Soken Hōhan and Nakama Chōzō
When I study the history of karate, I sometimes have this question. That is, the number of kata of a certain school has somehow increased, and the process is not clear.
For example, the founder of Kobayashi-ryū in Okinawa was Chibana Chōshin, but how many different kata did he teach? Some Kobayashi-ryū dojos teach nearly 50 different kata.
In fact, according to a Kobayashi-ryū instructor, Chibana Sensei taught the following kata:
Naihanchi (Shodan, Nidan, Sandan)
Pinan (Shodan to Godan)
Chintō
Passai (Dai and Shō)
Kūsankū (Dai and Shō)
In other words, Chibana Sensei taught 13 different kata. Therefore, kata other than those taught by Chibana Sensei came from sources other than Chibana Sensei. For example, Gojūshiho kata of Kobayashi-ryū were not taught by Chibana Sensei, but by other people. The most famous of these was Nakama Chōzō. Nakama Sensei learned Gojūshiho from Hanashiro Chōmo.
Nakama Sensei’s influence is not limited to Kobayashi-ryū. In fact, Soken Hōhan, the founder of Shōrin-ryū Matsumura Seitō, also learned kata from Nakama Sensei after World War II. Soken Sensei emigrated to Argentina before the war and forgot some kata there, so he relearned them from Nakama Sensei after the…
