Myths, Masters and Mayhem

Stories of the Martial Arts

7 - Soken “Bushi” Matsumura

Bushi Matsumura's life often merges into legend so it is difficult to determine what is fact and what is not. What we do know is that he was born in Shuri Okinawa around 1798 and died in 1890 and that he was arguably the best karateka of the 19th Century. Most modern styles of karate trace, to a greater or lesser extent, their lineage through him. However, he is mostly closely associated with the style of Shorinryu.

He is known to have studied martial arts in both Okinawa and in China. It is also claimed that while in China he trained extensively at the Shaolin monastery (Shorin is the Okinawan-Japanese translation of the word Shaolin).

It is said that Bushi Matsumura fought many contests and was never defeated, which is impressive as it must be remembered that during this time contests between karateka often resulted in serious injury or death.

Bushi Matsumura was also a bodyguard to the Sho, which was the Okinwan royal family, and it was for services them that he was awarded the honour of the title "Bushi", which in this Okinawan context means something like "gentleman warrior".

There are a number of stories about Matsumura one of which one is about how he married his wife Yonamine Chiru. It appears that Yonamine came from a family known for their martial arts skills and was a formidable fighter in her own right. The story goes that she said she would never marry a man that could not beat her in a fight. Apparently when she met Bushi Matsumura she met her match in more than one sense.

Another story states that Bushi Matsumura studied under the Chinese master Channan (Chiag Nan) who was a diplomat sent to Shuri from China. As a result of this training he created two kata that he named Channan Sho and Dai. These kata are now known as Pinan (Ping An) shodan (ichi) and nidan (ni).

However, perhaps the most famous story told about Bushi Matsumura is in Sensei Funakoshi's book "Karate My Way of Life". The book tells that he won a contest against an extremely competent karateka without the exchange of blows. It appears that his opponent was so overwhelmed by the intensity of Matsumura's gaze that he could not bring himself to engage and finally had to admit defeat.