06/27/2020
Matsumura, Naihanchi, and Kusanku
Author and researcher Mark D. Bishop recently wrote that the history of the Ryukyuan people, “...is what it is required to be - not what it actually is,” due to millennia of foreign control and influence asserted over the Islands. Though some historical records are available, much of the popular history within Karate has been passed down orally for generations in an environment where questions were not always asked, assumptions were sometimes made, and gaps were filled in with aggrandized tales for a variety of reasons. These conditions have left us divergent stories of the genesis and propagation of kata, some of which I will detail in the following paragraphs.
Matsumura Sokon looms large among the ancestors of Okinawan martial arts. Though some oral histories that first appear generations after his death have the king’s bodyguard teaching multiple kata, the record that his students have left for us confirms only Useshi. Kyan Chotoku stated in a 1942 edition of the Ryukyu Shinpō, “The kata of Karate that I was taught was Gojushiho, and I still have not forgotten it,” (1). Yoshimura Chogi, likewise, says he learned Useshi but the historical record has become muddled due to his mention of Kusanku, as well.
One translation of Yoshimura’s work has the bushi saying, “I mainly trained Ūsēshī (i.e. Gojūshiho), as well as Kūsankū,” (2). While it is possible to render his words in that manner, I believe an important connotation is missing. Though -「五十四歩」が主で、クウサンクウを併せまなんだ - does indeed say, “I mainly learned Useshi,” the second half is not an unqualified mention of Kusanku. The verb awaseru means the two things mentioned were brought together in the sense of being mixed and/or compared with one another. I do not believe Matsumura taught Kusanku kata to Yoshimura; evidence leads me to believe that the two compared the form Yoshimura already knew to the concepts contained in Useshi and likely brought into the kata ideas which he/they found useful. Matsumura was known to have his fellow guards create kobudo forms of their own in order to facilitate camaraderie with both the Chinese and Japanese attachés with whom they sometimes worked, and Kanagusuku Sanda once recalled to Iha Kiyo that, “apart from the regular drilling, personal training for the Shuri Castle Palace guards had been more like casual exchange of exercises and techniques among themselves and had not been formal evening gatherings...” (3). The fact that no other student of Matsumura Sokon reported learning Kusanku from him in more that two dozen recorded interviews supports this thesis.
Naihanchi is another kata that I believe is often misattributed to Matsumura based upon a misreading of a singular source. In one part of a series of Ryukyu Shinpō articles released in November of 1936, Motobu Choki said, “Today, they use thrust fist (tsuki ken) strikes that go forward and in a downward direction (called running water), but in the old days there was no such hand technique. In the old days, it was a straight strike that went slightly upward. I believe that this was Matsumura's style from Shuri. Sakuma Sensei's kata and Matsumura Sensei's kata were same. These were old style kata,” (4). It is important to note that Motobu nowhere states that he learned Naihanchi from Matsumura. His only claim is that the method of punching then taught in Naihanchi was different than that which he originally learned, and that he believed the older type of punch was like Matsumura’s, which in turn was the same as Sakuma Sensei’s, for whom he held great affection. As is the case with Kusanku kata, no other direct student of his said they learned Naihanchi from him. For these reasons, I find it to be an untenable position for one to hold that Matsumura Sokon taught Naihanchi Kata.
We will not likely find answers to all of the questions which surround the birth and transmission of the kata we practice, but each day more information is being discovered, recovered, or broadly disseminated for the first time. I believe it is important that we speak with caution and refrain from claiming our theses as facts in order to limit the spread of confusion.
1. http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=7489
2. http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=7474
3. http://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-d-bishop/okinawan-weaponry-hidden-methods-ancient-myths-of-kobudo-te/paperback/product-23058371.html
4. https://www.motobu-ryu.org/motobu-kenpo/lost-interviews/
Thanks to Greg Gudson, Scot Mertz, Andy Sloane, and Olaf Steinbrecher whose conversations helped lead to a coalescence of these ideas, and to the authors and translators whose work is cited.
