Green to Purple Kata: Pinan Shodan

including form execution, and 3 basic bunkai

Kobudo: Choto Kyan No Sai

including form execution, and 3 basic bunkai

Hand Technique:

Ridgehand (Haito Uchi)

Kicks (Geri):

crescent kick: (Mikazuki Geri) pronounciation = mik-ah zoo-key geh-rhee

Stances: Mid Open back stance (The "only" one in Choto Kyan no Sai form)

Technique (waza): Guard/Side mount Drill

Side mount: Control of opponent from side

Breaking: Children - Knife Hand Break Yellow board

Adult - reverse punch Orange board

Definitions:

Hajime : Start Sempai : Senior Student

Ki : Inner Energy empe/empi: elbow

Domo Arigato Gozaimas : Thank you very much Ohio Gozaimas: Good Morning

Kon nichi wa: Good Afternoon Kon bon wa: Good Evening

nukite: spear hand strike Kuzushi: to unbalance.

Striking Target definitions:

Chudan (chew-dahn)- middle, ex. chest and stomach area.

Gedan (geh-dahn)- low, ex. anything below the obi.

Jodan (joe-dahn)- high, ex. the head.

Pinan Shodan - Peace of mind #1 PINAN SHODAN 1. Position of attention 2. REI 3. Ready stance 4. Turn left 90° stepping back with left foot into front stance and execute (lh) vertical forearm block and (rh) overhead forearm block simultaneously 5. Chamber arms across chest (left over right) and execute a (lh) horizontal bottom fist strike 6. Drop fists in front Turn right 180° stepping back with right foot into front stance and execute (rh) vertical forearm block and (lh) overhead forearm block simultaneously 7. Chamber arms across chest (right over left) and execute a (rh) horizontal bottom fist strike 8. Step back with right foot facing RIGHT, feet together, and chamber (rh) across body (lh) normal chamber 9. Face BACK from stance and execute (rl) lead leg side kick and (rh) back fist simultaneously. Place kicking leg back down and immediately step facing FRONT (left leg forward front stance) and execute (left side) shuto 10. Half moon step with right foot and execute (right side) shuto 11. Half moon step with left foot and execute (left side) shuto 12. Half moon step with left foot and execute (rh) spear hand w/ (lh chambered across chest under (r) arm KIAI 13. Turn left to BACK RIGHT ANGLE (step w/LF) and execute a (left side) shuto 14. Half moon step with right foot and execute a (right side) shuto 15. Step with right foot facing BACK LEFT ANGLE and execute a (right side) shuto 16. Half moon step with left foot and execute a (left side) shuto 17. Step with left foot facing BACK and execute a (rh) middle block 18. Execute a right front snap kick, step through and execute a (lh) middle block 19. Execute a left front snap kick, step through and execute a (rh) middle block 20. Half moon step with right foot and execute a (right side) augmented block 21. Turn left to FRONT LEFT ANGLE (step w/LF) and execute a (lh) down block 22. Half moon step and execute a (rh) reverse punch to the head KIAI 23. Step with right foot to FRONT RIGHT ANGLE and execute a (rh) down block 24. Half moon step and execute a (lh) reverse punch to the head KIAI 25. Step back with left foot into ready stance 26. REI

Choto Kyan Sai

1. Begin facing N, hands at sides, sais handle down

2. Step back w/ right foot into horse stance facing NE, double center block down w/ handles

down

3. Pivot to front stance facing N, left foot forward, open reinforced block, left hand forward

4. Step through w/ right foot into front stance facing N, open reinforced block, right hand

forward

5. Step through w/ left foot into front stance facing N, open reinforced block, left hand

forward

6. Left hand down block, right hand punch, left hand punch w/ kiai

7. Step over w/ right foot and pivot into front stance facing S, right hand slash down and

across from left shoulder to right hip

8. Step through w/ left foot, left hand slash

9. Step through w/ right foot, right hand slash

10. Right hand down block, left hand punch, right hand punch w/ kiai

11. Pivot to front stance facing E, left foot forward, left hand rising block

12. Step through w/ right foot, right hand catch the bo, cut, cut, down block, punch, punch,

slide w/ right hand rising block

13. Step through w/ left foot, left hand catch the bo, cut, cut, down block, punch, punch, slide

w/ left hand rising block

14. Step through w/ right foot, right hand catch the bo, cut, cut, down block, punch, punch w/

kiai

15. Step over w/ right foot and pivot into front stance facing W, left foot forward, left hand

rising block

16. Step through w/ right foot, right hand catch the bo, cut, cut, down block, punch, punch,

slide w/ right hand rising block

17. Step through w/ left foot, left hand catch the bo, cut, cut, down block, punch, punch, slide

w/ left hand rising block

18. Step through w/ right foot, right hand catch the bo, cut, cut, down block, punch, punch w/

kiai

19. Step back feet together, body facing W, head facing N, left sai chambered at waist, right

sai across stomach, handles crossed

20. Step forward w/ right foot into back stance facing N, “throw” the right sai

21. Step back w/ right foot into back stance facing N, left foot now forward, “draw” the 3rd

sai w/ right hand, scraping the blades of the sai together, left sai ends above left thigh

