Kosaku Matsumora
Okinawan master of Tomari-te (1829–1898), teacher of Choki Motobu and Chotoku Kyan, to whom he passed on his own version of the kata Chinto.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Kosaku Matsumora was an Okinawan master of Tomari-te. He was born in 1829 in the village of Tomari, today part of Naha, as the eldest son of a samurai family; his Yo clan descended from the line of the first Sho dynasty. He died in November 1898 at the age of 69. He earned his living as a tax collector for landowners in Asuhara and as an indigo trader, buying it in Asuhara and Izumi and selling it in Tomari.
He studied Tomari-te under Karyu Uku, also known as Giko Uku, with whom he trained for three years in his own yard and learned the kata Naihanchi. Kishin Teruya taught him advanced kata and combat techniques in remote places, among them the Teruya family cemetery, where he learned the kata Passai and Wanshu. According to sources, he also learned from an unknown Chinese man who lived in a cave near Tomari beach. He also studied the Jigen-ryu style.
According to a story whose official version was recorded by Shoshin Nagamine, at the age of twenty he wrested a sword from an angry Satsuma nobleman using only a wet towel, losing a thumb in the process. According to one version of the story, he then threw the severed thumb and the sword into the Asato river. This act made him an Okinawan folk hero. A dampened towel hidden in his clothing, with which he disarmed attackers, was his habitual tactic.
His students included Choki Motobu and Chotoku Kyan. He taught Kyan his own version of the kata Chinto, different from the version of Sokon Matsumura. The kata Wanshu was taught to Kyan by Maeda Pechin, who trained under Matsumora. Matsumora is credited as the creator of the kata Rohai and passed on the kata Wankan, Enpi, Ananko and Gankaku.