Taira Shinken
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Taira Shinken (1897~1970) was a Japanese sensei, born as Maezato Shinken in 1897 on Kume Island in the Ryukyu Archipelago.
Early life
He was the second son in a family of three boys and one girl. He was given up for adoption as a child, (not an uncommon practice in old Japan). At some point in his early life he took on his mother's maiden name of Taira. As a young man, Taira Sensei worked in the sulfur mines in Minamijima. He suffered a badly broken leg when he was trapped in a mine shaft collapse, which caused permanently damage to his leg.Karate
In 1922, after traveling to Tokyo to find work, he was introduced to Funakoshi Ginchin, a fellow Okinawan and Karate instructor. Taira Sensei became a deshi (student) of Funakoshi Gichin in an effort to learn Karatedo. In 1929, Taira Sensei began his studies of Ryukyu Kobudo under Yabiku Moden Sensei.In 1932, after studying Kobudo for three years and Karatedo for 10 years he received permission from his Senseis to open his own Dojo. Taira Sensei began to teach Karatedo and Kobudo in the quaint hot springs resort town of Ikaho, Gunma Prefecture.
Taira Sensei had and insatiable appetite for Budo knowledge. He continuously researched and assimilated his findings into a Kobudo system that remains to this day. It was because of this constant search for knowledge that in 1933, Taira Sensei was introduced by Funakoshi Sensei to Mabuni Kenwa. In 1934, Taira Sensei became deshi of Mabuni.
In 1940 Master Taira Shinken opened a Kobudo Dojo in Naha, Okinawa. He also opened Dojos in Kanto and Kansai, two major districts of central Japan. In 1955 he established the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai, to promote the Ancient Okinawan Martial Arts as passed down to him by so many great masters.
Taira Shinken Sensei is credited with bringing together many of the Okinawan's oldest and most prominent weapons traditions into one comprehensive system of weaponry training. He left behind a legacy as an innovator of combining unarmed and armed combat, as an inventor who developed the Manji Sai, and brilliant martial artist.
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