Yamanni-ryu Bojutsu
山根流棒術Okinawan school of fighting with the long bo staff, also given as Yamane-ryu. According to researcher Andreas Quast, Chinen Masami named it after his grandfather.
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About Yamanni-ryu Bojutsu
Yamanni-ryu is an Okinawan school of bojutsu, fighting with the long bo staff. Green (Martial Arts of the World, 2001) gives it under the name Yamane-ryu and the Okinawa Karate Information Center OKIC as Yamanni-ryu. The overview of kobudo lineages on the ODKS association website, compiled from a survey by the prefectural board of education, leads the lineage from Sakugawa Kanga (1762–1843) through a Chinen family member (1797–1881) to another Chinen family member, who lived from 1842 to 1925. Researcher Andreas Quast writes on his blog that Chinen Masami (1898–1976) named his style after his grandfather, whose name he gives as Chinen Sanra. According to OKIC from 2019, the school was taught for example by Oshiro Toshihiro, a student of master Kishaba Chogi, then chairman of the association Ryukyu Bujutsu Kenkyu Doyukai, who returned from the USA to live in Okinawa.
History
The ODKS overview lists Sakugawa Kanga (1762–1843), called Tode Sakugawa, as the teacher of the lineage. His student was a member of the Chinen family (1797–1881) and his student was another member of the Chinen family (1842–1925). From him, lineages in the overview lead, among others, to master Yabiku Moden (1878–1941) and through him to Taira Shinken. Chinen Masami is not listed in the overview.
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Green lists Chinen Masame (Yamane-ryu) among the Okinawan supporters of the society Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai, which Taira Shinken founded in 1955. According to notes by Nagamine Shoshin from an interview in 1967, Andreas Quast writes that Chinen Masami (1898–1976) named his style Yamani-ryu after his grandfather Chinen Sanra. According to the same notes, Sanra died in 1922 at the age of 83 and was born in 1839 or 1840, which differs from the years 1842 to 1925 in the ODKS overview. The English Wikipedia states that according to tradition the style was developed by Sakugawa Kanga at the end of the 18th century and passed on to the Chinen family, that Chinen Sanda brought the flexible movement of the stick into it, and that the last member of the family who practiced it was Chinen Teruo, a grandnephew of Chinen Masami. According to the same source, Higa Seitoku began practicing Yamane-ryu in 1956 and was the only one to receive an official license in bojutsu from Chinen Masami. OKIC states that Oshiro Toshihiro, born on 1 May 1949 on Okinawa, began practicing Matsubayashi-ryu at the age of 16, became a student of master Kishaba Chogi at 24 and left for the USA at 28. The English Wikipedia writes that in 1979 Kishaba sent Oshiro Toshihiro and Nishime Kiyoshi to the United States and in 1985 they founded Ryukyu Bujutsu Kenkyu Doyukai (RBKD) there, a branch also called Kishaba-ha Yamanni-ryu.
How it differs
The ODKS overview shows that a lineage also leads from the Chinen family master (1842–1925) to Taira Shinken, founder of Taira-ha Ryukyu kobudo. The English Wikipedia distinguishes from Chinen Masami's lineage the Oshiro-ha Yamane-ryu branch, which it says Patrick McCarthy created as a current interpretation and which is unrelated to that lineage.
Technique
According to notes from 1967, Andreas Quast lists the kata taught by Chinen Masami: Sakugawa no Kon in three versions (Dai, Chu, Sho), Shushi no Kon, Yonegawa no Kon, Tsuken Bo, also called Sunakaki Bo, and Shirotaro no Kon. The English Wikipedia writes that the main weapon is the bo, a cylindrical stick without tapering, and that in recent years sai, tonfa, nunchaku and kama are practiced as secondary weapons. The seminar that OKIC announced for 2019 was devoted to the bo staff and sai.
Ranks and progression
OKIC states in 2019 that Oshiro Toshihiro held 8th dan in Yamanni-ryu and 8th dan in Shima-ha Matsubayashi-ryu. The English Wikipedia mentions master Maeda Kiyomasa, who holds 9th dan from Kishaba Chogi, and states that the syllabus in the Bugeikan dojo associated with Higa Seitoku contains only kata with the bo staff.
Competition
At the first international Okinawan karate tournament in 2018, the organizing committee included among the 28 official bojutsu kata also Choun nu Kun, Sakugawa nu Kun in the Sho and Dai versions and Chinen Shikiyanaka nu Kun. The list, however, does not assign them to individual schools.
Today
In 2019 OKIC announced a Yamanni-ryu seminar with the bo staff and sai at the Okinawa Karate Kaikan, which was to be led on 13 July 2019 by Oshiro Toshihiro, chairman of Ryukyu Bujutsu Kenkyu Doyukai. The English Wikipedia gives as other current lineages the Bugeikan dojo associated with Higa Seitoku and the dojo of Maeda Kiyomasa.
Did you know
OKIC calls Kishaba Chogi one of the last students taught by Miyagi Chojun, and writes of the Yamanni-ryu bojutsu that he mastered as an art celebrated as phantom (maboroshi). Andreas Quast states that a newspaper article from 1918 called Sanra Yama no mae no Usume, and believes that Yama no mae, that is Yamani, denotes the place in front of a hill. According to Quast, his given name is written in various sources as Sanra, Sandā, Masanra or Saburo.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Yamanni-ryu go by different names?
Green gives it as Yamane-ryu, OKIC as Yamanni-ryu and researcher Andreas Quast as Yamani-ryu. Quast believes that the name refers to the place in front of a hill, after which master Chinen Sanra was nicknamed.
Who named Yamanni-ryu?
Researcher Andreas Quast writes on his blog that the style was named by Chinen Masami (1898–1976) after his grandfather Chinen Sanra.
Who teaches Yamanni-ryu today?
According to OKIC from 2019, for example Oshiro Toshihiro, a student of master Kishaba Chogi, then chairman of the association Ryukyu Bujutsu Kenkyu Doyukai. The English Wikipedia also gives the Bugeikan dojo associated with Higa Seitoku and the dojo of Maeda Kiyomasa.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.