Kūsankū () or Kōshōkun () was a Chinese martial artist who is said to have visited
Okinawa during the
Ryukyu Kingdom in the mid-18th century.
He performed a martial art called ''kumiai-jutsu'' () in Ryukyu, which is believed to have contributed to the later development of
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 ...
.
According to "Ōshima Records" (, 1762) by Yoshihiro Tobe, on April 26, 1762 (
lunar calendar), a ship carrying Ryukyuan envoys set sail for
Satsuma Satsuma may refer to:
* Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit
* ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails
Places Japan
* Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town
* Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture
* Satsuma Domain, a sout ...
(present
Kagoshima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...
). On the way, however, it was caught in a storm and drifted ashore on Ōshima, a small island in
Tosa (present
Kochi Prefecture
Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part ...
). The crew consisted of 52 people, including Shiohira
Pēchin Seisei ().
The book, "Ōshima Records," is a record of interviews conducted by Tōbe Yoshihiro, a Confucian scholar of the Tosa Domain, with the crew members, and contains a detailed description of the domestic situation in Ryukyū in the mid-18th century, including descriptions of Kūsankū and ''Kumiai-jutsu'' (literally, the art of grappling).
The book describes a recent visit to Ryukyu by a Chinese martial arts master named Kōshōkun, who demonstrated a martial art called kumiai-jutsu. The "recent" refers to the year 1756, when the Qing Dynasty's envoy visited Ryukyu, and it is commonly believed that Kōshōkun may have been a military officer on this envoy's mission. Kūsankū is the Okinawan dialect for Kōshōkun.
There is no mention anywhere of a relationship with karate or his teaching of ''kumiai-jutsu'' to the people of Ryukyu, but this book has been repeatedly mentioned in connection with karate because it is one of the few references to bare-knuckle martial arts in the Ryukyu Kingdom period.
According to Tobe, "Kōshōkun" is a title in praise of the man and not his real name. Hence, the identity of Kōshōkun is unknown, although various guesses have been made to this day.
The karate kata "Kūsankū" is said to be a kata taught by Kōshōkun, but there are no primary historical documents to prove this, the only evidence is the name of the kata and oral tradition. This kata was passed down from Kusanku's stdent Tode Sakugawa. Many variations of Kusanku kata exist, however the most unique one is known as "Tachimura no Kusanku" in KishimotoDi, this version was passed on by a student of Kanga Sakugawa known as Bushi Tachimura, a contemporary to the more famous Bushi Matsumura. The kata of KishimotoDi remain unaltered by Anko Itosu.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusanku
Chinese male karateka
18th-century martial artists