The Birth of Uechi-Ryu Karate Do
by Michael Banchick
Okinawa is the primary island of a large island chain known as the
Ryukyu (pronounced ryoo' kyoo) Archipelago. With an area of 1176 sq.
km (454 sq. mi.), it is the largest of the Ryukyu islands. The
terrain of the northern two-thirds of the island is mountainous and
forested. The southern third is hilly, rolling country and contains
most of the population."1 Okinawa is located in the middle of the
East China Sea, between Japan and China. It lies within the Kuroshio
(koo-roo shee-oh) jet stream that flows northward from the
Philippines, through the Ryukyu's, and finally past Japan. Ryukyu is
of Chinese derivation, composed of two Chinese characters: ryu
meaning flow, and kyu meaning seek. The assumption is that the
archipelago was named Ryukyu because in order to find it one had to
follow the tide."2 The Kuroshio ocean current (also known as the
Japan or Black Current) acts in the same way as the Gulf Stream, in
that it's strong winds carry warm air, resulting great sailing
conditions. The ocean current and geographic location made Okinawa a
prosperous business in trade during the fourteenth century. At that
time Okinawa became the crossroads for many Asian cultures and
martial art systems for hundreds of years. Okinawa is sometimes
referred to as the, "birthplace of modern Karate.
Many Okinawans, throughout history, found that the practice of
Karate was a way of carrying a feeling of security from their
homeland, of developing a way to organize against discrimination, of
protecting themselves from violence, and of inspiring a sense of
pride into their environment. The life and teachings of Kanbun Uechi
(1887- 1948) illustrate these points.
Kanbun Uechi's (kan' boon way'chee) ancestors were among a group of
samurai who were force to retire in the early seventeenth century,
who latter settled in Izumi (ee-zoo-me), a small community on the
Motobu (moh-toh'boo) Peninsula in northern Okinawa. They began a
life of peasant farming for many years and took part in a life where
Karate was an element of rural village life, particularly in
preparation for festive celebrations. As a teenager Kanbun became
accomplished with the use of a bo (staff) and led demonstrations at
local festivals. on these occasions the seniors in the local village
told stories about masters of technique and skill, with superior
fighting abilities. Fascinated, Kanbun listened to the stories and
became excited about learning Karate.
A few years later an international conflict occurred. Japan
announced a mandatory draft, but resistance to the draft was strong
in Kanbun's native area of Motobu. Attempts were made to evade the
draft and some Okinawans inflicted injuries upon themselves or faked
disability, others fled to China. Kanbun talked the situation over
with his parents and they decided that he would flee to China, even
though he neither spoke the language, knew the customs, or knew any
people there. It was the most desperate of the options for him to
take, but an escape to China was the surest way to avoid the
Japanese draft, and the best opportunity for him to study the roots
of Okinawan Karate.
In the middle of march 1897, at the age of nineteen, Kanbun departed
the northern mountain village of Izumi. He traveled lightly from
Kadena on a ten-day sea voyage and arrived in Foochow City at the
end of the month. In the Summer of 1897 Kanbun and Matsuda
Tokusaburo (mat-su-dah, toe-koo-sah boo-roe), another young Okinawan
from Izumi who had escaped the Japanese draft by going to China,
joined the Kugusuku (koo-goo-soo-koo) Karate school. After a
conflict with one of the senior students, Kanbun left the school.
Soon after he began studying a form of Chinese Kenpo. The Chinese
name for the system he studied is Pangainoon (pwang-gay-noon)."3
Pangainoon means half hard - half soft. this is indicative of the
Chinese concept of yin yang or hardness and softness."4
At the time Kanbun went to southern China the sino-Japanese war had
recently ended and official relations were still tense. Japan had
not only gained power over Okinawa, but was moving to exercise
control in South East Asia, Taiwan, Fukien Province, Korea, and
Northern China. Chinese peasants were struggling for survival while
the Ch'ing Dynasty was falling apart in China. Kanbun arrived in
China to see ordinary people, poor and destitute like himself, begin
to resist their stifling government. Secret groups of nationalist
reformers such as the White Lotus Society were operating to
overthrow the Chinese court. The Boxer Faction had developed
violently anti-foreign and anti-modernization beliefs. For the next
ten years Kanbun involved himself in the study of Pangainoon. He
learned not only the physical art, which included Chinese medicine,
but also the underlying philosophy of the art which made such a
lasting impression on him. 5 In that time, he became fluent and
literate in Chinese. Kanbun was a strong student and in 1904 he
received official certification in Pangainoon. Kanbun continued his
studies as well as assisting with the teaching of classes.
