Tomari-te
泊手Historical current of Okinawan karate from Tomari port, now part of Naha. Matsumora Kosaku is considered its reviver, claimed today by Matsubayashi-ryu, Shorin-ryu schools and Gohaku-kai.
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About Tomari-te
Tomari-te is one of the three lines of Okinawan karate, named after Tomari, once the trading port of the Shuri royal government and now part of the city of Naha. According to the Okinawa Karate Information Center, foreigners unloaded goods on the grounds of the Seigenji temple, Chinese and Korean merchant ships occasionally ran aground there, and the locals reportedly took over martial art from fighters among the castaways, giving rise to the distinctive Tomari-te, different from Shuri and Naha. Funakoshi Gichin recorded the tradition of a teacher from southern China who landed on Okinawa and taught men from Tomari.
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According to the Center and the Okinawa Traditional Karatedo Promotion Association, the line begins with Teruya Kishin (1804–1864) and Uku Karyu (1800–1850), whom the Cabinet Office (Okinawa policy) calls its originators. Their pupil Matsumora Kosaku (1829–1898), the eldest son of a noble family of Tomari, is regarded as the reviver (chuko no so). He took over teaching from Teruya and raised Tomari-te so that it was mentioned alongside Shuri-te and Naha-te. Together with Oyadomari Kokan and a master of the Yamada family he was one of "the three greats of Tomari". His karate was taken over by Motobu Choki, Kyan Chotoku and Iha, from whom the line leads to Nakasone (1893–1983), the only successor, who long refused students, so Tomari-te was called the "phantom hand". The sources differ on the fate of the line. The encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World writes that Shuri-te absorbed Tomari-te. The prefecture, the Cabinet Office and the Center state that Matsubayashi-ryu emerged from it and that it strongly influenced Shorin-ryu schools. We have not found a technical characterization of Tomari-te in the official sources. We have not found grades or an organization of its own for Tomari-te in the sources.
History
Tomari lay on the coast near Naha and served as the trading port of the Shuri royal government. According to the Okinawa Karate Information Center, foreigners unloaded goods on the grounds of the Seigenji temple, Chinese and Korean merchant ships occasionally ran aground, and the locals reportedly took over martial art from fighters among the castaways, giving rise to the distinctive Tomari-te. In Karate-do kyohan, Funakoshi Gichin recorded the oral tradition that the teacher of Gusukuma, Kanagusuku, Matsumura, Oyadomari, Yamada, Nakazato, Yamazato and Toguchi, all from Tomari, was a southern Chinese man shipwrecked on Okinawa. The encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World (Green 2001) adds that he came from Annan, which may be the Fuzhou district or an old name for Vietnam. Matsumora's biography on the website of the Cabinet Office (Okinawa policy) says he studied with a Chinese man living in the Kaminuya cave on the Tomari beach.
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According to the Center and the Okinawa Traditional Karatedo Promotion Association, Tomari-te begins with Teruya Kishin (1804–1864) and Uku Karyu (1800–1850), whom the Cabinet Office calls its originators. Matsumora Kosaku was born in Tomari in 1829 as the eldest son of the Tomari nobleman Matsumora Koten. He studied first with Uku and then with Teruya, from whom he took over teaching, and mastered most of the Tomari-te kata, including Passai and Wanshu. According to the Association, Teruya taught him kata and turning techniques in seclusion in a cemetery yard by the Seigenji temple and instilled the principle “there is no first strike in karate” and five virtues. Matsumora died in November 1898, aged 69 according to the Cabinet Office and 70 according to the Association. Together with Oyadomari Kokan (1827–1905) and a master of the Yamada family (1835–1905) he was called one of “the three greats of Tomari”: Oyadomari excelled in footwork, Yamada in body conditioning. Matsumora's art passed to Motobu Choki, Kyan Chotoku and Iha (1873–1928), and from Iha to Nakasone (1893–1983). Kyan Chotoku (1870–1945) studied with Matsumura and Itosu of Shuri and with Oyadomari of Tomari, and the Center associates him with both lines. Nagamine Shoshin (1907–1997), a pupil of Kyan, Motobu Choki and Arakaki Ankichi according to Green, named his school Matsubayashi-ryu in 1947 after the character “matsu” in the names of both revivers, Matsumura and Matsumora. Nakasone, the only heir of Matsumora's line, long refused students, so the Association says Tomari-te was called the “phantom hand” and its history has a gap. He first demonstrated it publicly on 26 November 1961 at the first Okinawan kobudo demonstration in the Naha theater, and in 1976 he gave his first pupil the dojo signboard Matsumora-ha Shoshinkan.
How it differs
The sources differ on the fate of Tomari-te. The encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World (Green 2001) writes that Tomari-te was originally recognized as separate but was later absorbed by Shuri-te, especially in Itosu's form. The prefectural school karate guidebook, the Cabinet Office (Okinawa policy) and the Okinawa Karate Information Center, by contrast, state that Matsubayashi-ryu emerged from Tomari-te and strongly influenced Shorin-ryu schools, and the Okinawa Traditional Karatedo Promotion Association speaks of the “phantom hand”, which after Nakasone faced extinction. Two leading masters appear under both Tomari-te and Shuri-te. Kyan Chotoku studied with Matsumura, Itosu and Oyadomari, and Motobu Choki was a direct pupil of Matsumura and heir of Matsumora. Shuri-te developed among the officials of the royal court and Naha-te in the port with the Chinese quarter of Kume, while the sources link Tomari-te with castaways in the trading port. The official sources describe no technical difference from Shuri-te and Naha-te, and only a 2020 web article by the instructor Matsubara Natsuho, a source without references, places Tomari-te “between Shuri-te and Naha-te”.
