Kumite of Kyan Chōtoku

Last month (April 2020), Andreas Quast Sensei in Germany told me that some photos of Kyan Chōtoku’s kumite have been uploaded to Facebook.

Source: Karate e Kobudo Tradizionali di Okinawa — Okinawa Dento Karate-do

I had seen pictures of Kyan Sensei’s students’ kumite before, but I think this is the first time I have seen pictures of his own kumite. I was asked about the source, so I looked it up but didn’t know. I have not seen any of these photos in any published books in Japan. The above photos appear to have been taken from a foreign book.

The images are blurred, and there are not many of them, but they are valuable as kumite photos of Kyan Sensei himself.

When I saw these pictures, I thought it was similar to Motobu Chōki’s kumite. There is a suggestion that Motobu Chōki plays the role of Kyan’s counterpart, but I don’t…