Yamane-ryū
Yamane-ryū (Yamanni-ryū in Okinawan dialect) is an Okinawan style of bōjutsu (staff art). Its founder is said to be Chinen Sanra (1842–1925). The postwar successor was his grandson, Chinen Masami (1898–1976).
Yamane-ryū is not a familiar style in mainland Japan, but it is a prestigious style of Okinawan bōjutsu. In fact, most of the Okinawan bōjutsu organizations are related to Yamane-ryū.
According to a newspaper article from the Taisho era, Chinen Sanra and Motobu Choyū gave a demonstration at the Okinawa Prefectural Normal School (Ryukyu Shimpo, March 21, 1918). The invited performers were the top of the Okinawan karate and kobudō world at that time. Chinen Sanra and Motobu Choyū likely had a relationship with each other.
It is a little-known fact that the first person from the mainland to study Yamane-ryū was Miki Jisaburō, a student at Tokyo Imperial University at the time and co-author of Introduction to Kenpō (1930). Miki visited Okinawa in the summer of 1929 and learned bōjutsu from Ōshiro Chōjo, a disciple of Chinen Sanra.
In Introduction to Kenpō, among the bō kata of Yamane-ryū, Shushi no Kon, Sakugawa no Kon, and Shirotaru no Kon are…
