Monthly Archives: April 2016

Ōshima Hikki – 002 – The Course of the Ship

On 1762/04/26 a Ryūkyūan tribute ship (kaisen 楷船) bound for Satsuma set sails from Naha harbor towards Unten in northern Okinawa. Unten is about 20 ri 里 [80km] distant from Naha (1 ri = 3,927m). The ship had fifteen sails, … Continue reading

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Ōshima Hikki – 001

In 1762, a Ryūkyūan tribute ship bound for Satsuma drifted ashore at Ōshima, a small island off the southern tip of Tosa province in today’s Kōchi Prefecture 高知県. From the exchange with a Ryūkyūan named Shiohira Pēchin, the young Confucian scholar … Continue reading

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A Paraphrasis of Article 1 from “Itosu’s Ten Maxims”

There was a discussion recently in an online forum, which touched the topic of karate as a 1) civilian self-defence system for use against 2) untrained attackers. We hear these two arguments all the time. The disourse circles around a perceived … Continue reading

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Some points of contact between Taoism and old martial arts in Ryukyu

Recently the topic of Taoism in martial arts was raised by quoting Kai Filipiak PhD, stating that while “there is evidence for martial practice in many Buddhist locations […] historical evidence for Daoist practice of martial arts is rare.” (Academic … Continue reading

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Complete Illustrated Book of the Teaching Methods of Tying, Resuscitation, and [the Jūjutsu method of] Kenpō

The title of the book is Hayanawa Kappō Kenpō Kyōhan Zukai Zen 早繩活法拳法教範図解・全. It is situated in the middle of the title page and printed in big letters. The title translates to: “Complete Illustrated Book of the Teaching Methods of Tying, … Continue reading

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Yakusoku kumite – Date and Conditions of Creation

So far the history of the kumite created by the various schools has not been researched and documented well. Because it is possible to create all kinds of kumite at any given time, the lack of documentation is a problem. It is therefore important to record the kumite-history of various … Continue reading

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