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Later, around 1830, an Okinawan official, (Bucho) Sokon Matsumura, was sent to China where he mastered Shorinji kempo and after returning to Okinawa founded in Shuri the "Shorinryu-gokoku-an-karate", the original name of Shorinryu karate. One sidelight of this history is that he also introduced to Okinawa the Chinese form of checkers called 'go'. In 1848 Master Matsumura was named Chief Martial Arts Instructor for Okinawa. At that time Okinawan karate emphasized hard blocking techniques in reaction to an offensive action, and this often resulted in severe injuries when the attacker was armed. Master Anko Asato, a student of Master Matsumura, brilliantly demonstrated the superiority of dodging over blocking by defeating one of the greatest swordsman of that time, Toshiaki Kirino. A number of masters became famous during this period and were to greatly influence the development of karate in Japan. They were Master Chojun Kyamu, himself a student of Master Anko Asato and one of the instructors of Shinan Kori Hisataka, founder of Shorinjiryu Kenkokan Karatedo; Master Anko Itosu and Master Kanryu Higaona, foremost instructors respectively of Shuri-te and Naha-te (karate from Shuri and Naha, two of the biggest cities in Okinawa); Gichin Funakoshi, Chojun Miyagi, and Kenwa Mabuni, themselves students of Masters Asato, Itosu, and Higaona, who were later to develop, respectively, the Shotokan, Gojuryu, and Shitoryu styles of karate in Japan.