Tag Archives: Kyan Chotoku

The first private dojo in Okinawa?

Posted on March 17, 2024 by Andreas Quast

Some time ago, I wrote about the development of the Okinawan dojo, which is at the core of modern Okinawa karate. Without dojo, there would be no Okinawa karate. Of course, this blog post is pretty limited, but it is … Continue reading →

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Kyan Chōtoku book on public display at the Karate Kaikan for the first time

Posted on April 11, 2021 by Andreas Quast

A panel exhibition sponsored by Okinawa Prefecture that introduces the history of Okinawa karate during the early Shōwa period (started 1926) began on April 8 in the lobby of the Okinawa Karate Kaikan Exhibition Room in Tomigusuku City. The kumite … Continue reading →

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Nakamura Shigeru: “Karate is also to be unified”

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Andreas Quast

“Karate is also to be unified”“Unification with wearing protective gear” Nakamura Shigeru, Chairman of the Okinawa Kenpō Karate-dō Renmei Born on January 20, 1893, he entered the Karate Club of the Shuri Prefectural Middle School in Shuri at the age … Continue reading →

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Kata Taught by Matsumura Sōkon (2)

Posted on January 6, 2018 by Andreas Quast

“Karate no omoide” (My Memories of Karate) by Kyan Chōtoku was published on 1942-05-07 in the Okinawa Shinpō Newspaper. “I never forgot when I went to Shikina-en together with my father in the spring of my 16th year. My father … Continue reading →

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Karate no omoide (My Memories of Karate)

Posted on January 21, 2017 by Andreas Quast

The article “Karate no omoide” (My Memories of Karate) is a primary source about Kyan Chōtoku’s life and his relation to karate. The article was published on 1942-05-07 in the Okinawa Shinpō Newspaper. The Okinawa Shinpō was a result of the … Continue reading →

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Snippet on Kyan Chōfu

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Andreas Quast

There is a written history from 1915* telling of the martial arts of Kyan Chōfu. It goes something like this: Kyan Chōfu distinguished himself in the bugei (martial arts) and owned an extraordinary physique. After he had moved to Tōkyō … Continue reading →

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How tradition really works

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Andreas Quast

In my last post I raised a hypothetical question which placed Shuri-te in a somewhat unfavorable light. Of course, Shuri-te was meant in sense of Itosu Ankō’s school Karate syllabus. Today I would like to relativize and rectify this biased … Continue reading →

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Shimabukuro Eizō (*1924)

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Andreas Quast

The following informations are from: Takamiyagi Shigeru, Shinzato Katsuhiko, Nakamoto Masahiro: Okinawa Karate Kobudo Jiten 2008, pp. 435-37. In 1937 Shimabukuro Eizō studied Shōrin-ryū under Kyan Chōtoku and Gōjū-ryū under founder Miyagi Chōjun. For the following 70 years he walked … Continue reading →

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Shimabukuro Zenryō (1909–1969)

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Andreas Quast

Shimabukuro Zenryō (1909–1969) was born in 1909 in the Kubagawa village of Shuri. It was the same year that Uechi-ryū founder Uechi Kanbun returned from Fujian, China. It was around his secondary school years when Zenryō with sparkling eyes listened … Continue reading →

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Kyan Chotoku, teacher of Nagamine Shoshin.

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Andreas Quast

“When in May 1942 Nagamine Shōshin opened his first dōjō in Naha’s Sōgenji district, it was the only private karate school in Naha at the time. Kyan Chōtoku, his personal teacher, came all the way from Yomitan village, together with … Continue reading →

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