryū kata originally known as Kanshabu was renamed Kanshiwa. You will still find references to Shushabu and Kanshabu on the Internet.
Chuan fa as taught at the Southern Shaolin Monastery
The chuan fa (kungfu) taught at the Southern Shaolin Monastery derived movements from combinations of five animals: tiger, crane, leopard, snake, and dragon.
Pangainoon was based on the movements of the tiger, crane and dragon. The name Pangainoon means “half hard soft.” It is believed that Shushiwa combined the hard body training and offensive techniques of the main southern branch of Chinese chuan fa (kungfu), Southern Shaolin Ken, with another southern style known for soft, defensive techniques. The name Pangainoon, “half hard soft,” seems to confirm this theory.
Legend has it that Shushiwa was a very exacting teacher. The Uechi Kanbun was said to have practiced Sanchin for three years before beginning to learn another kata. Over the ten years that he studied in China, Uechi Kanbun learned Sanchin, Seisan and Sanseiryū and also body conditioning. He did not learn the fourth kata, Suparimpe, from Shushiwa before he left China, so it is not part of Pangainoon or Uechi Ryū.
In 1904, after nine years of intense study, Uechi Kanbun received “menkyokaiden,” meaning he had achieved full mastery of Pangainoon. He continued to study with Shushiwa for another two years.
免許皆伝menkyokaiden
In 1906, Uechi Kanbun opened a dōjō in the southwest of Fujien Province, one of the first non-Chinese to teach Pangainoon in China. He taught in China for three years. Then, during a period of severe drought, one of Uechi Kanbun’s students accidentally killed a neighboring farmer during a dispute over irrigation rights that came to blows.
Feeling disgraced as a teacher, Uechi Kanbun returned to Okinawa in July of 1909, vowing never to pass on what he had learned in China. For the next 17 years he remained true to his vow, even as word leaked out that he was a skilled karate master. He returned to his hometown of Izumi, farmed, got married and had children, including two sons, Kanei and Kansei (Kansai?), and two daughters, Tsuru and Kamai.
Pangainoon in Wakayama, Japan
The economic situation in Okinawa became so depressed that in 1924 Uechi Kanbun was forced to leave his family in Okinawa and move to Wakayama, Japan, where he found employment as a security guard at a textile mill. He remained in Wakayama for the next 23 years, only returning to Okinawa in 1946.
The neighborhood of Wakayama around the mill was rough. Okinawans employed by the mill were harassed and fights broke out between the Okinawans and the local thugs. One of Uechi Kanbun’s co-workers, Tomoyose Ryuyu, suspected that Uechi Kanbun knew karate. He would bring fight situations, real or imaginary, to Uechi Kanbun to discuss methods of defense. Eventually Uechi Kanbun agreed to teach Tomoyose Ryuyu privately. After two years of private lessons Tomoyose Ryuyu convinced Uechi Kanbun to resume teaching Pangainoon.
Until 1932, Uechi Kanbun taught privately to a small group of seven students. Training took place at the textile mill’s company housing. His students were Okinawans living in the Wakayama area of mainland Japan. His first group of students include some names we are familiar with:
- Tomoyose Ryūyū 友寄 隆優
- Ueru or Uera Kenmei – Uezato Genmei
- Uehara Saburo (creator of Seichin) 上原 三郎
- Yamashiro Kata
- Matayoshi Gichū
- Uechi Kanei (Uechi Kanbun’s firstborn son) 上地 完英
- Sakihama Shuei
This was the first time Pangainoon was taught outside of China.
Kinjō Kaichō referred to this as the shataku dōjō, Shataku means “company housing.” The shataku dōjō refers to the dōjō found in a spare room at the mill’s company housing.
Pangainoon Ryū
In 1932, Uechi Kanbun opened a dōjō in Tebira, Wakayama, and began to teach what he called Pangainoon Ryū openly for the first time. Uechi Kanbun called his dōjō Pangainoon Ryū Karate Jutsu Kenkyūsho. It began to draw so many students that he was able to leave his job at the mill and focus on teaching.
What’s in a name?
Uechi Kanbun chosse Pangainoon Ryū Karate Jutsu Kenkyūsho for his dōjō name,. This name might tell us a little about what Uechi Kanbun considered important.
Kenkyūsho
| Kenkyūsho | 研究所 |
Kenkyūsho means laboratory or research institute. Perhaps Uechi Kanbun considered his dōjō a place of study, similar in concept to Kinjō Kaichō’s belief that karate should be a journey of self-discovery.
Karate Jutsu
| Karate-jutsu | 空手術 |
The use of jutsu is also interesting. Jutsu means “art or technique.” Considering Uechi Kanbun’s start in Wakayama teaching Pangainoon as a means of self-defense in response to real fight situations this could imply that Uechi Kanbun was stressing the fighting techniques of karate. Pangainoon Ryū (later renamed Uechi Ryū) was known to be very fast and effective – even deadly.
Why not karate-dō?
| Karate-dō | 空手道 |
Dō means “the way.” Karate-dō places emphasis on karate as a way of life that goes beyond self-defense applications to polishing both the physical and mental aspects of the student. The concept of dō was promoted by Funakoshi Gichin, an Okinawan karate master who, in the early 1900s, sought to unify all karate and have it recognized as a Japanese martial art.
To obtain acceptance by the Japanese authorities, Funakoshi changed the name of karate from “China hand” to “empty hand.” He promoted karate as a type of physical fitness that could be taught in the schools of Japan. Curriculum, rank, uniforms, belts and testing were introduced to further this effort. We remember Funakoshi today as the “father of modern karate,” but he was only partially successful. Rather than unifying karate , yet another style resulted, known today as Shotokan. There are styles of karate, like Wadō Ryū, Shotokan, Shitō Ryū and some branches of Gojū Ryū, that are recognized by the Japanese Karate Confederation, but the Okinawan styles remain apart and distinctly Okinawan.
Pangainoon Ryū Comes to Okinawa
Uechi Kanbun, founder of Pangainoon Ryū, himself never actually opened a dōjō in Okinawa.
Uechi Kanbun’s son, Uechi Kanei, began to study Pangainoon Ryū at age seventeen in 1947. Uechi Kanei listed his three reasons for beginning to study karate. As a child he was considered weak and sickly (probably because of a parasitic infection). He thought that, through karate, he could improve his health. He also wanted to become mentally and physically strong like his father. Finally, as first born son, he knew that he would inherit the style from his father, a duty he took very seriously.
上地 完英Uechi Kanei