Motobu Chōyū’s Gojūshiho

The other day I wrote a series of articles about how Motobu Chōyū’s Unsū has been transmitted to several lineages in Okinawa. In one of the articles, I quoted a sentence from an article written by Higa Yūchoku Sensei of the Kobayashi-ryu (Shorin-ryu). Again, it is quoted below.

Next, the purpose of the meeting with Motobu no Umē (Motobu Chōyū) Sensei was to study the kata of “Gojūshiho” and “Unsuū” [sic]. (Note 1)

Regarding the above, I wrote that Kyūdōkan’s Unsū is similar to other Motobu Chōyū’s Unsū, and thus is certainly in the lineage of Motobu Chōyū. However, because of his age, it was difficult for Higa Sensei to study directly under Motobu Chōyū, and I speculated that he learned it through someone else.

In addition, I didn’t mention anything about Gojūshiho of Higa Sensei, as I hadn’t come across any information other than the above. However, I recently found out from a comment on this blog that there is information about this in Ōtsuka Tadahiko’s Textbooks of Goju-ryu Kensha Karatedō (1977). Ōtsuka Sensei was a disciple of Ichikawa Sosui Sensei, but he also studied under Higa Sensei. The book says the following.

Gojūshiho = (learned from) Motobu Chōyū Sensei’s disciple, Mr. Kinjō (Note 2)

According to this, Higa Sensei learned Gojūshiho from Kinjō. It also says that Unsū was learned from Motobu Chōyū’s disciple, “Venerable Akamine.” It would be interesting to know who this Venerable Akamine was, but in this article, I would like to discuss Motobu Chōyū’s…