was an

Okinawan martial arts Okinawan martial arts refers to the martial arts, such as karate, tegumi and kobudō, which originated among the indigenous people of Okinawa Island. Due to its location (between " Mainland Japan" and Taiwan), Okinawa was influenced by various c ...

master who founded the

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 "scan ...

Matsumura Seito Okinawa

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

Kobudo Association.

Biography

He was born May 25, 1889 (although at least one text puts his birth year as 1891) in

Nishihara, Okinawa is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Nakagami District, Okinawa, Nakagami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. In the Okinawan language, ''nishi'' means "north" (in standard Japanese, however, it means "west"), as Nishihara was north of ...

. He was the nephew of Nabe Matsumura (who was the grandson of

Matsumura Sōkon Matsumura (written: lit. "pine tree village") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese handball player *, Japanese synchronized swimmer *, Japanese curler *, Japanese painter *, Japanese botanist *, Japanese math ...

). He began karate training at 13 under his uncle. Matsumura taught him several kata, including Naihanchi Shodan, Naihanchi Nidan, Pinan Shodan, Pinan Nidan, Passai Sho, Passai Dai, Chinto, Kusanku, Gojushiho, Sanchin, Rohai Jo, Rohai Chu, Rohai Ge, and finally at age 23, Hakutsuru. Soken has said in interviews that Kusanku is the most important kata to the style. In 1924, Sōken emigrated to Argentina. While in Argentina, he worked as a photographer and clothes cleaner. He also taught karate to Japanese and Okinawan ex-pats in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. In 1952, he returned to Okinawa and started to teach karate, first to family members. Then he opened a small dojo to the public. At first, he called the style "Matsumura Shuri-te." But in 1956, changed the name to Matsumura Seito Shōrin-ryū karate. Hohan Sōken died on November 30, 1982, in

Students

His senior students included Seiki Arakaki, Mitsuo Inoue, Hideo Nakazato, Kohama, Kohatsu, Yonashiro Masaya Kyan, Nishihira Kosei, Isao Toma, Yoshimatsu Akamine, Seijun Kina, Seizen Kinjo, Yuichi Kuda, Fusei Kise, Takaya Yabiku, James Coffman, Vincent C.Wiegand, Ted Lange, Rick Rose, David Lukasiak, Charles Garrett, David Mauk and Norman Small (Made Australian Director by Master Hohan Soken in 1979)

References

Okinawan male karateka 19th-century births 1982 deaths Shōrin-ryū practitioners {{Japan-karate-bio-stub