, also Sakugawa Satunushi and Tode Sakugawa, was a Ryūkyūan

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preser ...

master and major contributor to the development of Te, the precursor to modern

Karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

Karate-do

In 1750, Sakukawa (or Sakugawa) began his training as a student of a Ryūkyūan

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...

, Peichin Takahara. After six years of training, Takahara suggested that Sakugawa train under Kusanku, a Chinese master in

Ch'uan Fa Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to comm ...

. Sakugawa spent six years training with Kusanku, and began to spread what he learned to Ryūkyū in 1762. He became such an expert that people gave him the nickname ''Tōde'' ("Chinese Hand"). His most famous student, Matsumura Sōkon, went on to develop the Shuri-te which later develop into a number of karate styles including

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" throug ...

, Shito-ryu, and

Shōrin-ryū Shōrin-ryū (少林流) is one of the major modern Okinawan martial arts and is one of the oldest styles of karate. It was named by Choshin Chibana in 1933, but the system itself is much older. The characters 少林, meaning "sparse" or "scanty ...

.Evolution of Shito-Ryu
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References

External links

Biography of Tode Sakugawa
Okinawan male karateka 1733 births 1815 deaths Ryukyuan people {{Japan-karate-bio-stub