Shoshin Nagamine

Quick Facts

Date of Birth7/15/1907

Date of Death11/2/1997

Country of OriginJapan

OccupationPolice officer, Politician, Writer

Also known asChippaii Matsu

Biography

Shoshin Nagamine was an Okinawan karate master, founder of the Matsubayashi-ryu style, a police officer and a local politician. He was born on 15 July 1907 in the village of Tomari in Naha and died on 2 November 1997 in Naha at the age of 90.

As a student at a commercial school he fell ill and, according to his own biography, treated himself with diet and karate training. He studied under Kotatsu Iha, from March 1928 under Taro Shimabukuro of Shuri and under Ankichi Arakaki, during his police service in Kadena under Chotoku Kyan, and in 1936 Choki Motobu advised him in Tokyo in kumite. In 1928 he was conscripted into the army and fought in China, and in December 1931 he joined the Okinawan police. In May 1940 he received the title renshi from the Dai Nippon Butokukai on the recommendation of Chojun Miyagi.

In 1940 he created the basic kata Fukyugata Ichi. He founded Matsubayashi-ryu in 1947, named in honour of Sokon Matsumura and Kosaku Matsumora, and in January 1953 he opened the dojo Matsubayashi-ryu Karate Kodokan in Naha. From 1953 to 1957 he was a member of the Naha council, and from 1961 to 1969, according to the Japanese Wikipedia, chairman of the Okinawa Karate-do Federation. His book on Okinawan karate appeared in February 1975 in Japanese and English as The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do.

From 1963 he combined karate with Zen and became a student of the Zen priest Sogen Sakiyama. In 1977 he founded the World Matsubayashi-ryu Federation. After his death the style was led by his son Takayoshi Nagamine.

Early life

Shoshin Nagamine was born on 15 July 1907 in the village of Tomari in Naha as the son of Shoho and Gozei. In March 1923 he entered the municipal commercial school in Naha. According to his own biography, in 1926 he fell ill with a stomach disorder that medicine did not cure, and he treated himself with diet and karate training in the garden of his neighbour Chojin Kuba. Every evening he then trained at the school in Tomari under the older master Kotatsu Iha. He was nicknamed Chippai Matsu, the tenacious pine.

In 1928 he was conscripted into the infantry, sent to fight in China and, after an honourable discharge, returned to Okinawa according to his biography in July of the following year. In December 1931 he joined the Okinawan police and served at the Kadena station until August 1936.

Training and teachers

From March 1928 he was a student of Taro Shimabukuro of Shuri, to whom he walked eight kilometres every day, and he also trained under Ankichi Arakaki. During his service in Kadena from December 1931 to August 1936 he trained under Chotoku Kyan, whom he named as his second teacher. From April 1936 he spent six months in Tokyo, where Choki Motobu advised him in kumite.

From 1938 he practised kendo and in 1941 he received a 3rd dan. In May 1940 the Dai Nippon Butokukai in Kyoto awarded him the title renshi on the recommendation of Chojun Miyagi. In 1963 he read The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi and became a student of the Zen priest Sogen Sakiyama of the Enkakuji temple.

Contribution and innovations

In 1940 he created the basic kata Fukyugata Ichi, which was approved by the Okinawan karate commission, and the second one, Fukyugata Ni, was created by Chojun Miyagi. The Japanese Wikipedia gives the year 1941. He founded Matsubayashi-ryu in 1947 and in July 1947 opened a provisional dojo in Makishi. According to the official website, he chose the name, pine forest, in honour of Sokon Matsumura and Kosaku Matsumora, who taught Kyan and Motobu. In January 1953 he opened the dojo Matsubayashi-ryu Karate Kodokan in Naha.

In December 1953 he was elected to the Naha council, where he served until 1957. According to the Japanese Wikipedia, he was chairman of the Okinawa Karate-do Federation from 1961 to 1969, and in 1977 he founded the World Matsubayashi-ryu Federation. In February 1975 his book on Okinawan karate appeared in Japanese and English as The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do, in 1986 a book on Okinawan karate masters and sumo, and in 2000 in English Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters.

Philosophy and principles

According to his own biography, he considered the union of Zen and karate the one and only way to understand the true way of karate. His four daily hours of training always included fifteen minutes of seated zazen meditation.

Legends and documented facts

The English Wikipedia gives as his teacher in the body of the article Zenryo Shimabukuro and in the overview Taro Shimabukuro, while the biography of Nagamine himself names Taro Shimabukuro of Shuri. Wikipedia gives the year of the English edition of The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do as 1976, while Nagamine in his biography gives February 1975.

The sources also differ on the year the kata Fukyugata Ichi was created (1940 and 1941) and on the award of the Order of the Rising Sun (1982 and 1988). His own biography gives the year of his return from the army as 1929 and his joining the police as December 1931.

Legacy

In 1977 he received the prize of the newspaper Okinawa Times and the prefectural prize for sport, and in April 1988, according to his own biography, the Order of the Rising Sun, fifth class. The Japanese Wikipedia gives the year 1982. In 1997, according to the Japanese Wikipedia, he was named among the first holders of the title of intangible cultural property of Okinawa Prefecture in the field of karate. The publisher Tuttle states that he held a 10th dan and the title hanshi.

He died on 2 November 1997 in a hospital in Naha at the age of ninety. Leadership of Matsubayashi-ryu passed to his son Takayoshi Nagamine, who died in 2012.

Teachers, students and family

Associated Martial Arts

Kata and forms

Organisations

• MATSMatsubayashi-ryu KodokanFounder · 1953

Quotes