There has always been some confusion as to why the Taira-Inoue lineage of Kobudo practices more kata than the Taira-Akamine lineage, this even more since a comprehensive kata list written by Akamine Eisuke is found hanging at the Shimbukan that includes kata that are not practiced.
Original photo by Andreas Quast (2010).
In a 1970s footage of the Shimbukan under Akamine Eisuke, there is a kata list that is almost identical with the current kata list hanging in the Shimbukan dojo. However, this 1970s version bears the name “Inoue,” so I wonder whether the list was originally designed and written by Inoue Motokatsu, and later replaced by a version signed by Akamine Eisuke. Moreover, I also compared the handwritings of the two lists and they were written by different hands. Also, in the 1970s footage, there are tools in the Shimbukan probably lend by Inoue, because they appear on later photos of Inoue while they are not seen at the Shimbukan anymore.
It would at least explain why there are kata on the list that are practiced by the Inoue group, but not by the Akamine group, such as Kongo no Kon, Hantagwa no Sai, Sueyoshi no Kon, Yonshaku bo, Sanbon nunchaku and the like.
For the convenience of the students, here is the transcribed and transliterated 1970s kata list. It is basically identical with the current list hanging in the Shimbukan.
Ryūkyū Kobudō Hozon Shinkōkai
Kata
– Kon
- Shūshi Shō/ Dai
- Sakugawa Shō/ Dai
- Sueyoshi
- Soeishi
- Urasoe (Gyakute Hanta-gwā)
- Chinen Shikiyanaka
- Tsuken Sunakake
- Yonegawa (Hidari bō)
- Sesoko
- Shirotaru
- Chōun
- Tsuken Bō
- Chatan Yara
- Kongō
– Sai
- Tsuken Shitahaku
- Hama Higa
- Chatan Yara
- Hanta-gwā
- Yakā
- Tawada-ryū
- Jigen (Manji no Sai)
- Kojō (Sanbon)
– Kama (Nichōgama)
- Tōzan-ryū
- Kanegawa-ryū
– Tekkō
– Tonfā
– Nunchaku
– Tinbē
– Surujin
– Others
- Kyūshakubō
- Sanbon nunchaku
- Mēkata Bō (Yonshaku)
All Japan General Headquarters
That’s all
Inoue
Ryūkyū Kobudō Hozon Shinkōkai General Headquarters
The above is the 1970s list. It is not 100% clear if Inoue really wrote it but it can well be. The Okinawans received a lot of influence from the mainland at the time, and it would be no wonder if they followed Inoue on kata names, terminology and other topics.
© 2023, Andreas Quast. All rights reserved.