NOTES ON MIYAGI AND KYODA:

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By Graham Noble

The transmission of To-on Ryu – Regarding the fragility of the transmission of To-on Ryu, Mario McKenna told Lex Opidam, in an interview for the online “Meibukan magazine” (No. 5, July 2005) that Juko Kyoda was a shy and quiet person who did not care about taking on students.He did teach his son Jumei but he did not continue with his training. Shigekazu Kanzaki “thought that To-on Ryu would have completely died out had it not been for his (Kanzaki’s) dojo.”

On the To-on Ryu kata – For information, Takao Nakaya (“Karatedo History and Philosophy”, 2014 edition, page 93) wrote: “Juhatsu Kyoda had only four kata, (Pechurin, Sesan, Sanseru and Sanchin). But Kyoda’s successor, Kanzaki Sensei (Juwa Kanzaki) told me about one more kata Kanzaki did not learn. So the total is five. When Higaonna passed away Kyoda was twenty eight years old. There is no clear reason why Kyoda did not learn more kata like Miyagi.”

Mario Mckenna’s articles on To-on Ryu – Apart from his regular blog, Mario has published the following articles on To-on Ryu: “To’on Ryu. Karate-do’s Forgotten Style”, (“Dragon Times”, No. 17, 2000); “To’on Ryu: A Glimpse into Karate-do’s Roots” and “Kanzaki Shigekazu. An Interview with To’on-ryu’s Leading Representaive”, (“Journal of Asian Martial Arts”, Vol 9 No 3, 2000); “To’on Ryu. The Karate of Juhatsu Kyoda”, (“Classical Fighting Arts”, Nos. 43 and 44, 2011); “Talking About my Teacher, by Choko Iraha”; (“Classical Fighting Arts” No. 7, 2005; Choko Iraha was a student of Kyoda). Incidentally, a feature on To-on Ryu appeared in the Japanese “Gekkan Karate Do” magazine, October and November 2003 issues.

Juhatsu Kyoda - The To-on Ryu website (in Japanese) contains a memoir by Shigekazu Kanzaki on Kyoda and To-on Ryu, which includes a couple of Kyoda stories. (Translation by Brian Sekiya).

“Sensei (Kyoda) had one bad memory,” Kanzaki wrote. “That was when his right arm was injured during his youth. It was an incident that occurred in Tsuji. Tsuji was the place that was mentioned in many of Sensei’s stories. It was a drinking district. There was a single attacker with a knife. Sensei took the stance, prepared for the imminent attack. Then the unknown opponent attacked. Instinctively, Sensei parried the blow, however, the attacker’s knife was pointing upward (and he was cut). Sensei considered this a bad mistake in his life. The attacker was shocked to see the blood and ran away. Sensei regretted that incident and told me that he should have carefully observed how the knife was pointed. Sensei was a drinker. During his youth, Sensei would drink all night and go to school in the morning. Compared to Sensei, I was a light-weight. Sensei joked and said, ‘Do Karate and you can drink more.’ It was a kind of moment that you could see who Sensei was as a real person.

“ . . . There was another story . . . Many sensei met in Tsuji. It was a bustling area with many entertainment and drinking establishments. There was an argument about some technique at the second floor of a bar. Sensei then said, ‘OK, I will demonstrate it.’ He stood up and had big exchanges (of technique). However, the people who were drinking downstairs did not hear a thing. Perhaps that was natural for Sensei who always maintained a ‘Move like a cat, be strong like a tiger’ attitude. I heard this story form Shigeo Yamaguchi who lives in Kumamoto. He is Sensei’s nephew. I met Mr. Yamaguchi during my training at Japan Defense Agency. He said, ‘Kyoda is my uncle’. He was very good to me personally.

“The place called Tsuji was often mentioned in the stories that I heard from Sensei. There often were challenge matches in those drinking areas. One night, a trouble-maker challenged Sensei. Sensei avoided his attack two or three times. When Sensei was ready to initiate his offense, he said ‘Are you sure you want to continue?’ The attacker ran away. He described the fear that he felt in a book. Sensei said he thought it was ‘that’ man who wrote it. He laughed.”

Incidentally, Kanzaki mentioned a post-war Kyoda student in Kamegawa: “At that time, there was a new student who lived in the city of Kamegawa. We traveled a long distance to Kamegawa. The yard in his house was very spacious and was a perfect place for our practice. Sensei took the city-train via Beppu and joined us.” He doesn’t give the name of this student, or what happened to this line of instruction. It was around this time, according to Kanzaki, that the effect of Kyoda’s leg injury became apparent.

In the interview he did with Pat McCarthy, (“Koryu Journal”, second quarter, 2001), Kanzaki recalled: “It was in the middle of kumite practice when Sensei was instructing me in the correct use of jodan tsuki. During our kumite I inadvertently threw a kick instead of the jodan tsuki. Sensei reacted with such speed that my feet were scooped up and I landed flat on my back. Giving me a pretty concerned stare Sensei quickly apologised for responding too hard and asked me if I was alright. I was more impressed by how fast he reacted than I was (concerned) about myself. I never forgot that day. Once, many years later, I was confronted on the street and my body reacted in a similarly instinctive way. I thanked Kyoda for his patience and lessons.”

Preobrazhensky’s “Wrestling is a Man’s Game” and the use of your stronger side – Other interesting section headings in this book include: Enriching technique is a wrestler’s constant concern – Wrestlers with hypertrophied muscles very often find difficulty in mastering actions demanding speed, plasticity and precision – Any element is good if it brings an opponent down to the mat – While selecting your holds, don’t ignore the past – While developing an individual technique, try and make use of all the advantages and shortcomings of your physical development – A good wrestler must have special actions for different stances of an opponent – A favourite action is a pivot on which the rest of the wrestler’s technique is grouped – It is impossible to be continually successful with only one set of favourite actions.

Goju and lifespan – More recent Goju Ryu masters lived as follows: Meitoku Yagi, ninety one (1912 – 2003); Seikichi Toguchi, eighty one (1917 – 1998); Eichi Miyazato, seventy seven (1922 – 1999); Koshin Iha, eighty seven, (1925 – 2012); Seikichi Higa, seventy two (1927 – 1999). Morio Higaonna, probably the best known of current Okinawan Goju Ryu teachers, was born in 1939 and is still alive at the time of writing.

“The original Sanchin was performed with open hands . . . ” – This quote comes from “My Memories of Master Seiko Higa”, by Saburo Higa, included in the book “Karate Denshinroku”, (True History of karate), by Akio Kinjo, translated by Sanzinsoo.

The conversation between Miyagi and Genkai Nakaima on Sanchin (“If you practise only Sanchin all your life, you do not have to practise any other kata.”) – This is contained in the article “My Reminiscence of Miyagi Sensei”, by Genkai Nakaima, published in “Aoi Umi” magazine No. 70, February 1978. Translation by Sanzinzoo.

The accounts of early Goju Ryu by Genkai Nakaima and Tatsunori Sakiyama - Nakaima’s original article on Miyagi was published in the Okinawan "Aoi Umi" magazine, issue No. 70, February 1978, translation by Sanzinsoo. Sakiyama’s memoir was published in the anniversaty booklet published on the 25th anniversary of Chojun Miyagi’s death: translation by Ian McLaren with N. Karasawa.

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