Tomari Naifanchi - Note it opens to the left the same direction as Isshinryu

 

Tomari's Naihanchi, 

which is a Naihanchi kata of the lineage of Iha Kotatsu, 

in the late 1970s, Osaka.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKxcx1Q6qcw

 

 https://ameblo.jp/motoburyu/entry-12179251066.html

 Tomari no Naihanchi

2016-07-10

Translated by Andreas Quast

In pre-war Ōsaka, the largest industrial city in Japan at the time, a large number of people from Okinawa arrived to work away from home and family.

Although they were called migrant workers (hobo), among them were also many members of the former warrior class (shizoku 士族) who since had come to live an impoverished life. Naturally, as persons with the "education and skills of persons with samurai ancestors" they were persons who had received a cultural upbringing and education of the royal dynasty period and who acquired such skills as karate 唐手 and Ryūkyū dance 琉球舞踊.

Well, here I introduce excerpts of “Tomari no Naihanchi” which had been inherited by Mr. Fukuhara Chōsei 普久原朝盛, a friend of the current sōke [Motobu Chōsei] since his younger days.

I do not remember whether Mr. Fukuhara was born in Okinawa or born in Ōsaka. In any case, as a person who had been practicing karate since his youth he was famous as a karate practitioner in southern Osaka Prefecture.

In fact, when I was an elementary school student I also went to Mr. Fukuhara’s dojō, the Seidōkan 盛道館. As a permanent dōjō located close to the local hospital, and because it was just the time amidst the height of the karate boom, the dōjō

had a large number of disciples. My childhood impression of Mr. Fukuhara was that of a gentle and excellent teacher.

Around that time, Mr. Fukuhara began to study under Uehera Seikichi sensei of Motobu Udun-dī. Because of this, he called himself “Motobu-ryū 本部流,” but that was a little before he called himself “Shōrin-ryū 少林流.” In the meantime the dōjō had been closed, but the dōjō-sign from that time is currently still there, and written on it is “Okinawa Motobu-ryū” together with “Shōrin-ryū.”

According to the current sōke [Motobu Chōsei], before studying under Uehara Sensei, Mr. Fukuhara mainly studied under Yara Chōi屋良朝意, the sōke of the Matsumora-ryū 松茂良流. Mr. Yara was a disciple of Kuba Chōjin of Tomari-te and was also a famous karate practitioner from Okinawa in Osaka.

(Above photo, front row from left to right: Yara Chōi 屋良朝意,

 Fukuhara Chōsei 普久原朝盛, Miyagi Chōjō 宮城調常,

 Motobu Chōsei 本部朝正. Ōsaka in the early 1980s.)

After Mr. Fukuhara called himself Motobu-ryū, and since his personal history is not public anymore, many of his students from those days probably did not even know the fact. Mr. Fukuhara’s dōjō was also initially a branch dōjō of Mr. Yara.

Looking at the homepage of Mr. Yara’s Matsumora-ryū, the persons in this lineage are given as follows: Matsumora Kōsaku → Iha Kōtatsu → Kuba Chōjin → Yara Chōi

In addition, during his time on Okinawa, for a period of time Mr. Yara also served as an instructor in the dōjō of Shōshin Nagamine sensei of Matsubayashi-ryū.

Here is the Tomari no Naihanchi video clip, which was taken sometime between 1977 and 1979.

This Naihanchi here, is also a Tomari no Naihanchi which has been taught from Mr. Yara to Mr. Fukuhara. I do not know whether it is a Matsumora no Naihanchi, or an Iha no Naihanchi, or a Kuba no Naihanchi, or if it is a mix.

Moreover, I also do not intend to claim that there is only one Tomari no Naihanchi. It would be academically accurate to say that it essentially is one of the Tomari no Naihanchi, or otherwise that it is one of the Naihanchi from the Tomari-lineage.

However, the Naihanchi of the Iha-Kōtatsu-lineage was also inherited in the Okinawa faction of the Gōhakukai, which had been previously introduced with photos in a karate magazine.

The nuances of the behavior in the Gōhakukai Naihanchi and the Matsumora-ryū Naihanchi are different, or perhaps I should say the tenor or appearance is different. Notwithstanding, they share common points so that they seem to have originated from the same Naihanchi lineage. The common points are,

・ In the beginning it proceeds to the left.
・ The movement of extending the hand following the cross-stance (kōsa-dachi) does not use the Haitō-uke of Itosu-lineage, but Haishu-uchi.
・ The stances are not the stances of the Itosu-lineage with the knees tightened to the inside, but stances are rather close to Shiko-dachi, with the knees [and feet] opened.

Tomari no Naihanchi is also similar to the Motobu-ryū Naihanchi, but in contrast to the foot work in Motobu-ryū – in which the foot work is gentle and the foot is not raised excessively high – in Tomari no Naihanchi the foot is raised high.

About this foot work there is bit of controversy between the current sōke [Motobu Chosei] and Mr. Fukuhara. Mr. Fukuhara said that it is the case that “The foot should be raised forcefully, such as if pulling it out from the mud of a rice field.”

Motobu Chōki disliked this kind of “thud, thud” footwork. This is because he considered that if one thuds (stomps) down the feet, if there is a sharp object such as a pebble underneath, there is the danger of injuring the sole of one’s foot. Therefore, in the Motobu-ryū the feet are neither raised too high nor are they stomped down.

Notwithstanding these kind of differences, I think this Tomari no Naihanchi well preserved the characteristics of Naihanchi from the old era in Okinawa. Only a few Naihanchi from the Tomari-lineage were left behind, and because [otherwise only] Itosu no Naihanchi as well as mixed forms were left behind, it might be said that this Tomari no Naihanchi is one of the “Koryū Naihanchi” which well preserved the characteristics of the Naihanchi of the old period.