pointing N, right sai ends above right thigh pointing E

22. Step forward w/ right foot into front stance facing N, big circle and stab w/ right sai

23. Step forward w/ left foot into front stance facing N, big circle and stab w/ left sai

24. Step back w/ left foot into horse stance facing N, cross sais center down block, both sais

up and pointed out, double center block down w/ handles down

25. Step up feet together, sais at sides w/ handles down, bow

Chotoku Kyan (1870-1945)

The Life and Times of Chotoku Kyan

Chotoku Kyan was born into a high-ranking family in Shuri in 1870. His father

Chofu was a steward to Tai, the last king of the Ryukyus. According to Shoshin

Nagamine, Chofu Kyan was such an able person that the king entrusted him with

much of the business of the royal household.

In 1871 the Japanese government declared that the Ryukyu Kingdom was to

become part of Japanese territory and renamed Ryukyu Han (fief). A few years

later the islands were fully integrated into the Japanese local government system as

Okinawa Prefecture. As a process of Japanisation began, the old Ryukyu Kingdom

was swept away.

King Tai was deposed with the foundation of Ryukyu Han. In 1879 he was

removed to Japan and kept there for five years. He took with him over 90 retainers.

Chofu Kyan went with the king and took with him his young son, Chotoku.

Chofu Kyan, a cultivated man with knowledge of both Chinese and Japanese

literature, had been opposed to Japan's takeover of Okinawa. Hoshu Ikeda has in

his possession a petition against the Japanese measures, and one of the seven signatories is Kyan. He was a traditionalist who did not want the old ways to die

out, and it seems that it was he who kindled Chotoku Kyan's enthusiasm for karate. According to Gichin Funakoshi

in Karate-do Nyumon, Chofu Kyan himself had some knowledge of te, but although he trained his young son in

wrestling (probably Okinawan sumo) to toughen him up, he entrusted the teaching of karate forms to others. Shoshin

Nagamine believes that this was because he was too fond of Chotoku to train him the correct, severe way. Anyway,

at age 20, Chotoku Kyan was put under the tutelage of famous experts: Kokan Oyadomari, Kosaku Matsumora, and

Ankoh Itosu.

Chotoku Kyan's biographers all state that he was small and weak as a child and this we can believe, because even

when fully grown he was slightly built and frail looking. He looked more like a retiring scholar than a karate master,

and as Hiroyasu Tamae wrote, "You were amazed that such a small man was so great a bujin."

Kyan had a strong personality that belied his small physique, and by the age of 30 he was recognized as an expert in

both Shuri-te and Tomari-te. He was challenged often, and as he was not a person to back down, he had to fight

frequently. As far as Okinawan karate historians are aware, he was never beaten in these fights. Because of

Kyan's size he did not train to trade punches with bigger men but would practice stepping and other evasive

techniques by the banks of the Higa River, over and over again. (Counter fighter) His method of fighting was to

defend and then counterattack immediately. He was known to be expert in kicking techniques, and altogether we

can imagine him as a perfect example of the Shorin-ryu stylist as described by Gichin Funakoshi: a smaller, lighter

man whose karate was marked by quickness and mobility. "He excelled in practical fighting and had great

confidence and power," wrote Hiroyasu Tamae. "We all know of the famous incident when he threw the wrestler

over the parapet of the bridge."

Well, as it happens… I don't know about that incident, unless it is another version of the tale told by Shoshin

Nagamine. This happened when Kyan was about 40 years old and working as a wagon driver. He crossed the path of

Masters of the Shorin-ryu: Chotoku Kyan By Graham Noble

Copyright Graham Noble © 1986, 2000. All rights reserved. Editor's note: An earlier version of this article appeared in Fighting Arts International and is reprinted by permission of Graham Noble. For additional information about Kyan and his methods, see Mark Bishop, Okinawan Karate: Teachers, Styles, and Secret Techniques (London: A. & C. Black, 1989), 79-82, and "The Karate of Chotoku Kyan: We Interview the

Seibukan's Zenpo Shimabukuro Sensei," Dragon Times, 16 (2000), 13.

Matsuda, a big, strong fellow who was bullying the younger men of the village. When Kyan reproached him for his

behaviour, Matsuda turned on him and challenged him to fight. He was aware that Kyan knew karate but felt that he

would be too small and slight to make use of this in a real fight. When the two men met on the banks of the Hija

River, Kyan took up a natural stance with his back to the water. As Matsuda went for him Kyan evaded the attack

and countered with a kick that sent the big man into the river.

