Maezato no Tekko
前里の鉄甲 · Maezato no tekko
Literally: „Maezato's stirrup“
A kata with a pair of tekko, composed by Taira Shinken and named after his birth name Maezato. According to kobudo.fi, its movements resemble empty-hand karate.
Quick Facts
About the kata
Maezato no Tekko is an Okinawan kobudo kata for the tekko, a fist weapon that, according to the Ryukyu Kobudo Shinkokai Shinshukan, may derive from a horse stirrup. The English Wikipedia states that metal stirrups are used in the kata. According to the same association, the practitioner holds one tekko in each hand, thumb up, attacking and defending with the weapon. According to the Finnish club kobudo.fi, the kata's movements closely resemble empty-hand karate: the weapon's metal surfaces merely add power to ordinary strikes, blocks and hooking techniques. We have not been able to verify the number of movements, the kiai shouts, the embusen shape, or the year of creation in the sources. Maezato no Tekko does not appear on the official WUKF kobudo list, which lists no kata for the tekko at all. The rules, however, allow kata not on the list, provided they are traditional Okinawan or Japanese forms. Today the kata is passed on by organizations following the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai, founded by its author Taira Shinken; the Ryukyu Kobudo Shinkokai Shinshukan states on its website that it inherited the kata from him.
Meaning of the name
The name refers to the kata's creator. According to the English Wikipedia, Taira Shinken was born in 1897 on Kume Island as Maezato Shinken (前里信賢). JKR-UK writes that the name relates to his birth name, and kobudo.fi specifies it predates his adoption. The second part, tekko (鉄甲), literally means iron and armor according to the English Wikipedia; Alan Godshaw translates the whole name as Maezato's stirrup.
Creator and history
According to the English Wikipedia, Taira Shinken began studying Ryukyuan kobudo in 1929 under Yabiku Moden, and in 1955 founded the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai, continuing Yabiku's association. Both Wikipedia and JKR-UK attribute Maezato no Tekko to him. The Ryukyu Kobudo Shinkokai Shinshukan cites the Shorin-ryu kata Jion as its model, while Alan Godshaw writes more generally of Jiin, Jitte and Jion as models.
Differences between styles
Maezato no Tekko belongs to the lineage of Taira Shinken: the English Wikipedia links it to his Ryukyu kobudo, and the Finnish club kobudo.fi lists a second kata for this weapon in Taira's curriculum, Tekko no Ni. According to Wikipedia, other schools also have their own kata for the tekko, including Akamine, Miyazato, Kakazu and Matayoshi; Matayoshi kobudo practices Tekko no kata. We have not found Maezato no Tekko in the sources for the Matayoshi kobudo curriculum.
Related katas
- Derived from: Jion