Sokon ' Bushi ' Matsumura

( 1808 - 1900(?) )

As a warrior, one must develop the speed of a bird and the power of a tiger.
- Sokon ' Bushi ' Matsumura

Sokon ' Bushi ' Matsumura was partly Chinese and grew up in Yamagawa village of the city of Shuri, Okinawa.   We know from Shoshin Nagamine's book Okinawa-no-karate-do that Matsumura's 88 th birthday celebration was in 1896, which is a special celebration for the Okinanwans, and that he lived several years afterwards. But there is no accurate date of his death except it would be in the 1900's.

At a very early age he was accepted as a karate student by Master ' Tode ' (Chinese hand way) Sakugawa (1733-1815), when the Master was 78 years old. According to tradition, it was at Bushi's father's request that Sakugawa teach him. Matsumura was the last of many students of Sakugawa but became the most famous of the time and had a profound influenece on the development of Karate .

The Royal family of Sho acquired ' Bushi ' Matsumura for their service. There he became Chief Tode Instructor and a bodyguard of the King.

Tode was the system of Te practiced among the upper class. The art of Te (hand) as it was known in Okinawa had three names. Each representing the township it was taught in. They were Tomari-te, Naha-te and Shuri-te. ' Bushi ' Matsumura, being of the township of Shuri taught Shuri-te. After many years the name Shuri-te was replaced with Shorin-Ryu .

A LOVE Story

Matsumura married a woman by the name of Yonamine Chiru, was of Okinawan nobility and a highly proficient martial artist.from a family known for their martial arts skills. Yonanmine said she would never marry a man that could not beat her.
The story goes that in his first encounter he fought her and was knocked out, or knocked down. So he went and sought advice ... In the next encounter he was able to defeat her, and she married him.

Certain family tales narrate that it was in fact thanks to Chiru's input, that Matsumura devised Gojushiho-Dai. Chiru was a ' Ti ' expert and a supreme ' Odori ' dance performer (Odori, or Okinawan folklore dance, was used to train and preserve martial arts among ancient aristocrats)
Matsumura's Gojushiho-Dai (or as anciently called - Useishi-Dai), has much of the Okinawan ' Odon ' and ' Ti ' within its structure.
One reason why Yonamine's possible contributions to the Okinawan martial arts development is unknown was because of the cultural implications within a male oriented society, with a female directly influencing in what is considered male matters.

A BULL Story about Matsumura

This is an often-told story that demonstrates Matsumura's strategy. The first story is when Matsumura fought a bull. the King, Sho Tai had gotten a bull from the Emperor of Japan. The king decided to put Matsumura against the bull. Matsumura wasted no time, and went to see the bull-keeper. He asked to see the bull. So the keeper took him to it. He would dress in the same clothing everyday and he would approach the bull in it's pen and whack the bull over the head with a wooden staff day after day until it feared him and knew well who he was by his scent and familiar clothing.
Finally the day came for Matsumura to fight the bull. They let the bull out into the arena, and then Matsumura went out to confront it. The bull sensed it was his tormentor and was terrified and ran away. The story goes that because of this, the king conferred upon him the title of ' Bushi ' ( known in Japan as a samurai ). However, Matsumura continually impressed the King with his talent in performing and teaching karate. Sokon Matsumura was the only Okinawan ever to receive, from any Okinawan King, the title ' Bushi ' because of martial arts proficiency.

The EYES have it.

' Bushi ' Matsumura had to prove his ability many times, and was never defeated. There is this story about the eyes of Matsumura.

A pipe craftsman and martial artist challenged Matsumura to a fight. The man told Matsumura to meet him at a certain spot at a certain hour early in the morning. Matsumura decided that he would show up very early. To the man's surprise, Matsumura was already there waiting, standing in the swirling early morning mist.

So when they got ready to fight, he caught sight of Matsumura's eyes, which had the " look of death " in them. The man was immediately struck with fear, and his courage was destroyed. He just fell to the ground and began to cry. Matsumura told him that his only thought was to win, and that had defeated him. Matsumura's attitude was that of the Samurai. It was the " resolute acceptance of death " as spoken of by Musashi.

The CHINTO encounter

A Chinese sailor was shipwrecked and ended up on the shores of Okinawa, some say he was a pirate and some say a trader. Because of hunger he began to steal food from a local village. The king received word of this, and sent Bushi to hunt him down and capture him.

When ' Bushi ' found him, they engaged in combat but the sailor was adept at 'body-change' as was Matsumura, and the sailor manged to escape.

' Bushi ' later found him in either a cave or cemetary and brought him food. He befriended him and learned his name was Chinto. Instead of bringing him in as the king requested, ' Bushi ' provided Chinto with food supplies in exchange for learning Chinto's martial arts knowledge. From the techniques that ' Bushi ' learned from him, he formulated the kata named Chinto. It is a mystery as to what Chinese system these techniques are derived from.

Some time later around 1830 he traveled to China to study Shaolin Gung-fu (Kempo or Fist method). Most secret of what ' Bushi ' Matsumura learned was the White Crane method. This system he taught only to his son, Nabi Matsumura (1860-1930).

As part as an envoy of the King he had the opportunity to travel into the Chinese province of Fukien. It is believed while there he studied under Ason and Iwah, both military attaches.

' Bushi ' Matsumura served as security agent for the Okinawan royal family until his retirement, and moved to Sakiyama village in Shuri, where he began to conduct karatedo classes. Among his students were Yasutsune "Anko" Azato, Yasutsune "Anko" Itosu, Choshin Chibana, Choki Motobu, Chotoku Kyan and Kantsu Yabu.

It would be his son who would past on his purest teachings known as Shorin-Ryu. Later this system was pasted onto Nabe Matsumura's nephew, Sokon Kohan (1889-1920).