Chapter 14: Early Masters

Other Okinawan Masters

In 1887, Kabun Uechi went to southern China where he studied the three foremost styles of Kempo. He Studied Pai-gai-noon-chaun-fa with Shiwa Shu (Tzu Ho Cho) who taught the best patterns from each of the three styles: Sanchin (the exercise developed by Bodhidharma), Seisan, and San-ju-roku. After 13 years in China, one of Kanbun's students killed a man in an argument, so Kabun left China and swore never to teach Kempo again. A decade later, he moved to Japan because of poor economic conditions. In Japan, some of his Okinawan friends were getting beaten up by Japanese gangsters, so, to help his friends survive these attacks, he started teaching Kempo again in the early 1920's. What he called Pai-gai-noon Kempo was later changed to the name to Pai-gai-noon Karate-do in the 1930's.

After Kanbun's death in 1948, his son took over and named the style "Uechi-ryu" in honor of his father. After Kanei's death, his son Kanmei took over, but, due to political disputes, Uechi-ryu fragmented into several groups.

In 1929, Chojun Miyagi, founder of the "Goju-ryu" style of karate went to Japan; followed by Kenwa Mabuni, founder of the "Shito-ryu" style. The first university Japanese Karate club was established at Keio University in 1924. The University of Tokyo was the first to introduce the use of protective equipment for competition in 1939.