Random Nonsensical Musings

[CEB]

Random musings that I am going to throw out for people rip on, think about, laugh, or most likely ignore…..

Who really was Takahara Peichin? He was supposedly Sakugawa’s first teacher. He taught Astronomy Mathematics and Zen. He was a Zen monk. He died as an old man around 1760.

Was he Japanese? Satsuma seized Okinawa in 1609. If Takahara was Japanese maybe Karate came to Okinawa from Japan before being sent back to Japan. Ha ha ha! If Takahara is the root source of what later became Shuri Te then Karate was Zen from its origin and it was not the Japanese who later added the spiritual element to it. Maybe it was always there? Maybe the makiwara did come from Japan and the Jigen Ryu after all. Matsumura held a Menkyo license in the Jigen Ryu. But maybe the makiwara really came from Takahara?????

Was Takahara a native Okinawan? Maybe I don’t know. Some credit him with mapping the Western Japanese coastline. He did supposedly live to be an OLD man. He probably was.

Nobody will ever know will they…….

[Prince Loeffler]

Random musings that I am going to throw out for people rip on, think about, laugh, or most likely ignore…..

Who really was Takahara Peichin? He was supposedly Sakugawa’s first teacher. He taught Astronomy Mathematics and Zen. He was a Zen monk. He died as an old man around 1760.

Was he Japanese? Satsuma seized Okinawa in 1609. If Takahara was Japanese maybe Karate came to Okinawa from Japan before being sent back to Japan. Ha ha ha! If Takahara is the root source of what later became Shuri Te then Karate was Zen from its origin and it was not the Japanese who later added the spiritual element to it. Maybe it was always there? Maybe the makiwara did come from Japan and the Jigen Ryu after all. Matsumura held a Menkyo license in the Jigen Ryu. But maybe the makiwara really came from Takahara?????

Was Takahara a native Okinawan? Maybe I don’t know. Some credit him with mapping the Western Japanese coastline. He did supposedly live to be an OLD man. He probably was.

Nobody will ever know will they…….

Hi Ed ! Don't really know much about Takahara, never met the guy.. Anyway, I can at least shed some light to term " Peichin" It came from Shuri. Shuri had its own ruling class or goverment. Peichin was the title issued to some regents of the Shuri Court. Peichin is similar to being "knighted" thus Peichin Takahara would have been known as "Sir" Takahara.

I believed that Takahara was Okinawan as he was was a member of the court. I could be wrong. Who knows really, After all Okinawan had way to many foriegn visitors namely China, America and of course Japan.

[CEB]

Yes I know about his title.

Some histories make Takahara out to be somewhat of a Okinawan Leonardo DaVinci. A master of many skills, Te, Mathematics, Astronomy, Mapmaking (so I would guess he was probably an artist) and a Zen priest. I wonder how widespread Zen was in Ryukyu during Takahara's time? I always thought of Zen as a Japanese discipline during that time. Maybe Zen in this case is just being used as a generic label for any Chan related discipline?

I wonder if Takahara was his real name for the time or if his name had a different pronunciation in the day?

On the net I find this I have no idea what is really true.

In Akata village, Shuri, Sakugawa found Peichin Takahara (1683-1760). Takahara was a monk, mapmaker and astronomer. Takahara Peichin was born in the village of Akata Cho in Southern Shuri. Takahara who 67 at the time and was a famous warrior of the Okinawan fighting arts. Sakugawa respectfully asked Takahara to become his student, and was accepted. He studied under him diligently.

The thing I find a little ironic is the injection of Zen into Karate seems to be something that is credited/blamed by some due to the Japanization of Okinawian Karate. Takahara seems to suggest that it was there in the beginning. Maybe not.

[CEB]

Is it just me or does anybody else finding it easier to teach good karate to women than to men. I find this especially true in kakie. Size matters….Strength matters but guys seem to emphasize too much upper body the women seem to have an easier time figuring out the lower body and leg mechanics.

Working on some yakusoku kumite last Saturday the moves come from Seisan and Naihanchi. The first 5 of these all started with a particular bridge breaking technique. Parry with the far hand and enter close to the outside and strike the bicep down into the inside elbow joint with either a tetsui uchi or shuto uchi. The body sinks, stance roots on the sabaki and the rotates slightly counter clockwise. This sets up various techniques. Some of the novice guys were just bruising each others arm giving each other arm Charlie horses. The women caught right on. Maybe women are smarter than men?

Kind of funny because I always sort of took Goju Ryu to be more of a masculine style as opposed to Wing Chun which seems more feminine to me.

But if I think about it ….my wife used to always be opening doors getting in and out of cars and buildings with a child in one arm and a bag a groceries or merchandise in the other. Women use the hips and legs out of necessity. And I used to think ( a longtime ago when I was even more dumber than I am now) that women didn’t belong in Karate…….