was a prominent Okinawan martial artist and master of Tōde who influenced the development of several major

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

styles.Sato, S. (''c.'' 2005)
Seisho Aragaki
Retrieved on 17 March 2010.
(''c.'' 2006). Retrieved on 17 March 2010.
(24 January 2008). Retrieved on 17 March 2010. He was known by many other names, including Aragaki Tsuji Pechin Seisho.McCarthy, P. (1997): ''The Bible of Karate Bubishi'' (3rd ed., p. 36). Boston, MA: Tuttle Publishing. ()

Life and martial arts

Arakaki was born in 1840 in either

Kumemura was an Okinawan community of scholars, bureaucrats, and diplomats in the port city of Naha near the royal capital of Shuri, which was a center of culture and learning during the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The people of Kumemura, traditionally ...

, on

Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. The island is approximately long, an average wide, and has an ...

, or on the nearby island of Sesoko. He was an official in the royal court of

Ryūkyū The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

, and as such held the title of ''Chikudon Peichin'', which denoted a status similar to that of the

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

in Japan. On 24 March 1867, he demonstrated Okinawan martial arts in Shuri, then capital of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, before a visiting Chinese ambassador; this was a notable event, since experts such as

Ankō Asato was a Ryūkyūan master of karate. He and Ankō Itosu were the two main karate masters who taught Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan karate. Funakoshi appears to be the source of most of the information available on Asato. Many articles ...

Ankō Itosu is considered by many the father of modern karate. This title is also often given to Gichin Funakoshi because of the latter spreading karate throughout Japan, but only after Ankō sensei had introduced the art of Okinawate to the country. Bio ...

, and

Matsumura Sōkon was one of the original karate masters of Okinawa. The years of his lifespan are reported variously as c.1809-1901 or 1798–1890 or 1809–1896 or 1800–1892. However, the dates on the plaque at Matsumura's tomb, put there by Matsumura's fam ...

were still active at that time. Arakaki served as a

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

interpreter, and travelled to Beijing in September 1870. His only recorded martial arts instructor from this period was Wai Xinxian from

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

, a city in the

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

province of

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

China. Arakaki died in 1918.

Kata

Arakaki was famous for teaching the ''

kata ''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practised alone. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practised ...

'' (patterns) Unshu,

Seisan The karate ''kata'' (alternate names ''Sesan'', ''Seishan'', ''Jusan'', Hangetsu) literally means '13'. Some people refer to the ''kata'' as '13 Hands', '13 Fists', '13 Techniques', '13 Steps' or even '13 killing positions'; however, these name ...

, Shihohai,

Sōchin Sōchin (壯鎭) (Japanese: "Tranquil Force", or "Preserve the Peace") is a kata practiced in several styles of karate. It may have derived from Dragon style kung fu, and was taught in the Naha-te school in Okinawa by Seisho Arakaki. It was the ...

, Niseishi, and

Sanchin is a kata of apparent Southern Chinese (Fujianese) origin that is considered to be the core of several styles, the most well-known being the Okinawan Karate styles of Uechi-Ryū and Gōjū-Ryū, as well as the Chinese martial arts of Fujian Whi ...

(which were later incorporated into different styles of karate), and weapons ''kata'' Arakaki-no-kun, Arakaki-no-sai, and Sesoku-no-kun.

Legacy

While Arakaki did not develop any specific styles himself, his techniques and ''kata'' are obvious throughout a number of modern karate and kobudo styles. His students included

Higaonna Kanryō , also known as Higashionna West, was a Ryukyuan martial artist who founded a fighting style known at the time as Naha-te. He is recognized as one of the first students of Fujian White Crane Kung Fu masters, namely Ryū Ryū Ko, in the Fuzhou r ...

, founder of

Naha-te Okinawan martial arts refers to the martial arts, such as karate, tegumi and Okinawan kobudō, which originated among the indigenous people of Okinawa Island. Due to its central location, Okinawa was influenced by various cultures with a long hist ...

;

Chōjun Miyagi was an Okinawan martial artist who founded the Gōjū-ryū school of karate by blending Okinawan and Chinese influences. Life Early life and training Sensei Miyagi was born in Higashimachi, Naha, Okinawa on April 25, 1888. One of his parent ...

(宮城長順), founder of

Gōjū-ryū , Japanese for "hard-soft style", is one of the main traditional Okinawan styles of karate, featuring a combination of hard and soft techniques. Both principles, hard and soft, come from the famous martial arts book used by Okinawan masters dur ...

; Funakoshi Gichin, founder of

Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throu ...

; Uechi Kanbun, founder of Uechi-ryū;

Kanken Tōyama Kanken Tōyama (遠山寛賢 Tōyama Kanken, 24 September 1888 – 24 November 1966) was a Japanese schoolteacher and karate master, who developed the foundation for the Shūdōkan karate style. Background Kanken Toyama, was born Oyadomari K ...

, founder of Shūdōkan;

Mabuni Kenwa was one of the first karateka to teach karate in mainland Japan and is credited as developing the style known as Shitō-ryū. Originally, he chose the name Hanko-ryu, literally "half-hard style", to imply that the style used both hard and so ...

, founder of

Shitō-ryū is a form of karate that was founded in 1934 by . Shitō-ryū is synthesis of the Okinawan Shuri-te and Naha-te schools of karate and today is considered one of the four main styles of the art. History Kenwa Mabuni (Mabuni Kenwa 摩文仁 ...

; and Chitose Tsuyoshi, founder of

Chitō-ryū is a style of karate founded by , (1898-1984). The name of the style translates as: ''chi'' (千) - 1,000; ''tō'' (唐) - China; ''ryū'' (流) - style, school, "1,000 year old Chinese style." The character ''tō'' (唐) refers to the Tang Dyna ...

. Some consider Chitō-ryū the closest existing style to Arakaki's martial arts, while others have noted that Arakaki's descendants are mostly involved with

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arakaki, Seisho 1840 births 1918 deaths Japanese translators Karate coaches Okinawan male karateka Translators to Japanese 19th-century Japanese translators