Yuchoku Higa
Okinawan karate master and politician, founder of Shorin-ryu Kyudokan (1947), student of Choshin Chibana and president of the Okinawan karatedo federations.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Yuchoku Higa was an Okinawan karate master, the founder of Shorin-ryu Kyudokan. He was born on 8 February 1910 in Naha, Okinawa, and died on 4 November 1994.
He began training in 1927 under Jiro Shiroma, who taught him Shuri-te. From 1934 he studied Naha-te and Goju-ryu under Jinan Shinzato. Japanese sources also list Chomo Hanashiro among his teachers, who passed on to him kata from the Shuri-te line. From 1948 he trained under Choshin Chibana.
In 1947 he founded the Kyudokan dojo, one of the seven branches of the Kobayashi Shorin-ryu style, which derives from the classical Okinawan arts Naha-te and Shuri-te; according to Japanese sources the name Kyudokan was fixed only in 1954. From Chibana he received a ninth dan in 1965 and in 1976 the rank of hanshi, that is, tenth dan. From 1961 he was vice-president of the first Shorin-ryu karatedo association in Okinawa, which was headed by Chibana.
In 1965 he became president of the Okinawa Prefectural Karatedo Federation. In the All-Okinawa Karatedo Federation he was executive director in 1967 and president in 1971. He also held political offices: he was a member and chairman of the city council of Naha.
Associated Martial Arts
Organisations
- Okinawa Prefecture Karatedo FederationPresident
- All Okinawa Karatedo FederationPresident
Ranks and titles
- 9th danShorin-ryu Kyudokan · 1965
- 10th titleHanshi · Shorin-ryu Kyudokan · 1976