The abdication of the king and the establishment of Okinawa Prefecture led to the abolition of the old social ranking

system and the loss of privileges and financial support for aristocrats. Kyan's family suffered in this way, and

Chotoku Kyan, whose father had been a retainer and friend of the king himself, found himself having to make ends

meet by breeding silkworms and pulling a rickshaw. Yet throughout (or because of) all this, his enthusiasm for

karate never diminished.

Kyan taught karate at the Okinawan College of Agriculture and the Kadena Police Station, and besides this he taught

many other students directly. He and his students would demonstrate karate in the region around his home at

Kadena. Apart from karate he would often teach his pupils the traditional dancing done at Okinawan festivals.

Evidently he believed that these dances were related in some way to karate, and in this he was not alone. "If you go into the Okinawan countryside you will often see men performing a traditional dance to the music of the samisen,"

Gichin Funakoshi wrote in his first book, Ryukyu Kempo Karate (1922). "This dancing resembles karate and is

different from the usual maikata dancing. I think it is related to traditional Okinawa-te."

Kyan Sensei had many students but according to Katsumi Murakami his two favourites were Ankichi Arakaki and Taro Shimabuku. Murakami's section

on Kyan in his book Karate-do to Ryukyu Kobudo throws light on another

side of the man's character. It is entitled "Sensei Chotoku Kyan: absorbing

virtues as well as sins," meaning that here was someone who lived life to the

full.

According to Murakami, Kyan not only taught Arakaki and Shimabuku

karate, but also encouraged them to do many other things, including drinking

and visiting the local brothel, on the grounds that an experience of everything

is important for martial arts development. So it was that at times he would

train these two students in the brothel.

Well, Gichin Funakoshi too had this as one of his precepts, "Do not think karate is only in the dojo," but I don't think

this was what he had in mind. Nevertheless, there was something behind Kyan's method. He stressed to his students

that whatever they did they should keep in their minds the idea of busai, or correct martial way. I am not sure

exactly what this involves perhaps it means that to some extent you should remain unattached to whatever you are

doing and keep a clear mind and a strong spirit, whether drinking, visiting a brothel -- or even pulling a rickshaw.

Both Ankichi Arakaki and Taro Shimabuku would visit Kyan Sensei's home for training at night. They carried

lanterns to light their way but Kyan told them to stop using the lanterns so that they could develop their night vision.

When they trained at night he chose uneven terrain and sometimes even threw water on the ground to make a

foothold difficult. In this way they developed their kata.

Chotoku Kyan was fond of cockfighting and would often carry a fighting cock around with him. On one such

occasion Arakaki and Shimabuku, wanting to test their teacher's ability, started a quarrel with a gang of young men

and then ran off, leaving Kyan to face the group alone. The men attacked Kyan who quickly proceeded to beat them,

still holding the bird under one arm. Even Arakaki and Shimabuku, who watched from a distance, were surprised at

how he fought using only his feet and one free arm.

Kyan's wife had to work hard as a dyer of cloth and pig breeder, but whenever a pig was ready for sale Kyan himself

always insisted on taking it to the market. Murakami writes that Kyan would often cheat his wife of the money he

received and use it to pay for women and travel. He liked to travel and on one occasion took Arakaki and

Shimabuku to Hokkaido where they demonstrated karate in a large tent. When a local fighter named Sampu Taku

challenged them Kyan counselled Arakaki to step back carefully to the walls of the tent, then knock the challenger

down if he moved on him. Unfortunately, Murakami does not tell us if a fight actually ensued or, if it did, what was

the result. It's too bad we don't have more information on this incident, but the story of another challenge match was

given in a Japanese magazine. It occurred in Taiwan in 1930, when Kyan's demonstration of karate somehow

resulted in a challenge from Shinzo Ishida, judo instructor of Taipei Police Headquarters. Kyan would have been 60 years old at the time but he agreed to the match straightaway. The only thing that concerned him a little was that the

judoka might be able to take a firm grip to apply his throwing techniques. Because of this Kyan wore a vest on his

upper body rather than a judo jacket. Ishida himself was wary of karate's striking techniques and when the two men

faced each other they kept their distance for some time, sizing each other up. Then suddenly Kyan closed in,

thrusting his thumb into the side of Ishida's mouth and fiercely gripping his cheek. With a kick to the knee he

knocked Ishida to the ground and followed him down. Kneeling astride the judoka he delivered a tsuki (thrust) to the

solar plexus, just stopping short of full contact. Ishida immediately conceded the match.

