Uechi Ryu
Intro
Uechi Ryu (上地流) is a style of Okinawan Karate originated by Kanbun Uechi
(上地完文).
Country
Okinawa
History
Kanbun Uechi studied Pangai-noon (half-hard, half-soft) Kung Fu under
Shushiwa, also known as Chou Tsu Ho, in the Fukien province of mainland China in
the late 1800's and early 1900's. After 10 years of study under Shushiwa, Kanbun
Uechi opened his own school in the Nanching province. Two years later, Kanbun
Uechi returned to Okinawa, resolved never to teach again because one of his
Chinese students had killed a neighbor with an open-hand technique in a dispute
over land irrigation. Kanbun Uechi, while working as a janitor was persuaded by
Ryuyu Tomoyose, a coworker to teach again. He did this by getting Kanbun to show
him ways of defending against different attacks. His confidence as a teacher
restored, Kanbun Uechi with the help of Ryuyu Tomoyose opened a dojo to the
public. His Okinawan students eventually renamed the system in 1940 to "Uechi
Ryu", which translates as "Way of Uechi".
Kanbun Uechi's son, Kanei Uechi, taught the style at the Futenma City Dojo,
Okinawa, and was considered the first Okinawan to sanction the teaching to
foreigners. One of Kanei's senior students, Ryuko Tomoyose, taught a young
American serviceman named, George Mattson, formerly of Boston and now residing
in Florida, who authored several books on the subject and is largely responsible
for popularizing the style in America. Uechi-ryu emphasizes toughness of the
body with quick hand and foot strikes. Several of the more unique weapons of
Uechi practitioners are the one-knuckle punch (shoken), spearhand (nukite), and
the toe kick. Because of this emphasis on simplicity, stability, and a
combination of linear and circular motions, the style is practical for
self-defense. Uechi-ryu is principally based on the movements of animals, the
Tiger, Dragon, and Crane. Of all styles of Karate, none are closer to the
Chinese roots of the art; Uechi-ryu still strongly resembles Southern Chinese
Kung Fu.
Kata
There are eight empty-hand katas in Uechi Ryu; the longest
has 36 steps. Only Sanchin, Seisan, Sanseirui are from
Pangai-noon. The others were added to the style by Kanei
Uechi. Many of the names of the newer kata were formed from
the names of prominent figures in the art, e.g. Kanshiwa
from Kanei and Sushiwa. The current list of empty-hand kata
is:
- Sanchin
- Kanshiwa
- Konshu
- Seichin
- Seisan
- Seirui
- Konchin
- Sanseirui
The Sanchin kata is deceptively simple in appearance. It
teaches the foundation of the style, including stances and
breathing. Kanbun Uechi is quoted as saying "All is in
Sanchin." Though it is not difficult to learn the movements
of Sanchin, it is thought to take a lifetime to master the
form.
Additionally, some organizations teach that each kata has a
'meaning' or moral; the more accurate meaning however is
that each kata teaches a specific concept:
- Sanchin (Three Modes/Conflicts: Mind, Body and Spirit)
- Kanshiwa
- Konshu
- Seichin
- Seisan (Thirteen modes of attack and defense)
- Seirui
- Konchin
- Sanseirui (Thirty-six modes of attack and defense)
After Kanei Uechi, some Uechi Ryu schools have added
additional kata, such as Shoshu, which can be included
between Konshu and Seichin.
Ranks
These are the ten black belt or Dan ranks:
- Shodan
- Nidan
- Sandan
- Yondan
- Godan
- Rokudan (Master's title: Renshi)
- Sichidan or Nanidan (Master's title: Kyoshi)
- Hachidan (Master's title: Kyoshi)
- Kyudan (Master's title: Hanshi)
- Judan (Master's title: Hanshi-sei)
These are the ten beginner or Kyu ranks:
- Jukyu
- Kyukyu
- Hachikyu
- Sichikyu
- Rokyu
- Gokyu
- Yonkyu
- Sankyu
- Nikyu
- Ikkyu
Weapons
There are no weapons in the Uechi-ryu system, although several masters in
Okinawa have cross-trained with Kobudo weapon systems and made them part of
their curriculum. Okinawan weapons include in part: bo (6' staff), Nunchaku, Sai,
Kama, Oar, Tonfa.
Additional Training Elements
Kanei Uechi, in addition to adding kata, also introduced a sequence of exercises
to the Uechi Ryu training regimen. The "junbi undo" are warm-up and stretching
exercises based on Asian school training exercises. The "hojo undo" are
standardized exercises that incorporate elements of all of the katas of the
system. The hojo undo exercises are:
- Sokuto geri (knife-edge kick)
- Shomen geri (front kick)
- Mawashi tsuki (roundouse four-knuckle-fist punches)
- Wauke shuto uraken shoken tsuki (circle block, chop, backfist, one-knuckle
punch)
- Hajki uke hiraken tsuki (four-knuckle-fist blocks and strikes)
- Hiji tsuki (elbow strikes)
- Seiken tsuki (full-fist punch)
- Tenshin zensoku geri (front-leg angle kicks)
- Tenshin kosuko geri (rear-leg angle kicks)
- Tenshin Shoken Tsuki (Step around circular block, punch, circular block,
punch)
- Shomen hajiki (fingertip eye strikes)
- Koino shipo uchi, tate uchi (fish-tail wrist blocks in four directions)
- Koino shipo uchi, yoko uchi (fish-tail wrist blocks side-to-side)
Uechi Ryu Today
Like many arts, Uechi-ryu experienced organizational splits after its founder's
death. Some seniors split from the main organization and created other
organizations or styles, for example, Shohei-ryu and several variants of
Pangai-noon-ryu. The original Futenma dojo is headed by Kanmei Uechi of Okinawa,
grandson of the founder.
(This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
Wikipedia article "Uechi Ryu".)
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