In 1907 at the age of thirty, after ten years of study, Kanbun
obtained permission to open his own school 6. Kanbun became one of
the few non-Chinese ever to have taught Karate in China. The early
years of his professional career passed uneventfully. In the Summer
and Autumn of 1909 Fukien was struck by a severe drought. one of
Kanbun's pupils became involved in a quarrel over irrigation of the
rice fields and called upon his Kenpo skills to kill a neighbor. The
local community then accused Kanbun of failing to teach the proper
spirit of Kenpo. He accepted responsibility for his student. Kanbun
had been teaching in China for three years, when he left for
Okinawa, vowing never to teach Karate again or ever speak about it.
7
In early march 1910 Kanbun Uechi returned home for the first time in
thirteen years. However, there were still unsettled problems to be
dealt with in Okinawa. Eight years earlier in 1902 Matsuda
Tokusaburo, Shingaki Kamedunchu, and some others with whom Kanbun
had escaped to China returned to Okinawa. They were arrested
immediately upon arrival, charged for evading the Japanese draft,
and sentenced to one year in prison. He was concerned about his
status and knew he would have to be careful and avoid the same
fortune as the others. Fortunately. he had adapted well to Fukien
living that he looked Chinese and was able to disguise himself when
returning to the port of Naha. He wore manchu clothing, spoke
Chinese, and tied his hair in a queuq, which was in striking
contrast to the military whiffle instituted by Japan after the
Sino-Japanese War. The disguise was successful and Kanbun returned
to Izumi. Kanbun was thirty-three years of age, and unmarried. In
Izumi he met Toyama Seiko's fourth daughter Gozei by means of a
formal introduction. They married in may 1910 and their first child,
Kanei, was born on June 26 of the following year. Gozei bore them
three more children: two daughters, Tsuru and Kame, and a second
son, Kansei. The Uechi family once again became peasant farmers in
Izumi.
Kanbun kept to himself as he was still fearful of going to jail and
embarrassed about his disgrace in China. However, rumors spread that
a Karate expert lived in northern Okinawa and Gokenki, an
acquaintance from China, identified Kanbun. People who heard of
Kanbun's reputation as a Karate man visited him with requests to
teach in the local schools, of which Kanbun refused. He tended to
his fields and acted as if he had forgotten about China and his
expertise. He refused to demonstrate Karate and taught only staff
techniques at village gatherings and festivals, as he had done as a
teenager.
One year, a large ceremony was planned for the Motobu Police
Headquarters. To be included in the ceremony was Karate, Kendo, and
Judo demonstrations. Karate practitioners of the area who had heard
of Kanbun's skill from Gokenki secretly plotted a way to see the now
famous expert in action. Kanbun attended the festivities and it was
announced he would demonstrate. Kanbun resisted, but they pushed him
on stage and he finally gave in. Immediately afterwards they
requested Kanbun to teach in public schools, but again he refused.
After world war one, the world was gripped by an economic
depression. Japan also was affected by the crisis, and poverty in
Okinawa was especially severe. As a result large numbers of
Okinawans migrated to Japan. Most went to the industrialized kansai
region in search of employment. Kanbun Uechi realized this was an
opportunity to provide a better support for himself and his family.
Moreover, he felt uncomfortable about the pressure applied on him to
teach Karate. In 1924, due to the unemployment problem on Okinawa,
Kanbun Uechi took his family to the Japanese mainland and found work
in a clothing factory at Wakayama. 8
Methods of transportation were not well developed and travel between
Japan and Okinawa was limited, so these foreign workers felt
isolated from their homeland. In Wakayama the poverty stricken
Okinawans were reminded daily of their plight. The local Japanese
treated them as a foreign minority and discriminated against them
socially. To make the matters worse, they were l also preyed upon by
the Wabodan, a hoodlum group who threatened, bullied, beat,
extracted money, and victimized other Okinawans. Most Okinawans were
defenseless against the Wabodan and fearful of complaining to the
authorities. Their only consolation came from the establishment of a
migrant community and an Okinawa Kenjinkai (Okinawa Citizens
Association). Kanbun arrived at this migrant community in Wakayama
and soon found employment at a spinning mill. It was the first time
he and the majority of his compatriots worked under someone else's
employ and lived in tenement housing. Tomoyose Ryuyu from Iejima, an
island close to Kanbun's home on the Motobu Peninsula, lived next
door and they soon became good friends. He was twenty-four and full
of youthful energy. Later Tomoyose would remark that his only
entertainment was to scuffle with local Japanese youths. One evening
when Ryuyu described the day's fight, Kanbun became excited, stood
up, and showed his young friend how he should have moved his arms
and placed his legs. This informal advise continued for some time
until Ryuyu was able to glean that Kanbun was a Karate expert. He
also heard rumors about Kanbun's reputation in Izumi, despite
efforts to keep his identity a secret. Consequently, he applied
formally to Kanbun for instruction in Karate. He argued that if
Kanbun refused, his art would die out. Finally, Kanbun agreed to
teach only Ryuyu.
