Nagamine Shōshin

Nagamine Shōshin, 1978

Nagamine Shōshin ( Japanese 長嶺 将 真 ; * July 15, 1907 in Okinawa ; † November 2, 1997 Naha (Okinawa)), 10th Dan , Hanshi , was a Japanese martial arts expert. In 1947 he founded the karate style Matsubayashi-ryu .

Life

He began his studies at the age of 17 under the guidance of Taro Shimabuku and later learned under the famous karate masters Ankichi Arakaki , Chōtoku Kyan and Chōki Motobu . From 1931 to 1935 he was tutored by Grand Master Chōtoku Kyan, who significantly influenced his karate. During a period of training at the Tokyo Police Academy in 1936, he met Chōki Motubo and kept in touch with him even after they both returned to Okinawa. Motubo was considered one of the strongest free combat experts on Okinawa. In 1953 Shōshin Nagamine gave up his police job and opened his own dōjō in Naha, Okinawa, which he called "Matsubayashi Ryū Karate Kodokan". Nagamine was the founder and president of the Okinawa Karate-Dō Federation. In 1975 he wrote the highly acclaimed book "Essence of Okinawan Karate Do", in which he presented his style. In the later years of his life Shōshin Nagamine devoted himself intensively to the interplay between Karate and Zen. Shortly before his death in 1997, he gave a widely acclaimed speech in Hawaii entitled "Karate Do and World Peace". The Matsubayashi style was continued until 2012 by his son, Soke Takayoshi Nagamine , in the home dōjō in Okinawa. Yoshitaka Taira , Hanshi, 10th Dan was elected as the current WMKA President.

There are, however, especially in the USA, numerous Matsubayashi-Dōjō that are organized independently of the home-Dōjō.

Matsubayashi-ryu has many followers in Okinawa, the USA and also on the main Japanese island. For historical reasons, there are currently relatively few schools in Europe that teach Matsubayashi-ryū or other traditional karate styles from the Shōrin-ryū family. Since around 2005 there has also been the first dōjō in Germany in which Matsubayashi-ryū is taught.

literature

• Shoshin Nagamine: The Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do. Tuttle Publishing, North Clarendon 1998, ISBN 0-8048-2110-0 .

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Nagamine is the family name, Shōshin the first name.