Читать книгу Empty Hand. The Essence of Budo Karate онлайн

42 страница из 56

As mentioned above, all Okinawan hand-fighting techniques are based on the two main styles Shuri-te and Naha-te. The Shuri-te was taught as secret knowledge among the Shuri nobility. It was perfected by Matsumura Sōkon (1800-1896), the incomparable master of the fist. His teacher was Sakugawa Shungo (1733-1815), who was known in Shuri as an outstanding martial arts expert. He had studied the Chinese kempō (tō-de) in China and passed his knowledge on to the Shuri nobility. That is how he earned the name Tōde Sakugawa. He had learned the northern Peking style which some people think to be the archetype of the Shuri-te. At the age of 20 Matsumura was sent by the Ryūkyū court to the Satsuma province in southern Kyūshū. There he learned the Jigen sword technique and reached the highest level of perfection called unyō (flame cloud). At the age of 27 he returned to the Ryūkyū islands and soon had the opportunity to travel on board of a tribute ship to China. So he could study Chinese kempō in Peking.