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Following that remarkable incident the young subordinate became known throughout the kingdom as “Bushi” Matsumura, the fearless warrior. This episode really characterizes Matsumura’s exceptional personality. Unlike other powerful but reckless bujin, Matsumura realized that a contest of strength between man and beast was meaningless, but used his wit to prove a point. It is no wonder the fighting tradition he cultivated became so popular; with such a reputation, everyone wanted to be like Bushi Matsumura.

Despite diligently searching for Matsumura’s actual dates of birth and death, I was unable to locate them. The documents I once had were so badly burned from the air raid they were of no use. However, I was able to establish what his date of birth was by conducting the following analysis: I located Uto Kaiyo, who was a very close relative of Matsumura’s. She was born May 30, 1896, and lived in Shuri. Kaiyo’s mother always told her that in the same year that she was born her family all attended Matsumura’s beiju (eighty-eighth birthday) celebration. Hence, we can be sure that Matsumura Sokon was eighty-eight years old in 1896. Based on the testimony of Uto Kaiyo, it would therefore be safe to conclude that the famous bushi was born in 1809.