All in all Chotoku Kyan comes across to us as one of the most attractive karate masters, an interesting mixture of

vices and virtues. No doubt he had his faults but he also had personal qualities which earned him the loyalty of his

students and the respect of other experts and he remains one of the most important figures in Okinawan karate

history. Even Katsumi Murakami, who tells us of Kyan visiting brothels and cheating his wife out of money, does

not do so out of any desire to put him down. In fact he describes Kyan as one of the greatest karate experts.

Like Choshin Chibana, Kyan Sensei stressed that the way to success in karate was found through constant practice.

He continued to train and teach throughout his life. Hiroyasu Tamae remembered him giving a demonstration when

he was in his late sixties:

In Showa 13 (1938) there was a demonstration of karate in which many famous experts were invited to display their

kata. I was there, and many of the experts did not perform themselves -- they let their students do it. Only Kyan

Sensei, in spite of the fact that he was nearly 70 years old, performed his own kata.

At that time people over 60 were considered to be old and infirm but Kyan Sensei performed the kata at full power

without displaying any infirmity. Only when he stepped down from the platform did he stumble slightly. The

audience was impressed.

When Shoshin Nagamine opened his karate dojo in 1942 Chotoku Kyan gave a demonstration of passai and a bo

[staff] kata (EN1). (Editor's Notes EN1.) The staff kata would have been Tokumine no kun, which Kyan viewed as

useful for preserving traditional Ryukyuan culture and improving physical development. "His beautiful performance

at the age of 73 could still exalt his audience to the quintessence of karate-do," Nagamine recalled.

In April 1945 the Americans invaded Okinawa and during the next two months of heavy fighting at least 60,000

Okinawan civilians died. Master Kyan survived all this but at 75 his body was too weak to withstand the following

privations and he died in September 1945.

Kyan's Kata

Kyan concentrated his teaching on seven (or perhaps eight) kata. These kata and the teachers from whom he is

believed to have learned them are as follows: (see EN2) Editor's Notes EN2. According to an interview with

Choshin Chibana conducted on October 16, 1966 by the Okinawa Karate Do Association, Kyan's chinto and passai

kata were distinctive, and based on extensive personal knowledge of te. His kusanku kata was learned from a direct

descendent of Chatan Yara, and is today called passai-no-sho. Kyan brought ananku to Okinawa from Taiwan

during the early 1930s, and then taught it at the College of Agriculture and Forestry. Joen Nakazato was a student at

the College of Agriculture and Forestry at the time, and is one of the few modern teachers to have learned this kata

directly from Kyan. My thanks to Jim Kass for this information.

Kata Teacher

Ananku Unnamed Taiwanese

Wanshu Saneida Maeda

Chinto Kosaku Matsumora

Passai Kokan Oyadomari

Kusanku Chatan Yara

Seisan Sokon Matsumura

Gojushiho Sokon Matsumura

Clearly, if these attributions are correct, Kyan studied with a variety of masters, most of them famous during their day. I have no information on Maeda, but since wanshu is always regarded as a Tomari kata we can be fairly sure

that he was an expert in Tomari-te. The most famous Tomari-te master was Kosaku Matsumora, and he was one of

Kyan's teachers. Kokan Oyadomari is less well known but in the opinion of Hoshu Ikeda he was equally as great as

Matsumora. He was an officer on the staff of the Ryukyu Royal Family and was often called Oyadomari Pechin.

(Pechin was a rank in the middle aristocracy, and as a group, men of this rank often worked in civil administration

or domestic law enforcement.)

Chirkata Yara, better known as Chatan Yara, was one of the teachers of what became Shuri-te karate. He was born

in 1816, but I do not know his date of death. Sokon Matsumura I have written about elsewhere. Both these masters

would have been in their seventies or eighties when Kyan began studying karate, and we cannot be sure they were

even teaching at that time. Rather than learning direct, Kyan may have learned from their senior students.

There are two accounts of how Kyan learned ananku. I have never felt particularly happy about the story that he

learned it from a Taiwanese expert in Chinese boxing, mainly because the kata does not look Chinese. Still, in

February 1941 the Japan Times published a photo of some men doing what looked like karate above this caption: "A

new form of defense has been worked out by Mr. Choko Sai, of Formosa, combining points of judo and a kind of

boxing perfected in the Loochoo Islands." So perhaps Kyan learned the kata from some Okinawan who lived in

Taiwan. An alternative version is that his father taught him the kata. Another possibility, of course, is that Kyan

developed the kata himself.

Kyan also may have taught naihanchin, and if he did he would have learned it from Ankoh Itosu. Kyan is usually

given in karate genealogies as a student of Itosu but generally his kata are quite different from the Itosu versions so I

don't think the teaching here can have been very extensive. It is notable that Choshin Chibana, in listing Itosu's

students, did not name Kyan. Instead Chibana referred to Kyan as a student of Oyadomari.

