Sakugawa no Kon

Quick Facts

About the kata

Sakugawa no Kon (佐久川の棍, in Okinawan reading サクガーヌクン) is a kata with the long bo staff. Per East Wind Budo it is named after its creator, a master called Tode Sakugawa; English Wikipedia lists him as Sakugawa Kanga (1786–1867), explaining Tode as "Chinese hand". The authorship rests on oral tradition — we have not been able to find written evidence that he composed the kata himself. East Wind Budo writes that the kata is practised on Okinawa in a range of versions. It appears in the Matayoshi Kobudo kata list on the English Wikipedia, in the Ryukyu Kobudo Shinkokai list in both the small and large versions, in the Okinawa Dento Karatedo Shinkokai overview of traditional kata, and in the official WUKF kobudo kata list. In Ryukyu Kobudo Shinbukan Akamine Hiroshi, per the Kawatani dojo curriculum, only black belt holders practise it: both versions are placed in the dan-grade section. The Brazilian dojo Yoshukan lists among the small version's technical traits a backward jump (tobu sagaru) and a winding throw (maki nage). The small version is also among the kata videos published for the bo kobudo category by the 2nd World Okinawan Karate Tournament in 2022. How many movements the kata has, we have not found in the sources.

The kata in different styles

Creator and history

According to East Wind Budo, Matayoshi Shinko learned the kata from Chinen Yamane. It reached the Taira Shinken lineage from Yamane-ryu, according to the Yoshukan dojo, through the chain Chinen Masanra, Yabiku Moden, Taira Shinken. Okinawankarate.org adds that Chinen Pechin (1846–1928) preferred Sakugawa's and Shikiyanaka's bo-fighting systems over others. Legend surrounds the figure of Sakugawa. Yoshukan cites a historian named Dana Masayuki, according to whom it is incorrect to claim that Sakugawa studied abroad, and recommends treating the oral tradition as folklore, not as literal history.

Differences between styles

The Taira Shinken lineage practises two versions, the small (Sho) and the large (Dai); his student Inoue Motokatsu, according to the Yoshukan dojo, additionally preserves a middle version (chu), derived from an older form. Yamane-ryu has its own version — according to Yoshukan it partly agrees with the others and partly differs — and the English Wikipedia lists it among the bo kata of the Oshiro-ha branch. According to East Wind Budo, alongside the main version Matayoshi Shinko also taught Ufugushiku no Sakugawa, composed by Oshiro Chojo, which closely resembles the main version. The kata has also survived in village bo-fighting: in the village of Tomoyose in Yaese, three forms are practised, labelled 1-dan, 2-dan and 3-dan. The official WUKF kobudo kata list lists Sakugawa no Kon both separately and as the Sho and Dai pair.

Competition status

• WUKF (World Union of Karate-Do Federations) – Okinawan Kobudo — Official kata list ↗