4. Wakayama Dojo (B)

[emattson]

Table of Contents
Previous chapter

By Graham Noble

In 1933 a formal association was established, the Shubukai, (Association for Martial Arts Training). According to John D. Mills, students were required to maintain certain standards of behaviour:

We will embody the principles of filial piety and make efforts to be upright citizens.

We will deepen our understanding of everyday life and pursue a hardworking, humble and frugal lifestyle.

We emphasize physical exercise and bodily health.

We will cultivate moral behaviour and increase our appreciation of others.

We will promote social spirit and contribute to public well-being.

And: “Our members will refrain from drunken violence and will not injure another person under penalty of immediate expulsion.”


Alan Dollar, (“Secrets of Uechi Ryu”, 1996) wrote that in 1941 a Wakayama student, Urasaki, got into an argument with a member of another local dojo about their different styles and had a fight with him. Urasaki, apparently, was a troublesome character and acted badly in drink, but in any case before things escalated Kanbum Uechi intervened and defused the situation. Afterwards Urasaki apologised but Uechi expelled him from the dojo. “Kanbum was a private man but in public he was iron-willed.”

Over the years in Wakayama Kanbum Uechi had several hundred students and Uechi tradition is that there were forty four senior members who were to become the backbone of the school’s development in the years following: ”Historically speaking these were the foundation of modern day Uechi Ryu karate; everything we have today is because of these fine bujin.“ A list of the early seniors of Uechi Ryu is given in Alan Dollar’s book. The 1977 “Okinawa Karate Do Sono Rekishi to Giho” included a directory of Uechi Ryu practitioners which showed Kanei Uechi as the current 10th dan head of the style. A separate page showed four past masters: Kanbum Uechi himself (he is shown as 10th dan), and then Ryuyu Tomoyose, Saburo Uehara and Kaei Akamine. Tomoyose’s grade was given as 10th dan, and Uehara and Akamine’s as 9th dan.

There were other 9th dans listed on the following page, and the grades for Tomoyose, Uehara and Akamine may have been posthumously awarded, but the inclusion of these three experts on the same page as Kanbum Uechi himself recognised their importance in the early history of the style.

Ryuyu Tomoyose, of course, was Uechi’s first pupil and a pivotal figure in bringing Uechi’s style out of obscurity. He was born in 1897 in Motobu, Okinawa, and he worked on the land until his early twenties, when he moved to Wakayama and took a job a job at the Hinomaru Sangyo Coprporation, where he was later promoted to a supervisory position. Four years after Tomoyose joined Hinomaru Sangyo, Kanbum Uechi started work for the same company.

Tomoyose was twenty years younger than Uechi and I suppose they made a good combination of experience and youthful energy. The Okinawa Karate Encyclopedia says that Tomoyose became known for his seiken zuki, (forefist thrust) – which seems a little unusual since none of the original Uechi Ryu kata contain any seiken zuki - and kicking technique. He was rather short and thickset and according to the Encyclopedia, he had been recognised as a bujin of great talent even before receiving instruction from Uechi. It’s not clear if this means that he had learned another style of karate before meeting Uechi, but he was known as a fighter. According to his son Ryusen, atlhough he didn’t always win his fights, Ryuyu Tomoyose was a “scrapper” who would challenge ten men. “Needless to say,” the Encyclopedia says, “his skills became polished and refined by the training with Uechi. He was naturally talented and had lightning speed and destructive power.” Another account states that Tomoyose placed great emphasis on building a strong physique and working both sides of the body equally. The idea behind his training was to disable with one movement any opponent who poses a threat to your life: all hand and foot actions should be like a flash, and performed with an iron spirit.

The Encyclopedia entry also notes that throughout his life Tomoyose was known as someone who looked after other people’s interests. Over the years he became a person of influence in the Osaka, Wakayama and Kansai region, especially in the political and economic spheres, and he had a close relationship with the Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, a key figure in returning Okinawa to Japan.

