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Taira Shinken
Founder and First President
(12 June 1897 - 3 December 1970)
Taira (Maezato) Shinken
Sensei was born in 1897 on Kumejima, an island in the Ryukyu Archipelago in the
village of Nakazato. Second son in the family. He was adopted as a child, (not
an uncommon practice in old Japan). He started using is mother’s maiden name,
Taira.
As a young man, working in the Sulphur mines at Minamijima, Taira Sensei was
injured in a mining accident when a mineshaft collapsed. He suffered a badly
broken leg and was left with a limp.
In 1922, Taira Shinken left Okinawa and travelled to Tokyo in search of work
like many other Okinawans, he was introduced to Funakoshi Ginchin, a fellow
Okinawan and Karate instructor. Taira Sensei became a deshi (student) of
Funakoshi Gichin in an effort to learn Karate do. In 1929, Taira Sensei began
his studies of Ryukyu Kobudo under Yabiku Moden Sensei.
In 1932, after studying Kobudo for three years and Karate do for 10 years he
received permission from his Sensei to open his own Dojo. Taira Sensei began to
teach Karate do and Kobudo in the quaint hot springs resort town of Ikaho, Gunma
Prefecture.
Taira Sensei had and insatiable appetite for Budo knowledge. He continuously
researched and assimilated his findings into a Kobudo system that remains to
this day. It was because of this constant search for knowledge that in 1933,
Taira Sensei was introduced by Funakoshi Sensei to Mabuni Kenwa. In 1934, Taira
Sensei became deshi of Mabuni.
In 1940 Master Taira Shinken opened a Kobudo Dojo in Naha, Okinawa. He also
opened Dojo in Kanto and Kansai, two major districts of central Japan. In 1955
he established the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai, to promote the Ancient
Okinawan Martial Arts as passed down to him by so many great masters.
Taira Shinken Sensei is credited with bringing together many of the Okinawa's
oldest and most prominent weapons traditions into one comprehensive system of
weaponry training. He will always be remembered as an Innovator, Inventor and
Brilliant Martial Artist. |