Kyan's favourite kata, which he often performed at demonstrations, were chinto, passai, and kusanku. They are

distinctive kata with significant variations in technique from the more widely practiced forms such as those of the

Japanese Shotokan, Wado, or Shito schools. For instance, rather than the sequence of forearm blocks at the

beginning of passai, the Kyan (Oyadomari) passai has a quite different sequence of sharper, open handed

techniques. In chinto (gankaku in Shotokan), the two turns at the start of the kata are done in the opposite direction

to those in the Itosu version. In the kicking techniques, rather than bringing the foot to the knee before kicking from

a one-legged stance, it is brought behind the other foot into a kosa-dachi (crossed stance) and the kick is launched from this position. Hoshu Ikeda refers to these forms as koryu, or old style, and although Kyan may have made his

own changes to the kata, much of the old style must have remained.

In his short memoir of Chotoku Kyan, Hiroyasu Tamae mentioned an interesting thing. He wrote that other Shuri

karate experts referred to Kyan's kata as inaka-de, or primitive. (In his translation Professor Karasawa explained that the words have something of a "country yokel" implication.) As I said, his kata do have their own character, but

there are several reasons why such a view could have arisen. First, to anyone who was used to the more widespread

Itosu versions of the kata, Kyan's forms may well have looked a little strange; but this was mainly a question of

unfamiliarity. Second, Kyan's kata showed strong Tomari-te influences and Shuri karateka tended to look down on

Tomari kata as in some way inelegant or unrefined. Apart from any technical considerations this may have been part

of a general feeling on the part of Shuri people that their culture was superior to that of the rest of Okinawa. George

Kerr, an authority on Okinawan history, wrote: "The pre-eminence of Shuri families and the privileges and

advantages conferred automatically through residence at the king's capital, created a tradition of prestige which has

persisted into the 20th century, for wherever Okinawans assemble for the first time, in Ryukyu, in Japan, or in

overseas communities, it is quickly but tactfully established if a man has been born in Shuri, educated in Shuri, or

has married a woman of Shuri, in that order of precedence. Third, it seemed that Kyan did make his own changes to the kata. As Tamae noted: "Even when the kata was a well known one Kyan Sensei's version had strange additions

and gestures. So an expert, even if he only glimpsed part of the kata could identify it as one of Kyan's.

Well, if some other experts did refer to Kyan's kata in a rather negative way I think it was mainly a question of style

prejudice -- a case of his kata differing from the prevailing form. Personally I can't see that his kata are in any way

inferior to other forms. In fact, in the case of passai and chinto I prefer his kata to more widely practiced versions.

The opening defensive sequences in Kyan's passai for example seem less cumbersome than the series of forearm

blocks in the Itosu passai dai and his chinto in particular is light, sharp, and full of vitality. I guess it all boils down

to personal tastes.

One last question: Why was Kyan called Chan Mi-gua, "small-eyed Kyan"? Katsumi Murakami says it was because he had narrow eyes and Hiroyasu Tamae says that he was blind, or poorly sighted, in one eye. These seem sufficient

explanation but Hoshu Ikeda gives another reason for the name:

His method of training was never to wear a top while training. This was to allow the air to temper the skin and

allowed detailed observation of the muscles. This was considered to be a sophisticated attitude to training at that

time. This half-naked method allowed him to make detailed observations of the movement and tension of the

students' muscles, and his habit of fixing his eyes rigidly on the student to see if he was using his muscles correctly

earned him the name 'Mi-gua.'

CHOTOKU KYAN’S WAY

(KIYATAKE-HA SHORIN-RYU KARATE-DO)

Chotoku Kyan was born in December 1870 (Meiji 3) at Shun Gihomura as the third son of Chofu Kyan the

eleventh generation of King ShoSei under the fourth period of King ShoSei at Ryukyu. & His father was the

important retainer of the Lord Shotai who lived in Tokyo as the final King of the Ryukyus. His father was well

trained in the art of Okinawa te and was an authority of both the Chinese and Japanese classics. Choto Kyan was

taken to Tokyo by his father at the age of 13. & There he studied the Chinese Classics at the Nisho School until he

was 16 years old. He was small and weak compared to his father. Chofu Kyan worried about his son’s physical

condition so he trained his son in the art of Sumo Wrestling.

After Chofu Kyan’s tour of service in Japan ended, he and his son Chotoku went back to Okinawa and lived in a

small house at Hoko between Shun and Mawashi. When Chotoku became 20 years old, his father asked the great

Shuri-te masters Sobi Matsumura and Ankoh Itotsu of Shuri Yamakura-mura to teach his son Shuri-te. Chofu also

sought the guidance of the great Tomari-te master Koken Oyadomari to help round off Chotoku’s training and

physical conditioning.

