Karate Kenkyū Shitsu

My first book will cover a mostly unknown student of Yabu Kentsu. I will write several pages about him and attempt to explore his karate in more detail.

Attached is a photo of the widely unknown person.

Miyagi Hisateru’s reflections on Yabu Kentsū reveal a deep reverence for his sensei, who was not only a prominent figure in Okinawan karate but also a respected military leader. Miyagi’s accounts of their time together at the Okinawa Normal School and his unexpected reunion with Yabu in Hawaii in 1927 highlight the lasting impact Yabu had on both his martial arts students and his military peers.

As I wrote before, my wife and I are working on an article series about Okinawan Karate. Actually, we are working on two series, but that is something for the future. For now, let’s focus on the first planned series.

In my first article, I introduced a “rare” obituary written by Hanashiro Chōmo for his friend Yabu Kentsū. In my second article, I delve deeply into the Kata Jion, which is, for me, a very important Kata for understanding the Karate of Yabu Kentsū more deeply. We could even call it the “key” Kata. However, according to Yabu’s teaching method, it should probably be placed between Naihanchi and Gojūshiho.

Can anyone guess what the third article will cover?

I just want to say two things about this book. Firstly, the book is well-researched to some extent.

However, I need to clarify a few things about Yabu’s Gojūshiho:

• Firstly, the Gojūshiho of Nakazato Shūgorō sensei is not from Yabu Kentsū sensei. Nakazato himself confirmed in a Japanese interview that all his kata came from Chibana Chōshin sensei, except for Gojūshiho, which comes from the Hanashiro Chōmo lineage.

• Secondly, the only student of Chibana sensei who received “Yabu no Gojūshiho” is Miyahira Katsuya, who got the kata via Tokuda Anbun 徳田安文 (1886-1945). Tokuda himself was a student of Yabu Kentsū at the Shihan Gakkō (mentioned by Yamauchi & Nakayoshi).

It also needs to be mentioned that the life dates given by Feldmann for Tokuda Anbun sensei are not correct. (see Page 325)

I have decided to thoroughly review Karate and Kobudō books. The criteria I discussed can be found in the last post or reiterated here:

– translations,
– source material,
– text editing,
– presence of an index,
– and image quality.

My main goal is to improve the quality of published Karate works, not to disparage the authors. Therefore, I ask for forgiveness for the criticism in advance. A mistake is a mistake, and only by acknowledging mistakes can we learn from them. I explicitly request that you point out any future mistakes to me as well – I will be grateful, and at our next meeting, the first beer is on me.

If I receive a free copy from the author, I will, of course, disclose that. However, this will not result in any embellishment of the review.

If the author wishes for a preliminary review, they are welcome to contact me.

I will gradually start reviewing books about Okinawa Karate & Kobudō. However, I will begin with books that were published after January 1, 2023 – there may be exceptions.

The books will be examined neutrally and critically. This means: translations, source material, text editing, presence of an index, and image quality.

However, the main focus of our/my work will be on the Japanese article series, as well as the German interview series (which will soon begin with the Shimabukuro Zenpo interview).

I believe it is no secret that we are working on a Tō‘on-ryū article. Recently, a question arose about when the article will be published.

The recently released article about Yabu Kentsū is the path to the house, the upcoming articles will be the different house connections and the foundation, and the 6th article will then be the Tō‘on-ryū article (the HIGHLIGHT – aka the House).

Various things need to be initiated before we can write in more detail about Kyoda Jūhatsu sensei.