The Footprints of Kanbun Uechi

The Footprints of Kanbun Uechi magazine articles

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emattson
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Re: The Footprints of Kanbun Uechi

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"As a youth his body was honed by farming the rocky soil of Takafuto..."

Later, while Kanbun Uechi was wandering in China, Master Makabe Udon, had ridiculed Kanbun Uechi as a “Fat belly Uechi.” It goes to show how quickly isolation, loneliness, and hardship can turn muscle into flab, in my opinion. Another possibility is that his family had food trouble. The human body may cling more tightly onto its fat stores if the eating habits are inconsistent or restricted.
Erik

“Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.”
- John Adams
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emattson
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Re: The Footprints of Kanbun Uechi

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"Chou Tze prostitute"

I agree that the translation went badly in this case. Great names in other language can sound horrible in English. For instant, one common Chinese surname is Ho, slang for prostitute. It has multiple meanings in 9 different Chinese writing: "to congratulate", "together, and, harmonious", "the Xia or Hsia dynasty c. 2000 BC", "Xia of the Sixteen Kingdoms (407-432)", (unknown), "flood" "big, great", "suddenly", "what, how, why, which, carry", "to allow, to permit, to promise, to praise, somewhat, perhaps" "non-Han people, esp. from central Asia, reckless, outrageous, what?, why?, to complete a winning hand at mahjong, beard, mustache, whiskers".

Another friend, a White man, has a surname as "Gross", which feels rather disgusting.
Erik

“Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.”
- John Adams
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emattson
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Re: The Footprints of Kanbun Uechi

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It wasn't the bad translation. It was this forum's cuss word censoring feature changing "Ho" to "Prostitute". Corrected it.
Erik

“Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.”
- John Adams
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emattson
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Re: The Footprints of Kanbun Uechi

Post by emattson »

"Voyage to Fukien Province, China"

Japan started implementing drafting Okinawan youths by 1898. Kanbun secretly left Okinawa in March 1897 for China. He spent ten years in china, adapting their culture. He returned to Okinawa in 1910. Japanese occupied Okinawan experienced a lot of anti-Chinese sentiment at the time. (Re: Go Ken Ki 1886-1940)
viewtopic.php?p=245725#p245725

Perhaps one reason Kanbun kept quiet in his karate skills is that he worried about people getting angry with him practicing the "hated" Chinese style martial arts.
Erik

“Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.”
- John Adams
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