Ushicho Tegumi and the Ryukyu Kempo Connection

 

Ryukyu is the name of the ancient kingdom of which the island of Okinawa was the seat of authority. This is why the "Islands of Okinawa" are labeled as the "Ryu Kyu Archipelago" on many old maps.

 

Throughout its history the Ryu Kyu Kingdom was continually invaded, both by the Chinese to the west and the Japanese to the north. As a result, the people of this island chain developed their own, unique blend of combative knowledge.

 

Many of their techniques were gleaned from observing their occupiers. So much so, that the word Kempo, which means "Fist Law," is derived from the Chinese word "Chuan fa," commonly anglicized as "Kung fu."

 

Another evidence of this comes in the fact that when Funakoshi Gichen first codified his system of "Karate," he used the calligraphy for "China Hand." The version used today, though pronounced the same, says "Empty Hand" and was chosen when he took his system to Japan for a demonstration in which he did not wish to offend the politically sensitive audience.

 

Too, nearly every kata taught in traditional Okinawan Karate can be traced to one of the Chuan fa systems of China. Despite all of the romanticized stories of a fisherman being blown across the sea to China and returning with "Te," it is generally agreed between historical scholars that the first influx of Chinese forms into Okinawa occurred during the cultural exchange commission of 1392 AD.

 

Others techniques were developed independently during the rare periods of peace during which practitioners were able to train openly and thus the kata were altered to fit the methods of their users. While most schools today require as many as eight to ten kata to receive a black belt, in the old days each kata or set of progressive kata was considered a system in and of itself, worthy of a lifetime of study.

 

I personaly hold to the notion that the change to an emphasis on many kata was a grave mistake, as students rush through learning the movements without ever understanding their meaning and purpose. The style of "Old Okinawan Fist Law"which I teach is known as Ushicho Tegumi and one of the many reasons why I was drawn to it is that history seemingly forgot it in a mountain village and left it there, relatively unchanged, for hundreds of years.

 

Ushicho is the name of a village on the island of Okinawa from whence my teacher, Freed Master Paul Zorman's, lineage is derived. Zorman Sensei specifically retained the name Ushicho in order to make a distinction between his own lineage and some of the more well-known, watered down lineages of Okinawan Karate and, out of respect for my teacher, I have continued this tradition.

 

Tegumi means "Grasping hand method." Sometimes pronounced Tori-te or Tui'te, it is the name of an ancient Okinawan grappling system which predates the introduction of Chuan fa by the Chinese immigrants, who established the colony of Kumemura in 1393 for the purpose of establishing ongoing cultural exchange.

 

Over the next eighty years, Tegumi and Chaun fa were blended into Tode, the forerunner of modern Karate and was, among other things, used as a defensive method by the body guards of the early kings of Okinawa. Then in 1477, a new king came to power and attempted to subjugate those who had been faithful servants of his predecessor, taking their rank, status, weapons and lands.

 

At that time, a group of royal guards fled the capital of Shuri with their families and joined relatives in the northern part of the Island. There they continued the practice of Tegumi, infused with the knowledge they had gleaned from their studies of Chaun fa and, over the course of the next four hundred years, their descendants honed that knowledge into a unique form of Ryu Kyu Kempo, Ushicho Tegumi.

 

Prior to studying Ushicho Tegumi with Zorman Sensei, I studied other forms of Ryu Kyu Kempo, including Isshin ryu, Tui'te-jitsu and Kyusho-jitsu. As the appointed Soke Dairi of the Ushicho Tegumi system, I attempt to bring forth and share the knowledge I received through training in these systems, while preserving the historical aspects of the Ushicho Tegumi system.

 

Ushicho Tegumi is a highly devastating system of self-defense. For those not yet prepared for this type of study, especially young children, I have developed a specialized curriculum called Tora-kan Karate-do, which allows beginners to move into full fledged training through graduated steps.