SENSEI
Those who made the road
before
Chomo Hanashiro
 1869-1945
Chomo Hanashiro was born in 1869. At an early age
he began training with Sokon 'Bushi' Matsumura. Matsumura was quite
an old man at the time and Hanashiro was primarily a student of one
of Matsumura's senior students, Ankoh Itosu. Hanashiro remained with
Itosu, and acted as an assistant instructor for him up until his
death in 1915.
From early in the 20th century, Hanashiro taught
gymnastics at a junior high school in Shuri which gave him an
excellent opportunity to aid Itosu in the introduction of Tote into
the school system.
Hanashiro and Kentsu Yabu, also a originally
student of Matsumura, shared many common experiences and have
remarkably similar karate careers. Both were noted as having
exceptional physiques in the 1891 Japanese army draft's medical
exams. They were both pioneers in instructing karate in the school
system in the first decade of the 20th century, and also taught Tote
in military schools. Both were also present at the famous Oct. 25th,
1936 meeting of Okinawan Masters.
Hanashiro was not only a pioneer in the school
system, he pioneered the use of the word "karate". In his August
1905 publication, "Karate Shoshu Hen" (AKA "Karate Kumite"), we can
see the first known use of the modern kanji. The original two
characters for the art were pronounced Tote meaning, "China Hand."
The first character, however, could also be pronounced "kara." This
character was changed to another that had the same pronunciation
("kara"). Thus the modern term "Karate-te (empty hand) appeared.
To-te
='China' Hand
Kara-te
='Empty' Hand
Hanashiro was one of the primary instructors for an
organization formed in the early 1920's in Okinawa called the Ryukyu
Tote Kenkyukai (Okinawan Tote Research Club). The club was an
expansion of an earlier organization formed in 1918 by Chojun
Miyagi, founder of Goju Ryu. Originally the organization was meant
to continue the teachings of Ankoh Itosu, Kanryo Higa(shi)onna and
Seisho Aragaki, the last generation of masters who had died between
1915 and 1918, leaving a great void.
1945 was a horrific year for karate and for Okinawa
in general. The "Battle of Okinawa" was fought and Okinawa was
relentlessly pounded by U.S. artillery and occupied by U.S. troops.
Approximately 60,000 civilians were killed during the 82 days of
fighting. The time after the battle was no less forgiving and many
died of starvation and disease, including many karate masters and
their students. Chomo Hanashiro was one of the unfortunate victims
of this time.
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