Kata of Yabu Kentsū

Yabu Kentsū was a student of Matsumura Sōkon and Itosu Ankō. He also taught karate as a shihandai (acting master) of Itosu Sensei at the Okinawa Prefectural Normal School. Yabu Sensei’s official title was gymnastics teacher, though he did not specialize in teaching karate.

Itosu Sensei did not establish his own school, nor did he appoint his successor. However, Yabu Sensei is often considered to be Itosu Sensei’s successor. That is why Yabu Sensei is such an important figure, but his kata are not well known.

The photo above is Naihanchi by students of the Okinawa Prefectural Normal School, taken in 1932. The karate teacher at that time was Yabu Sensei.

In other words, this is “Yabu’s Naihanchi.” You can see that the way they stand is different from Itosu’s Naihanchi.

Now, other than Naihanchi, what other kata did Yabu Sensei practice?

In the book Kenpō Gaisetsu (Introduction to Kenpō, 1930), co-authored by Miki Jisaburō and Takada Mizuho, there are the following sentences. They were members of the Tokyo University Karate Club at the time, but they went to Okinawa in the summer of 1929 because they wanted to know more about the real Okinawan karate. At that time, they met Yabu Sensei.

We were told that Yabu Kentsū Sensei practiced Gojūshiho and Kūsankū ─ the names of kata ─ for more…