Uechi Ryu Karate
Uechi Ryu Karate is a traditional style of Okinawan Karate. It emphasizes being both explosive and powerful, as well as being simple and practical, using the best aspects of soft and hard techniques, all while utilizing a very stable base. Uechi uses a variety of exercises to strengthen and harden the body to better protect itself if struck or assist in making your strikes more effective. This style of Karate is dedicated to using techniques that are considered low in risk, non-flashy and highly effective.
I, Debra Stanton have been withThe Dojo for 8 years under the guidance of Master Ryan Dean. I am now a 3rd degree black belt in Uechi Ryu Karate. I also take classes in Jujitsu (Women Fighting Back- WFB) for self defense. This is a good way to work out instead of going to a gym, I keep in shape by going to karate and Jujitsu classes and having lots of fun. Not only does this keep you in shape, it also helps manage stress and any physical needs that you may have.
Uechi Ryu History
The history of Uechi-Ryu Karate-do is incomplete at best. Because the style was derived from several different arts in China, which were not written down, we must gather what we can, remember it, and pass on to future students
As Kanbun grew, so did his interest in the martial arts. It is said that he became quite good with the bo (6 foot staff). When he turned 18 and became old enough to be drafted into the Japanese army (1897), he and his parents decided that the best course of action would be for him to leave Okinawa for China. At the time, many Okinawans felt oppressed by the Japanese invaders and did not feel it was right that they should be forced to fight for what they felt was another country. As a result, many young men left for China where there was a strong historical tie between the two peoples. So, in 1897, Kanbun left Okinawa for Fuzhou city in southern China (Fukien Province).
After a short adjustment period, Kanbun began to study Chinese Kenpo (Pangainoon) under the famous Chinese master Zhou Zi He (Shu Shi Wa in Japanese). He studied under Zhou Zi He for ten years, becoming fluent in the Chinese language and proficient in Chinese medicine. After receiving a teacher’s certificate in 1904, Kanbun became one of the first non-Chinese to teach Pangainoon in China when he opened his own school in the province of Nansoue. He had been warned by the villagers that it was unwise to open a school there as several people had already tried and failed. In time, however, Kanbun Uechis reputation grew to the point that he was able to develop a very successful school. Then, one of his students, who was quiet and unassuming by nature, got into a fight with someone over a border dispute and killed him in self-defense. Unfortunately, the people of the village blamed Kanbun for teaching the student, which forced him to leave China after thirteen years.
Kanbun returned to Okinawa in 1910 at the age of 33, and vowed never to teach karate again. He became a farmer, married Gozei Toyama, and eventually had four children (two boys and two girls): Kanei (1911), Tsuru, Kame, and Kansei. After two uneventful years, an old student of his from China came to Okinawa and tried to convince Kanbun to teach again but with no success. When Kanbun’s old student got into a fight with one of the area’s karate masters and defeated him, people asked from whom he learned his karate. He told them that Kanbun Uechi was the real teacher and people should seek him out. Kanbun Uechi’s reputation in Okinawa grew, even though no one had seen him do anything. When people asked him to teach them, he denied any knowledge of the martial arts. When the townspeople finally confronted Kanbun with his old student, he could no longer deny it, but still he refused to teach.
Every year the local police department held a large martial arts demonstration where the local karate masters displayed their talent. The other karate masters, who were anxious to see Kanbun perform, asked the mayor of the city to ask that Kanbun participate. Uechi did not feel it would be proper to refuse a request from the mayor and when forced to perform in front of all of his peers, he performed an awe-inspiring Seisan kata, which was said to be his favorite. Due to the great skill of his demonstration, nobody wanted to perform after Kanbun Uechi, and the festival ended. Uechis reputation grew so much after that, that he was asked by Itosu Anko, a great karate expert in Shorin-Ryu, to teach karate at the teachers college in Okinawa. There was so much pressure, that the quiet and modest Kanbun Uechi left for Wakayama, Japan.
Kanbun found a job at a spinning mill and lived beside it in a housing development for fellow Okinawans. There he met a young Okinawan named Ryuyu Tomoyose, who for some reason suspected that Kanbun knew karate. Tomoyose would make up stories concerning make-believe fights and tell them to Uechi, who would then tell Tomoyose what he should have done during the fight. Tomoyose tried to convince Kanbun to resume teaching, but he continued to refuse. Finally, after two years, Kanbun agreed to teach again. Tomoyose recruited other Okinawans around the mill and soon Kanbun Uechi had a flourishing school of several hundred students. His most important student was his oldest son Kanei, who trained for ten years before returning to Okinawa to open his own school in Nago. In 1949, Kanbuns students renamed the style Uechi-Ryu in the Master’s honor.
Kanbun taught in Wakayama until 1946 when he returned to Okinawa. He handed over his school (Pangainoon-ryu Karate-jutsu Kenkyu-jo) to Ryuyu Tomoyose, and re-opened Kanei’s school in Nago which had been closed during the war. Kanbun taught for two more years until he fell ill with a liver problem at the age of seventy-one. However, because a fortune-teller had once told him that he would live until his eighties, he refused to see a doctor, and died on November 25, 1948, on the island of Ie-Jima off the coast of Okinawa. It is rumored that on the day that Kanbun Uechi died, his pain was so intense that he jumped out of bed and got into a sanchin stance because it was the only position where he felt no pain, and then died.
