Ogura Tsuneyoshi

Ogura Tsuneyoshi (* 1924 , † 2007 ) was a Japanese karate master ( Shotokan , Gōju ryū ) from Kōfu , 10th Dan .

Life

Through his mother he was of Okinawa descent and descended from Takeda Shingen , Lord of Kofu through his father, but none of his parents or grandparents practiced the martial arts. Ogura Tsuneyoshi was in particular a student of Gima Makoto and Yamaguchi Gōgen . Gima Makoto passed on to him the ancient forms of numerous kata with their warlike ( bunkai ), energetic and therapeutic applications.

In 1944 he founded the Gembukai School (Gembukan dōjō) in Kōfu and in the 1970s the Kokusai Karatedo Kobudo Sihikko Kyokai (International Association for the Dissemination of Karatedo and Kobudo), which he tried to develop in the course of his numerous seminars in France and in Europe and Central America . Based on a concept that was already developed by Yagi Meitoku , Ogura Sensei brought out a series of six Fukiyu-Kata that enable training with a partner (Futari-bunkai, San-nin-bunkai, Go-nin-bunkai), the he subsequently increased it to ten (in fact, the many possible combinations allow about 125 concatenations based on the principle). Ogura Tsuneyoshi is considered a "master in the shadows", i.e. That is, his work took place mainly in secret, closed to the public, and his name is rarely found in the official genealogies of Karatedō. Friend of the last living karate and Kobudo masters, from Sakagami Ryusho to Matayoshi Shinpō , an important calligrapher, he was one of the very last recipients of the written and oral sources, which describe the historical and technical developments in the art of the "Empty Hand" (Karate, Death ), especially part of the archives of Mabuni Kenwa (1889–1952, founder of Shitō ryū ), in which there is also an original copy of Bubishi .

From 1973 on, he was the last teacher of Habersetzer been (even then 4th Dan in France), which he 1992 8th Dan and then in 2006 awarded 9th Dan, with the title of Hanshi and the Soke own for his Concept of martial practice, the "Voie Tengu" (path of Tengu, Tengu-no-Michi), which is divided into three areas of competence: Tengu-ryu Karatedo, Tengu-ryu Kobudo, Tengu-ryu hojutsu.

Pierre Portocarrero , to whom Ogura Sensei has also given a Shihan degree for him and with the consent of Sensei Habersetzer, decided to pursue in France the classical school of the Master of Kofu, which he called Gembukan-tode-ryu .

His son Hisanori Ogura has taken over the management of the Dōjō from Kofu since 2007 , where he teaches the synthesis created by his father, Gembukan Karatedo.

Ogura Tsuneyoshi was also a Shinto priest. In addition, he spent some time with the Yamabushi and was introduced through them to Shingon , an esoteric movement in Buddhism . The extent and eclecticism of his knowledge of the Budo arts was extraordinary. He also studied ninjutsu from Koga-ryu with Fujita Saiko . He had also studied the Chinese arts, particularly the style of the "white crane" of Fujian ( Baihequan ), and practiced the kendo and iaido of Omori-ryu .

literature

• Gabrielle and Roland Habersetzer: Encyclopédie des Arts Martiaux de l'Extrême-Orient . 5th edition. Editions Amphora, Paris 2012, ISBN 978-2-85180-841-7

Web links

• Screening of Gembukan-tode-ryu film on Youtube
• Homage to Ogura Tsuneyoshi , in: tengu.fr (French)
• [1] , website of the Gembukan-tode-ryu in France

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