Hello Andreas, my names is Shaz and we have spoken before on Yamanni Chinnen ryu subject matter. I would be happy to clear up more of your questions. First and foremost, many people such as Shuguro Nakazato and Higa Seitoku studied with Masami Chinen. I cannot comment on their abilities because I haven't seen either of them move. Kishaba Chogi sensei studied under Masami Chinen for about 28 years. His abilities were and are recognized and documented by Masami Chinen, the Prefectural Government of Okinawa and still by the Chinen family. Chinen Teruo sensei of Goju-ryu (Grandson to Masami Chinen who didn't learn Yamanni Ryu) as well as many others such as Morio Higoanna recognize and remember him and his involovement with not only Masami Chinen but Chojun Miyagi. As far as what katas he learned..they are suuji no kun sho, suuji no kun dai, sakagawa no kun, shirataru, tomari shirataru, yunegawa, sunakake, and chikin/tsuken bo....they are listed on Oshiro Sensei's website. They are all from Masami Chinen and codified by his grandfather Sanda Chinen. This was an art practiced by the ryukyu nobles and although some practicioners who may not have grasped the art, combined it with farmer style techniques, Masami Chinen and his student Kishaba Chogi have not. Many people have trained with Kishaba Sensei. However, his two highest ranking Shihans are Nishime sensei and Oshiro sensei. They are both my teachers and are arguably at their highest levels in my personal opinion. Sensei Oshiro and Sensei Nishime are not only talented karate Instructors, their Bojutsu is almost magically powerful and fast. Both teachers teach this art and its unusual body mechanics in a very traditional sense. However, they introduce it at many tournaments in hopes people will embrace it as a way to better understand body mechanics in general. The modification of kata is because without this beginning method, it would be far too difficult to teach and show this art to a lot of people. ...so they created basic kihon kata with Kishaba Sensei's approval wich help develop the concepts many students need to understand the traditional kata. The modified kata are basic..his video released from dragon tsunami shows the basic modified kata.However, to reach the highest levels of Yamanni-Chinen ryu you will find yourself discarding the modified versions and only practicing the traditional version. On Oshiro sensei's website www.oshirodojo.com..he discusses this further in an interview. I hope this helps
regards Shaz DSouza RBKD