Yonamine Chiru, an Okinawan martial artist and wife of the legendary Matsumura Sōkon.

 

Today on International Women's Day, we look back on Yonamine Chiru, an Okinawan martial artist and wife of the legendary Matsumura Sōkon.

Nicknamed Tsuru-San (“crane”) or Yonamine no Bushi Tsuru (“Yonamine the crane warrior”), she was well-regraded as an Okinawan sumo wrestler and considered a “tomboy” for her love of fighting. In addition to her studies of sumo wrestling and tegumi, she was known for her skills with weightlifting.

She was the daughter of a wealthy business owner and she came from a prominent martial arts family, but she could not find a spouse because of her love of fighting. Her parents increasingly raised the dowry to marry her, but found few takers until Matsumura learned about her. He was greatly impressed by her skills and their common interest in martial arts.

While some legends describe a wrestling match between the two, Shōshin Nagamine writes that Matsumura took the more traditional route of asking her parents’ permission. They may have been married in 1818.

Another story goes like this; After their marriage, Matsumura was worried about her habit of walking home alone at night, so he pretended to be a thief to scare her; however, she managed to best him in combat and tie him to a tree before realizing it was her husband!

In the photos: Traditional clothes of the Ryukyu Kingdom