Fujimoto was able to determine that there were just four individuals still alive who had directly studied Pangai -noon karate from Kanbun ....Ryuko Tomoyose on Okinawa_ S.K. and his brother on Leijima...and a K. living in Tokushima Prefecture on Shinkoku. So the 'K' persons were interviewed...and r...

pg 115

On a different occasion Furugen asked Kanei if it was possible to break a brick with a nukite[spear hand]. Kanei simply removed one of his sandals , placed a brick on the wooden underside and then crushed the brick with a savage nukite that sent shards flying through a nearby window

pg 160 There were some notable differences in the techniques used by Kanbun and Kanei. As I found out by conducting research for his book, Kanbun's style has been most faithfully passed down by the Ryuseikan Tomoyori dojo in Wakayama. Some of the more noticeable differences include the axis of the c...

page 159

There were other prominent Uechi-Ryu figures training at the academy in Nodake who were students of Kanbun Uechi from the Wakayama days including Seiyu Shinjio and Seiko Toyama.

Kanbun's breathing method

From the 'book'...pg 143_ first paragraph

"Author" can you describe breathing techniques as well as how you used circular blocks?

"K" We would exhale at the same time as making a spear hand thrust...

[author] do you remember what the sanchin conditioning was like? [K] That's not something you forget. If you could do sanchin holding a bucket full of gravel [18 liters] in each hand, you were considered to have crossed the milestone and made it to first degree black belt Reading the book I get a se...

Good observation Marcus...in my view there is always the same answer: 'The Human condition' ...we have all been through some of it...one way or the other... I am sure that even the book by Fujimoto will have detractors because it will 'threaten' some groups with the new found knowledge. And surely F...

There are stories where Kanbun's dojo in China where he had to 'turn away' the 'dojo busters' ...'many times'...

SK

we trained everyday from 8 to 11 PM. He said if you didn't train every day. you would never really get strong.

Great book.

Author

what was forearm conditioning like ?

[SK]

Forearm conditioning was the most important part practice, and I remember some would be in tears until they got used to it.

Kanbun's breathing I chuckle a bit on this book information, given the breathing wars on this forum in years past. We have heard about a billion arguments on how 'Uechi Ryu -breathes' in contrast to my simple belief that the best way to breathe, is to breathe out at the same time one strikes, and b...

(Robert) Were you able to find out what kind of practice sessions were held during the Wakayama years, or what the atmosphere of the dojo was like? (Fujimoto) Yes - one of his students from Wakayama said they did Sanchin, kotei kitae, Seisan, sparring, and basic conditioning, and he also told me abo...

(Fujimoto) When I was in Fuzhou doing research with the local martial arts association, I tried to do as much as possible to investigate Shushiwa sensei and collect information on origins of the style, but I sometimes thought someone overseas might know a different approach to shedding light on Kanb...

(Robert) There are old versions of some of the kata such as Seisan. I always thought it might stimulate interest in the history of Uechi-ryu if people had the opportunity to study the different versions of the kata. Just witnessing a demonstration of the Seisan done in Wakayama certainly sparked my ...

(Fujimoto) I believe my research into Kanbun sensei’s life has been exhaustive and currently do not have plans to do any more. The only thing I will add is that shortly after publishing the Japanese edition of the book, I had the chance to meet with Kanbun sensei’s only female student and she passed...

(Fujimoto) There are very few karate-related stories from this time in Kanbun sensei’s life. He left China and gave up training under the special set of circumstances described in the book and then spent most of his days in Okinawa working quietly to support his family. His final years in China were...