KAKIWAKE-UKE: THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES!
06.02.2024 15:04
Article by Emanuel Giordano
In the previous article “KAKIWAKE-UKE: THE INTRUDER” I tried to clarify the presence of this technique in the Haian/Pinan yondan kata of Shotokan. As a result of the investigation, in fact, this technique is not present in the other versions of this kata practiced in the other styles, which led to two possible conclusions explained in the article:
a) it was added by Funakoshi sensei
b) it was added in the school version of the kata, taught at Shihan Gakko between 1911 and 1921.
Thanks to the information obtained from some users who commented on the article, I learned that kakiwake-uke is also present in the Pinan Yondan of Okinawa Kenpo. This information is very important, because it helps us untangle this mess! First we need to take a step back and explain what Okinawa Kenpo is and who it was founded by.
Okinawa Kenpo is a style of Traditional Okinawan Karate which, despite its name, has every right to be grouped into the large Shorin-ryu family. In fact, both the kata practiced and the lineage of its founder are totally part of Shorin-ryu. Among the peculiarities of this style there is undoubtedly bogu-kumite (fighting in full contact with protection), in which its founder was undoubtedly among the pioneers of this specialty! The style was founded by Nakamura Shigeru sensei, who began studying martial arts with his uncle, and then continued his path with Karate under the guidance of Hanashiro Chomo sensei, at the Shuri middle school (Okinawa Kenritsu Chugakko). Many practitioners therefore think that some of the kata that Nakamura sensei taught, including the Pinan, came from Hanashiro sensei. The problem is that they are not identical to those present in the Bugeikan school, which could apparently cause confusion. However, there are various explanations for this:
- Nakamura sensei studied with Hanashiro sensei in middle school, while the kata arrived at the Bugeikan school through Nakandakari Kanzo (friend of Hanashiro, Yabu and Motobu), who taught them to Higa Seitoku sensei, founder of the aforementioned school. In particular, at the Bugeikan Hanashiro sensei's Pinan are taught in the modified version for elementary school, the one with the shuto-uke replaced by the tsuki-uke (open hand techniques replaced by closed hand techniques). So two different schools (elementary school and middle school) and two different periods, which could already explain some changes.
- Nakamura sensei, after middle school, attended Shihan Gakko (see A. Quast, 2015). Given his age (he was a year younger than Miyagi Hisateru), he should have attended between 1910 and 1915, graduating 4 years after Toyama Kanken sensei. Since at the Shihan Gakko, as we well know, Karate was also studied, mainly under the guidance of Yabu sensei (see H. Miyagi, 1953), and since the Pinan were part of the program (see H. Miyagi, 1953), some changes to the kata are certainly also attributable to this period.
- Nakamura sensei, like Funakoshi sensei and other collaborators of Yabu sensei, became a school teacher, and taught at the elementary school of Nago. Since among the tasks of the school teachers who had attended the Shihan Gakko there was also that of teaching Karate in the public schools of Okinawa, Nakamura sensei became part of that world called "School Karate", that is, the environment of those masters who taught Karate in the schools of Okinawa.
These three points, and in particular the last one, in addition to explaining the differences between the Pinan of Hanshiro sensei taught in Okinawa Kenpo and those taught at Bugeikan, explain the presence of the kakiwake-uke in the Pinan yondan of Okinawa Kenpo and in the schools derived from Funakoshi sensei. Going back to the possible conclusions drawn in the previous article, in light of this new information, I think it is clear that it was not a modification made by Funakoshi sensei, but certainly an addition made within the scholastic Karate environment after 1911. Given that Itosu sensei put Yabu sensei at the head of the project, and given that as has already emerged from various research and testimonies Yabu sensei was anything but a conservative, but rather a true innovator who modified the kata taught by him over and over again, also implementing very profound technical changes (see Pinan, Passai, Kusanku, etc.), and given that he was a true specialist of the Gojushiho kata (where the kakiwake-uke is performed before a maegeri and two choku-zuki...), I consider it plausible to hold him responsible for this modification to the Pinan yondan kata.