Not long afterwards, Nakamura Bungoro, an especially successful
Okinawan who had graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo, decided
to initiate a response to the Wabodan problem. In 1926 he and a few
other Okinawans approached Kanbun, whose reputation had been
growing, Ryuyu, and a man named Motobu Chomo, eldest son of the
founder of the Motobu Style of Okinwana Karate, about the situation.
At the same time another group of migrant Okinawan Karate men
decided to do something about the situation. A confrontation ensued
in which it became clear the two vigilante groups would no longer
tolerate the crimes of the Wabodan. Thereafter, the violence against
Okinawans ceased.
Sometime later, Tomoyose, Nakamura, and the Okinawan citizens
association joined in requesting Kanbun to teach Karate publicly. At
first he refused, but they persisted by appealing to his sense of
social responsibility and community organization. Kanbun was
reminded of his youth when Karate was a fabric of village society in
Izumi. Finally, he consented to teach. Ryuyu recruited and screened
prospective students from among the migrant community and in the
april of 1926 Kanbun Uechi began teaching his Karate at the spinning
mill's company housing. The school was named Shataku Dojo and for
the first time Pangainoon was taught outside of China. Tomoyose
Ryuyu was Kanbun's senior student and right hand man. It was a time
when Kanbun concentrated on producing only a few students, so he
limited enrollment in the dojo (school "the place of the way" 9).
Prospective students were strictly screened and had to be introduced
by one of the five original seniors, who in turn acted as guarantors
for the nominee's behavior. Students were forbidden to perform
outside the dojo.
In April of 1932, twenty-five years after opening a school in
Nanching City, Kanbun moved his group to a nearby hall and
established a full-fledged dojo. The Pangainoon-ryu Karate-jutsu
Kenkyu-jo (Pangainoon style Karate study hall) was located at
Tebira-cho, Kiyo-dori. The dojo prospered and eventually Kanbun quit
the spinning mill. He opened a small miscellany shop, but
concentrated on Karate training, which he conducted mornings,
evenings, and sometimes privately during the day. The number of
those who studied under Kanbun grew to several hundred, forty-four
of which became senior members. He taught them only two forms, one
conditioning exercise, and the Chinese medicine he had learned in
China.
The need for some sort of organization became apparent as the
Pangainoon-ryu Karate-jutsu Kenkyu-jo grew. In 1933 they formed
Shubukai (organization of martial training) with by laws, which have
been updated recently to:
Chapter I. Name of the Federation.
Article 1. This organization is hereby named All Okinawa Karate Do
Federation.
Chapter II. The Location.
Article 2. The headquarters of this Federation will be set at the
house of appointed chairman or as may be necessary. Branch office
will be set at the appropriate location.
Chapter III. The purpose of the Federation.
Article 3. The purpose of the Federation is to acquaint all members
and to progress and popularize Karate Do.
Chapter IV. Projects.
Article 4. This Federation will execute the following projects to
accomplish the above article 3.
Item 1. The study and preservation of Karate Do and other old
Martial arts techniques. Item 2. Rational study of Karate to be
adopted as one of the regular courses in schools. Item 3. All
necessary works in cooperation with personnel related to the Karate
Do in foreign countries. Item 4. Execution of the degrees, and
Dan-Kyu testings. Item 5. Administration of Karate Do
Demonstrations. Item 6. The commendation of members and officials of
this Federation Item 7. Other projects as considered necessary to
accomplish the purpose of this Federation.
Chapter V. Membership
Article 5. Membership of this Federation are classified as follows:
Item 1. Regular Member: The regular member of this Federation must
be the person who is teaching Karate Do in Okinawa and who is
actually studying Karate under the aforementioned person. Item 2.
Special Member: Special membership will be admitted upon
recommendation made by the Board Members as it is necessary to do so
to accomplish the purpose of this Federation.
Chapter VI. Officials.
Article 6. The officials of this Federation are as follows:
Item 1. Chairman - 1 Item 2. Vice Chairman - 3 Item 3. Director of
the Board - 1 Item 4. Board Members - 20 Item 5. Secretary - 1 Item
6. Auditors - 2
Article 7. The Chairman should represent this Federation and assume
the full responsibility of the administration of this Federation.