Chotoku, with his tenacity and dedication trained extremely hard and by the age of 30 earned the nickname

Kiyabu Miisho. Miisho was the title given to those who excel in the art of Te. & Chotoku was not only a quick

learner, he demonstrated an intellectual capability to further develop the art he was taught. Chotoku believed that

skill in Te was a matter of 30% physical training and 70% skill, strategy and intelligence. To supplement his hard

training in the empty hand method, Chotoku took a special interest in the use of the makiwara. He used it to harden

his fists and strengthen his legs and kicks. He used two types of makiwara, a flexible one for punching and a round,

stable one for kicking. Chotoku is said to have developed over 50 ways of punching and kicking the makiwara.

Day after day Chotoku trained hard to become strong and often looked for different ways in which a small person

could defend himself against a larger opponent’s attack. He examined numerous methods and techniques from

many different methods of fighting, finally he discovered a method that met not only his needs, but those of his

students. His theory was based on the concept that "speedy actions - excel powerful attacks." Chotoku begin to

train in and teach the double speed punch technique from a number of angles and positions.

He believed that even if the attack is very powerful, it will not be effective if his students could quickly avoid and

simultaneously counter attack with a double speed technique to a vital part of the body. He advised his students,

that if a small person mastered this technique, he could then easily beat a larger opponent. From that moment on,

Chotoku trained himself to move faster and created techniques that would help his students move faster. through

this method of training, he found many ways in which he could use his opponent's power and strength through the

use of speed and accuracy.

Chotoku Kyan was also called from "Chan Mi-gwa" (small eyed) Kyan. It was a fact that Chotoku suffered from

a astigmatism and his eyes were some what smaller then his rather small face. &nbspChotoku taught eight kata;

Kusanku of Chatanyara, Ananku which he brought back from Formosa (Taiwan), Seisan and Gojushiho of

Matsumura, Chinto of Matsumora, Passai of Oyadomari (includes Passai-Sho & Passai-Dai), Wansu of Maeda.

Chotaku had trained in the Naifanchi of Matmusura but chose not to teach them as part of his way.

After the abolition of clans and establishment of perfectures in Japan most people of the ex-military class lost their

jobs. This also brought serious problems of how to make a living to Chotoku Kyan. Since he had property from the

family Sho in Dokutani-mura, he moved there to do become involved in agriculture and work as a wagon master.

There he continued to practice karate under Kitaya Yara (Chantanyara). During that period he mastered the

Kusanku Kata. Later, he built his house near the Hisha Bridge of Dokutani-mura and proceeded to teach karate

(formally called Te) td the people of the village at Kadena Police Office and the Agricultural School. This is when

Zenryo Shimabukuro, Tatsuo Shimtabukuro, Eizo Shimabukuro, Shoshin Nagamine and Tsuyoshi Chitosei trained.

Chotoku Kyan used to say, "To be good at mastering Karate, you have to practice hard and you should not depend

too much on your physique, 70% effort and 30% physique." "Effort to continue the practice is the most important

and the best way to succeed. It is not a question of physique, but of effort," are statements often uttered by Kyan.

Having taught Karate for many years, Chotoku Kyan, while living in Ishikawa-shi of Chuto-gun, passed away on

September 20, 1945, at the age of 76 because of a food shortage. Chotoku Kyan remains a great influence on the

many systems of Shorin-Ryu Karate-Do taught internationally today.

Chotoku Kyan

Master Chotoku Kyan was born in 1870, to a very wealthy family in Shuri, Okinawa, the cradle of Karate. At the

tender age of five he was taught the empty hand art of self-defense from his father Chofu Kyan and his grandfather.

Every morning Kyan was required to perform specific exercises by his grandfather, who had a very discerning eye

and required nothing less than perfection. Being born into a rich family he was able to devote all of his time

studying the martial arts and was sent to the best Okinawan Karate teachers available.

In those days, a Karate Sensei had only three or four Kata, therefore Master Kyan went to many teachers in hope of

gaining a well rounded view of the art. Kyan's father was an official of the King, and because of this Kyan was able

to gain instruction from many of the great Teachers in Okinawa. Sokon Matsumura of Shuri was at that time the

Karate Teacher of the King. Matsumura taught Master Kyan the Kata, "Seisan" and "Gojushiho". Kyan learned the

most from Matsumora (Shorin-Ryu teacher of Tomari) including the kata "Chinto". Another great teacher of Tomari

was Pechin Maeda. Kyan studied quite a while under Maeda Sensei and learned the Kata "Wansu". He learned the

Kata, "Passai", under Pechin Oyadomari Kokan of Tomari. Pechin was a title, given to someone in employment of

the King. The next teacher Kyan studied with was the small 4ft, 10 inches tall, Yara of Chatan, a power packed

dynamite of a man. Chatan Yara Sensei taught Kyan the longest and most beautiful Kata "Kusanku". Some times

known as "Yara no Kusanku". His last teacher was Tokumine, who was reputed to be the best Bo, (Staff) man on

Okinawa. Sensei Kyan traveled to the island of Yaeyama and studied the Bo and the Bo-Kata "Tokumine no Kun".

