Peichin; warrior) studied karate in Oki-
nawa from the Chinese master Iwah and
from Sakugawa Toudi. Matsumura later
served as a security agent for the Oki-
nawan royal house. During this period,
he traveled to China and to Satsuma,
where he studied the Jigen system and re-
ceived his menkyo(teaching license) from
Ijûin Yashichirô. Matsumura returned to
Okinawa, where he combined his knowl-
edge of karate with his knowledge of Ji-
gen-ryû to create what would eventually
become known as Shuri-di (Shuri Hand).
Both Sakugawa and Matsumura trans-
mitted various weapons kata into the
Okinawan civil combative disciplines.
Chinese Influence on
Okinawan Kobudô
In 1372, the Ming emperor Wu Hong
sent an envoy, Zai Yang, to the Oki-
nawan kingdom of Chûzan for the pur-
pose of establishing a tributary alliance
with Okinawa. The Chûzan king, Satto, was cognizant of the advantages of
being allied with the Ming and welcomed the opportunity of increasing
trade with China, especially Fujian. In 1393, the Thirty-Six Families (the
number thirty-six denotes a large rather than a specific number), a delega-
tion of Chinese envoys, established a mission at Kume village, in the Kume
district of Naha. The settlement at Kume was a point of exchange between
the Okinawan and Chinese cultures. It was at Kume that weapons training
was introduced by the Thirty-Six Families as part of the combative systems
that they brought to Okinawa. The Okinawans absorbed the Chinese fight-
ing arts into their own culture.
In the Ôshima Hikki (Ôshima Writings) it is reported that the Chinese
kenpô(fist method) master Kusanku arrived in Okinawa with a group of his
students in 1762. Kusanku exerted a considerable influence on the develop-
ment of civil combative disciplines in the Ryûkyûs. Kusanku katais one of
the highest forms in Shôrin-ryû and Shôtôkan Karate. Kusanku’s students
included Sakugawa Toudi and Yara Chatan, both of whom made significant
contributions to the study and practice of empty-hand forms and kobudô.
Ryûkyû kobudô was also influenced by Okinawans who traveled
abroad, learning weapons techniques and then transmitting them through
Kobudô, Okinawan 289Sensei Ty Yocham
of the Texas
Okinawan Gôjû
Kai Federation
sidesteps a
downward cut
of the sword and
delivers a strike
with the eku (oar).
(Courtesy of Ron
Mottern)