The Vice Chairman should assist the Chairman and in the absence of
him, the eldest of the three should assume responsibility.
Item 1. The Director of the Board will be selected and appointed by
the Chairman out of the Board members. Item 2. The Director of the
Board will execute the projects determined by the Board members in
close coordination with the chairman. Item 3. The Board members and
the secretary will administer the duties as designed by the
Chairman.
Article 8. The Chairman an Vice Chairman are selected among the
Board members at the General Meeting. The Secretary and Auditors are
appointed by the Chairman.
Article 9. The official's term of office is two years, the number of
re-appointments are not limited.
Article 10. The number of Board members, Secretary and Auditors are
twenty and two who are selected among the regular members which is
described in Article 5, Item 1. and are to be recognized at the
general meeting.
Chapter VII. Counselor and Advisor.
Article 11. The counselor and advisor will be appointed for this
Federation.
Article 12. The appointed counselor and advisor will be able to
state his opinion whenever he has been asked by the Chairman
concerning the important problems.
Chapter VIII. Meetings.
Article 13. The meetings of this federation are as follows:
Item 1. General meetings. Item 2. The Board members meeting. Item 3.
The testing committee meeting.
Article 14. The General Meeting is composed of the officials and the
individual members of this Federation and will be held on the
designated date in February annually. However, the meeting will be
called as necessitated and when more than half of the Board members
request it.
Article 15. The General Meeting, the Board member's meeting and the
testing committed meeting are effected upon the attendants of more
than half of the members and the decisions thereof are effected upon
the attendance of more than half of the members and the decisions
thereof are effected upon more than half of the attended members
respectively.
Article 16. The General Meeting, the Board member's meeting decides
the problems brought up by the Board members.
Article 17. The Board member's meeting is called by the Director of
the committee by order of the Chairman as necessitated.
Article 18. The testing committee meeting is called by the Director
of the committee by order of the Chairman.
Article 19. The testing committee is composed of the members
selected as representatives of each association and administer the
testing of Degrees and Dan - Kyu as prescribed in the All Okinawan
Karate Do Federation Promotional Regulations.
Item 1. The regulations concerning the committee is set separately.
Article 20. The Board member's meeting is composed of the Chairman,
Vice Chairman, and board members and executed the following items:
Item 1. The things commissioned by the General Meetings. Item 2. The
things pertinent to the enrollment and withdrawal of members. Item
3. Annual projects and plannings. Item 4. Revision and / or
abolishment of regulations and procedures. Item 5. Concerning the
discussion over budgeting. Item 6. Concerning the disciplinary
actions of members.
Chapter IX. Accounting. Article 21. The fiscal accounting year of
this federation is 1 January to 31 December annually.
Article 22. All expenses generated by this federation are paid off
with the fund accumulated by membership fees, registration fees,
testing fees, and contributions. The fees members.
Article 23. The secretary must administer all necessary duties as
directed by the Chairman and must report the financial standing of
the federation at the general meeting annually.
Article 24. The Auditors must supervise the accounting and when
necessary can audit the accounting books maintained by the secretary
- accountant.
Chapter X. Disqualification of officials and members. Article 25.
The officials and members of this federation will be disqualified
and will lose his rite of membership whenever he commits any of the
following:
Item 1. Upon his death. Item 2. Upon his submission of withdrawal.
Item 3. Failure to pay dues for more than two years. Item 4. When
determined by the board member's meeting. Item 5. Whenever he cannot
perform his responsibility assigned to him as an official.
Article 26. All other necessary agreements will be established as
required. 10
The Shubukai continued to prosper until Japans entrance into World
War Two drew all but a few students away to battle. After the war
Kanbun, who had gone to China in search of stable employment
returned to Okinawa in 1946. Before leaving he placed control of his
school under Ryuyu who too after it until his death in 1970. Kanbun
again left Japan, with two of his senior students, and set a course
for Okinawa. Earlier Kanbun's son, Kanei, had built a dojo in Nago,
which was closed during the war. Kanbun re-opened the Nago dojo and
started teaching again. After returning home to Okinawa Kanbun
demonstrated Karate in publicly a few more times. Three days after
his last performance in 1948 he became ill with nephritis. He fought
the disease for eleven months, but finally died at age seventy-one
on November 25, 1948, known as the master of Panguinoon. In later
years after his death his students re-named the style Uechi-Ryu in
honor or his son Kanei and in memory of Kanbun Uechi. To this day
Kanbun's teachings are referred to by not only Okinawan students of
Uechi-Ruy, but students of the world.
Bibliography and Footnotes ...