After completing his apprenticeship under the six famous Okinawan Shorin-Ryu masters, Kyan started to teach the

art at his home. In the 1920's Kyan traveled to mainland Japan to promote the art. On his return he visited Taiwan on

a martial arts exchange tour of Okinawan and Chinese Martial Arts. Being proficient in both arts, Kyan invented his

own Kata "Ananku". In the late 1920's Kyan moved to the village of Kadena

due to personal and financial problems. There he taught a small number of

devoted students who were introduced by friends and city officials. One

student, Zenryo Shimabukuro of Chatan was introduced by a school

headmaster and accepted as a student. Zenryo Shimabukuro studied 10 years

under the tutelage of Master Kyan until Kyan's death. Food was scarce

during WWII and whatever food master Kyan obtained, he gave to the

children. He felt it was his duty to take care of those who could not take care

of themselves. In 1945 at the age of 75 grandmaster Kyan passed away from

hunger.

Chotoku Kyan

The Shorin-Ryu Karate-Do practiced at Westside Martial Arts is handed

down to us through the lineage of Chotoku Kyan. Chotoku Kyan was born

in 1870, the son of Chofu Kyan, a high ranking official in the Okinawa royal

court. Chofu was a royal steward, attending to the King of Okinawa Sho Tai. By the time of Kyan's birth in Gibo

village, Shuri, the Kingdom of Okinawa was already in transition to Japanese rule. The Satsuma samurai from

Kyushu, Japan, had been completely subjugated the Ryukyu island chain in 1609, its monarchy and internal

administrative bureaucracy -- including the civil police and royal garrison -- had been allowed to continue as a

puppet government. In 1872 the monarchy was dissolved by the Japanese Government that had itself moved out of

the feudal era under Emperor Meiji in 1868. The, now former, King of Okinawa and his family were taken to Japan

where they continued to live an aristocratic life. Accompanying the king were some of hos old retainers, including

Chofu Kyan who brought his twelve year old son to be educated in Tokyo. Chofu's service to the former king ended

when Chotoku was sixteen and the Kyan family moved back to Okinawa. Okinawa, however had changed. Much of

the landed gentry who developed karate had fallen on hard times, their feudal power and status having declined

when Okinawa was made a prefecture of Japan.

Young Chotoku Kyan was still able to receive a remarkable martial arts education from some of Okinawa's most

prominent karateka. Although he was small individual, approximately 4'10", he overcame his physical size by

training arduously, often devising techniques that enhanced the art itself. Chotoku perfected these new techniques

under the guidance of teachers such as his grandfather Oyakata Kyan (his first martial arts teacher) and Matsumura

Sokon. Matsumura was the leading karateka of Shuri from whom Kyan learned the old karate training routines

Seisan, Naihanchi, and Gojyushiho. Oyadomari Kokan of Tomari-te, another former high ranking official of the

Okinawan court, taught young Kyan him Passai-Do; while Matsumora Kosaku, the leading proponent of Tomari-te,

taught Kyan the Chinto kata. These men had been secured by Chotoku's father to teach his

son from the age of twenty. By the time Chotoku Kyan was thirty he had become known as a skilled karateka

himself. Kyan also sought out others whose knowledge and expertise he could benefit from. Maeda was another

former official from whom Kyan learned the Wansu kata. Yara of Yomitan village, an alleged contemporary of

Matsumura's teacher Tode Sakugawa, taught Kyan a beautiful long version of the kata Kusanku. Finally, Kyan is

said to have trained with the banished Shuri officer Tokumine, from whom he learned the bo kata Tokumine no kun.

It has also been said that Kyan was a student of Matsumura Sokon's most famous protege Itosu Anko. However,

Kyan's own students and Chibana Chosin, Itosu's successor, steadfastly maintained that Kyan never studied under

Itosu. Regardless of whether or not Kyan trained with Itosu, he amassed a wide array of knowledge from some of

the best sources in old style Okinawan karate. With his expertise and knowledge Kyan became a sought after and

profound master of the art of karate. He was famous for his kicking skills and fast and light, but effective,

movements. He was supposedly challenged many times and was able to emerge victorious throughout it all.

By the 1920s karate was entering the modern era. Many of the old masters who taught

Kyan's generation were dead, and times were difficult for many who had belonged to

the old privileged class. Quite a few of the remaining karateka began to workout and

give demonstrations together. Along with others, Kyan began teaching at various

schools and institutions of higher learning. New territory was opened up by the

expansionist Japanese Government, including Taiwan, where Kyan went for a time.

