was a karate master in

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, and was among the first people to demonstrate karate in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. Yabu learned Shuri-te from

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 ...

and

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 Okinawa-tode to the country. ...

and

Tomari-te 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 ...

from Kōsaku Matsumora. He is often considered Itosu's top student.

History

Yabu Kentsū was born in

Shuri Shuri may refer to: People *, ring name of Syuri Kondo, a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot boxer and kickboxer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese professional wrestler Characters * Shuri (character), a Marvel Comics superhero ** Shuri (Marv ...

, Okinawa, on September 23, 1866. He was the oldest son of Yabu Kenten and Shun Morinaga. He had three brothers, three sisters, and three half-sisters. On March 19, 1886, he married Takahara Oto (1868-1940). As a young man, Yabu learned Shuri-te from Matsumura Sōkon and Ankō Itosu. Around 1889, he, together with

Motobu Chōyū was an Okinawan martial artist and the 11th ''sōke'' of Motobu Udundī. He was also Ryukyuan royalty and the 11th head of the ''Motobu Udun'', a branch of the Ryukyuan royal family. His younger brother was a karate master, Motobu Chōki. L ...

and

Motobu Chōki was an Okinawan karate master and founder of Motobu-ryū. He was born into a branch of the Ryukyuan royal family, and at the age of 12, he and his older brother Motobu Chōyū were invited by Ankō Itosu to be taught karate. Motobu also studie ...

, learned Tomari-te from Kōsaku Matsumora. In those days, there was no distinction between different styles of karate, and Yabu did not call himself by the name of his school for the rest of his life. Yabu joined the Japanese Army in December 1890. He served in the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

of 1894-1895. He received promotion to lieutenant, but to subsequent students, he was often known as ''gunso'', or sergeant.Svinth, Joseph R. (2003) "Karate Pioneer Kentsu Yabu, 1866-1937."
/ref> Following separation from the service, Yabu became a teacher at Okinawa Prefectural Normal School in 1906. In 1908, Yabu's oldest son, Kenden, emigrated to Hawaii. In 1912, Kenden moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. In the USA, Yabu Kenden became known as Kenden Yabe, after a method of

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

then being used on Japanese passports.''History of the Okinawans in North America'', translation of ''Hokubei Okinawajin shi,'' translated by Ben Kobashigawa. Los Angeles: University of California and the Okinawan Club of America, 1988. In 1919, Kenden Yabe married, and in 1921, his wife became pregnant. Yabu Kentsū went to California in 1919 to visit his son (and, hopefully, grandson). However, Kenden Yabe and his wife only had daughters. Yabu stayed in the United States from 1919 until 1927. He returned to Okinawa via

. He spent about nine months in the Territory. He spent most of his time on

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

, but he also visited other islands. In

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, he gave two public demonstrations of karate at the Nu'uanu

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. Yabu died at Shuri, Okinawa, on August 27, 1937.

Influence on Karate

As a former soldier, Yabu has been credited with helping make Okinawan karate training more militaristic. That is, students were expected to line up in rows, and respond by the numbers. If so, this was probably part of the general militarization of Japanese athletics common during the early 20th century.Abe, Ikuo, Kiyohara, Yasuharu, and Nakajima, Ken. "Sport and Physical Education under Fascistization in Japan," ''Bulletin of Health & Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba'', 13, 1990, pp. 25-4

/ref> However, there is no doubt that his methods involved much rote repetition.Noble, Graham, with McLaren, Ian and Karasawa, N. (1988). "Masters of the Shōrin-ryū, Part II," ''Fighting Arts International'', 51, 9:3, 1988, pp. 32-35. His favorite

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

reportedly included

Gojūshiho is a ''kata'' practiced in karate. Gojushiho was developed by Sokon Matsumura, one of the key founders of Okinawan martial arts and named it "Uesheishi", which literally means 54 methods in Chinese. In some styles of karate, there are two versi ...

and

Naihanchi (or , ) is a karate kata, performed in straddle stance ( / ). It translates to 'internal divided conflict'. The form makes use of in-fighting techniques (i.e. tai sabaki (whole body movement)) and grappling. In Shorin-Ryu and Matsubayashi-ryū ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yabu, Kentsu Okinawan male karateka 1937 deaths 1866 births Shōrin-ryū practitioners People from Naha 19th-century Ryukyuan people