Source: Karate e Kobudo
Tradizionali di Okinawa — Okinawa Dento Karate-do
I had seen pictures of
Kyan Sensei’s students’ kumite before, but I think this is the
first time I have seen pictures of his own kumite. I was asked
about the source, so I looked it up but didn’t know. I have not seen any of
these photos in any published books in Japan. The above photos appear to have
been taken from a foreign book.
The images are blurred,
and there are not many of them, but they are valuable as kumite photos
of Kyan Sensei himself.
When I saw these
pictures, I thought it was similar to Motobu Chōki’s kumite. There
is a suggestion that Motobu Chōki plays the role of Kyan’s counterpart, but I
don’t know. The vibe is similar, but I think it’s different. Of course, they
were relatives and had practiced karate together since childhood, so I think
they also practiced kumite.
The other day, I wrote
about the characteristics of the old-style kumite: “irimi (moving
forward on the body),” “tai sabaki (body shifting)”, and “hazushi (removing,
dodging and deflecting etc.).” It can be seen that the above kumite also
applies to those principles. The last photo is a holding technique (osae
waza) after a throwing technique (nage waza, tuitī),
isn’t it? Of course, Kyan Sensei’s ingenuity may have contributed to this, but
the above photos are valuable for confirming the principles of the
old-style kumite.
Postscript (September
7, 2023)
As mentioned above, the photos in this article were shared from a Facebook
post. It later turned out that these photos were from a kumite book by Kyan
Chōtoku. I was told that these photos were published in a book by a foreign
branch of a Kyan lineage dojo in Okinawa, but I have not checked that book.
The original Japanese article and English
translation were posted on Ameblo on May 10, 2020.
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