Upon returning from Taiwan, Kyan began to teach a new kata called Ananku, which

he had evidently devised as a basic kata from techniques developed from his journey

to Taiwan.

Kyan also took part in the famous meeting of karate masters in 1936 that decided the

future course of karate, and changed the art's name from "China hand" to "empty

hand." Chotoku Kyan died of starvation in 1945, after the battle Okinawa in WWII

brought devastation to the small island. He gave what little food there was to women

and children, so that they might survive.

Chotoku Kyan was born in Shuri, Okinawa in December 1870 and was the first son of Chofu Kyan. Chofu Kyan had

been a descendant of the fourth Ryukyuan king, Shoshi. Kyan (also sometimes pronounced Kiyuabu) was born a

frail child, but through his martial arts training he developed into a strong adult and his health improved much. He

had begun his training in karate-do at the age of five years old.

Kyan was known in Okinawa as 'Chan mig-wa' or 'small-eyed Kyan', and was known by this nickname because

his eyes were small and weak. Despite this handicap, he went on to become a great master. In fact, he was one of the

most knowledgeable masters of his time, as he studied both the Shuri-te and the Tomari-te styles of karate. He

studied Shuri-te from Sokon Matsumura and Anko Itosu and studied Tomari-te from Oyadomari Pechin, Maeda

Pechin and Kosaku Matsumora. Kyan's teaching combined the elements of both of these styles of karate, with his

students originally calling his system 'migwa-te', but later it became known as 'Sukunaihayashi-ryu'.

Kyan enjoyed traveling a good deal. During his martial arts career he journeyed to Taiwan, where he brought

back the kata Ananku to Okinawa. He also visited one of Okinawa's off-lying islands and learned Tokumine no Kun

(bo kata) there. Tokumine Pechin had been a lord in Okinawan, but had been banished to the Yaeyama Islands after

having being involved in a fight with 30 constables in the red-light district.

Chotoku Kyan lived in Shuri until he was about thirty years old and then he moved to Kadena, where he opened

his own dojo. He lived in the village of Yomitan, where a karate man called Yara taught him the Kusanku kata. In

addition to Kusanku kata (which became his favorite), he learned other kata; from Sokon Matsumura he learned

Naihanchi and Gojushiho, from Kosaku Matsumura he learned Seisan, Oyadomari taught him Passai and Maeda

Pechin taught him Wanshu. Kyan later developed his own versions of the katas Chinto and Passai, and he even

learned tree fighting which is linked to the Okinawan monkey dance 'saru mari'.

Because of his reputation, Kyan was often challenged. It is alleged that he fought many actual fights but was

never defeated. Kyan was highly adept at body shifting. Since he was a small man, he used this type of body

movement (known as tai sabaki) to defeat his opponent. His technique was to never back up, but rather to move

forward rapidly and strike, or block and counter attack immediately.

Two of Chotoku Kyan's top students were Ankichi Arakaki and Shimabuku and it is said that they accompanied

their teacher almost everywhere and were inseparable from him. Kyan enjoyed rooster fighting very much, in fact he

often entered his own roosters in these fights. One anecdote reveals something of Kyan's abilities as a martial artist,

by telling that on this particular occasion he attended one of these rooster fights and had his own rooster in a firm

grip under his arm. His students, Arakaki and Shimabuku, decided to test their masters skill and started a fight with a

couple of the local men. Once the fight got started they left and hide in some nearby bushes. When Kyan came over

to see what was happening, and to see where Arakaki and Shimabuku were, the enraged men attacked him. Kyan is

said to have fought with the men and defeated them all. What was so unique about this occasion was that during the

entire fight, Kyan had kept a firm hold on his rooster - he fought them all with only one hand and his feet. Arakaki

and Shimabuku watched the whole fight from their hiding place and were amazed by his skill and composure.

Kyan felt strongly about the ancient code of Bushido and felt that every martial artist should follow it totally. He

was both a perfectionist and a disciplinarian, in both his own training and also his teaching. He believed that self-

discipline and social order and justice went hand in hand. He was also quoted as saying "superior conditioning can

only be built on relentless effort. The size of one's body is irrelevant".

-----Master Chotoku Kyan died Ishikawa City, Okinawa, on 20th September 1945 - he was 76 years old.

Pinan Shodan

Turn towards the back 45 degrees

Mirrored View Mirrored View

Turn towards your right 45degrees:

Turn to your left to the straight back and circle block with right hand:

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Step through to your left (rear) 45 degrees - reinforced block: Then; Turn 180

degrees and down block:

Choto Kyan no Sai

Turn to the back cutting at 45 degrees

View from the

left side Mirror

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left side Mirror

View from the

left side Mirror

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left side Mirror

View from the

left side Mirror

View from the

left side Mirror

Turn to your left upper block

View from the

left side Mirror

View from the

left side Mirror

Mirrored view

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