So whereas Kanbum Uechi was quiet and reserved, Ryuyu Tomoyose was more outgoing and involved with the community. That was also the case with Kaei Akamine, who had a reputation as one of the top Uechi fighters. There was a story that at the time of the wadoban problem Akamine defeated six wadoban in a street fight. This was supposed to have happened when he was just eighteen years old, so as he was born in 1908 that would have been in 1926, around the time of the wadoban problems. The Karate Encyclopedia notes that “Akamine’s teacher, Kanbum Uechi, had a strong belief in defending himself only if necessary. His approach was to use bujutsu only as a last resort. His philosophy was stay away from trouble. On the other hand, Akamine’s approach was to take the initiative to not only defend himself but to rescue others in danger. He had a strong sense of justice with a rather aggressive attitude to defend what was right.”

Akamine was big for an Okinawan, about 5 foot 8 and weighing over 200 pounds. He loved sumo and in his later years became Chairman of the Okinawa Sumo Kyokai. There is a 1929 photograph of him in a group of sumo competitors and he looks quite big and physically robust: “He had a powerful physique, great physical strength and sharp eyes.” During his childhood he had received some karate training from his uncle, but once he had been introduced to Uechi’s style he fell in love with it and concentrated on training in that style. He studied initially with Ryuyu Tomoyose and then with Uechi.

Akamine appears in a 1937 group portrait with Uechi and Tomoyose. He looks big and tough, and although he has put on weight since the 1929 sumo photograph, that just seems to add to his presence. He looks straight at the camera with a kind of confident, slightly challenging expression in his eyes. He often travelled between Wakayama and Naha and Uechi tradition is that from 1935 “he practically controlled the Tsuji district of Naha for three years. His great physical power, technique and great courage scared off the criminal elements in Tsuji machi . . . .it was a time when the criminals could have controlled the area, therefore his presence there was important to all.” The Okinawan Karate Encyclopedia states that “There were many situations in Naha for Akamine. There were challenges by students of other teachers wanting to assert themselves but usually he tried to defuse the situation. He was always in control of any situation no matter how violent.”

Saburo Uehara was a bit older than both Tomoyose and Akamine. He was born in 1890 in Naha and after he had done his military service he worked as a farmer on Okinawa. In 1925 he too went to Wakayama to work in a cotton mill and in 1926 he became a pupil of Kanbum Uechi. He would have been thirty six then. Whether he had practised karate in Okinawa previously, we don’t know, but if not he was starting to learn the art at quite an advanced age. Nevertheless, he was regarded as “a superior and apt student and was later certified as master teacher.”

In 1932, after six years of training, Uehara opened a dojo in the Taisho district of Osaka and he is said to have taught karate to the city’s police force. Yoshio Itokazu, another well-known teacher of Uechi Ryu, “well known for his political activism”, became one of his pupils. It’s unclear how long this Osaka dojo was in operation but after the war Uehara moved back to Okinawa and in 1947 he opened a dojo in Naha, thus becoming one of the pioneers in the post war renaissance of Uechi Ryu. He established the Shotoku kai karate study centre, and began to teach a new generation of students.

Kanei Uechi, Kanbum’s first son and the second headmaster of the style, was born in 1911. He lived with his mother until he was fourteen and then with his grandmother for a couple of years and then in 1927 he went to Wakayama to join his father. He found employment at at the Hinomaru joint stock company and joined the Shataku dojo. Although he had been unhealthy as a child he proved an good student, learning from his father and senior students in the evenings. At that time there were five students senior to Kanei: Ryuyu Tomoyose, Genmei Uesato, Saburo Uehara, Yoshitade Matayoshi, and Kata Yamashiro.

At twenty eight, after ten years of training, Kanei opened his own dojo in Osaka, the Pangainoon Ryu Karate Jutsu Kenkyujo Osaka Shibu. In 1940 he opened a dojo at his home in Osaka, and in 1941 he was promoted by his father to master level. He moved back to Okinawa (Nago) in 1942 and began to teach his brother Kansei and other young men from the village in the back yard of his home. This back yard dojo was closed after two years when he was drafted into the army and assigned to Iejima garrison. He was then transferred to the Kunigami ground support unit where he remained until the end of the war.

Next chapter