Technique
According to the biography on the Cabinet Office (Okinawa policy) website, Matsumora learned most Tomari-te kata, including Passai and Wanshu, and his first basic kata was Naihanchi. The encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World (Green 2001) says Rohai and Wansu were taken into the Shuri curriculum from Tomari-te, while Chinto, Passai and Kusanku it places in Shuri-te with no link to Tomari. The Okinawa Traditional Karatedo Promotion Association lists Tomari Passai, Wankan, Rohai, Wanshu, Chinto, Useishi and Kushanku from Chatan Yara among the kata of Matsubayashi-ryu, which joins Shuri-te and Tomari-te, but that is a list of the school's kata, not evidence that all come from Tomari. We have not found a link between the kata Chinto and the Chinese castaway in the sources. Funakoshi and Green report the castaway tradition but do not tie the kata name to him. The Association describes Matsumora as a master of the fist strike and Teruya's teaching as kata and techniques of turns and changes needed for real combat. We have not found a characterization of Tomari-te as a whole, such as a claim that it is more flexible or stands between Shuri-te and Naha-te, in the sources of the prefecture, the Cabinet Office or the encyclopedia.
Training
Tomari-te passed among the shizoku of Tomari, and the Cabinet Office (Okinawa policy) names Oyadomari Kokan, Yamada and Matsumora Kosaku. According to the Okinawa Traditional Karatedo Promotion Association, Teruya Kishin moved Matsumora's training to a remote cemetery yard by the Seigenji temple and taught him kata and turning techniques, restraint, the principle “there is no first strike in karate” and five virtues. The Association says Matsumora led his pupils to think for themselves. His karate passed to Motobu Choki, Kyan Chotoku and Iha, and Iha's line gave Nakasone and Kuba. Nakasone, the only successor, long refused students, showed Tomari-te publicly only in 1961 and in 1976 gave his first pupil the dojo signboard Matsumora-ha Shoshinkan. Kyan Chotoku taught outside Tomari and his monument stands in Kadena (1999), while Nagamine Shoshin joined Tomari-te with Shuri-te in Matsubayashi-ryu (1947). The sources give no grades in Tomari-te.
Today
Several schools claim Tomari-te today. According to the Okinawa Karate Information Center, Nagamine Shoshin's Matsubayashi-ryu joins Shuri-te and Tomari-te, and the prefectural school karate guidebook lists it as a school of both lines, named around 1947. The Center says Gohaku-kai (Okinawa Goju-ryu and Tomari-te Karatedo Association) inherits Naha-te and Tomari-te, while the Okinawa Traditional Karatedo Promotion Association lists it as Gohaku-ryu. At the monuments of Matsumora the Center names Matsubayashi-ryu, Shorin-ryu, Shorinji-ryu and Gohaku-ryu as related schools, and at that of Kyan Chotoku (Kadena, 1999) Shuri-te, Tomari-te, Shorin-ryu and Shorinji-ryu. The 2022 prefectural dojo survey does not sort dojo by line, and Shorin-ryu group schools, including Matsubayashi-ryu, have 37 of its 212 dojo. Matsumora is commemorated by a 1983 monument in Shin-yashiki park in Tomari, a relief behind the Itokazu hospital, the Kaminuya cave, a grave in the village of Onna and the ruin of a house in Nago. In 2012, in its statement on building the karate hall, the Naha City Council stressed that all three great “te”, of Naha, Shuri and Tomari, lie within present-day Naha.
Did you know
According to the biography by Matsumora's grandson Matsumura Kosho, quoted by the Okinawa Karate Information Center, at twenty Matsumora subdued a Satsuma samurai with a drawn sword in Tomari using a towel with a stone tied to its end, then withdrew to northern Okinawa, where by the rock Fere in the village of Onna he reportedly once pulled down a bandit. The Okinawa Traditional Karatedo Promotion Association says Tomari-te was called the “phantom hand” because its only heir Nakasone taught no one for a long time. In 1947 Nagamine Shoshin named his school Matsubayashi-ryu after the character “matsu” in the names of Matsumura and Matsumora, the revivers of Shuri-te and Tomari-te. Matsumora's age at death is given as 69 years (Cabinet Office) or 70 years (Association).
Frequently asked questions
Does Tomari-te still exist today?
Not as a separate school, but Okinawa Prefecture, the Cabinet Office (Okinawa policy) and the Okinawa Karate Information Center state that Matsubayashi-ryu emerged from it and that it influenced Shorin-ryu schools, and Gohaku-kai claims both Naha-te and Tomari-te. The encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World, by contrast, writes that Shuri-te absorbed Tomari-te.
Who was Matsumora Kosaku?
The reviver of Tomari-te (1829–1898), a son of a noble family of Tomari and a pupil of Uku Karyu and Teruya Kishin. He mastered most Tomari-te kata, including Passai and Wanshu, and his art passed to Motobu Choki and Kyan Chotoku. He has had a monument in Tomari since 1983.
How does Tomari-te differ from Shuri-te?
The official Okinawan sources distinguish the lines by place and persons, not by technique. Shuri-te developed among the officials of the royal court, Tomari-te in the trading port, where according to tradition the locals took over the art from castaways. We have not found a technical characterization of Tomari-te in the sources.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.