Konishi Yasuhiro; innovator and cypher. Part 1.

Groundbreaking Japanese karate master.

Dave Lowry, in a 2023 article called him, ‘The Karate Pioneer Karateka’s Forgot’.

In this first part:

·       Konishi and Otsuka, the parallels.

·       Kendo.

·       Introduction to Okinawan karate.

·       Relationships with Okinawan karate masters living in Japan.

Photo credits: Wikipedia and Blackbelt magazine. All other credits and references, at the foot of the articles.

Konishi Yasuhiro’s tradition continues today and in name has morphed from the original ‘Shindo Jinen Ryu’ karate to ‘Ryobu-Kai’ karate. (Compared to Wado Ryu/Kai, Ryobukai has a much smaller membership).

There are several reasons why Konishi is so interesting; not least among those is that much of his chosen path was identical to that of Otsuka Hironori the founder of Wado karate. These two were same place, same time; just look at their years of birth/death:

Konishi, 1893 – 1983.
Otsuka 1892 – 1982.

Their enthusiasm and launch into karate, as it landed on the Japanese mainland from Okinawan, created a shoulder-to-shoulder connection. On the face of it, they seemed to be buddies.

Within this piece, I will not only be trying to unpick the facts about Konishi’s long life but also attempt to draw some comparisons between Konishi’s vision for karate and Otsuka’s (their outcomes were indeed very different).

Let me first be upfront – it’s actually quite difficult to find reliable information on Konishi’s life, outside of the usual Wiki-style stuff. Some of the articles out there are quite contradictory and seem to leap to conclusions that don’t stack up.

But, before I start, let’s take a look at the man himself.

YouTube Kihon

Konishi and Otsuka – the parallels.

The commonality between these two are that they both came from a solid martial arts background in the Japanese tradition.

For Konishi it was a very early start in Takenouchi-Ryu jujutsu and Muso Ryu jujutsu. For Otsuka, it was a youth spent in Shindo Yoshin Ryu jujutsu and various other systems (likely Yoshin Koryu jujutsu and others). Also, both had a grounding in the randori world found in Kodokan judo (less formally with Otsuka). This point might be relevant in that, at some point in their careers they had to engage with the idea that maybe karate also could have a randori-type element introduced? I would guess that they didn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye on this subject.

Incidentally, both Otsuka and Konishi also set up separate businesses as sekkotsu (Bonesetters or chiropractors of a very traditional Japanese nature).

Konishi and Kendo.

One of the differences was that Konishi had an active involvement in kendo. In Donn Draeger’s book, ‘Modern Bujutsu and Budo, Vol. 3’ he states that Konishi was a kendo Renshi, which basically means he had a teaching licence. Looking at observations of Konishi’s descriptions of what he does and the opinions of those who trained with him, without a doubt kendo strategies and thinking seem to influence his karate.

Draeger believes that Konishi’s adherence to Zanshin (continual awareness) is enhanced through his kendo background. He also hints that postural discipline suggests a strong spiritual aspect to his training and teaching, again, derived from the world of swordsmanship. But it’s very easy to jump to conclusions, as these qualities are ubiquitous across traditional Japanese Budo, so we shouldn’t let our imagination run away too much.

University and introduction to karate.

Born in 1893, Konishi came from Takamatsu, Kagawa and entered Keio university in Tokyo in 1915.

At one point in those early university days, although he threw himself into kendo training, he met an Okinawan karate exponent Arakaki Tsuneshige, who clearly sparked an interested in what was then called, ‘Te’.

The impression I get was that Konishi knew Arakaki socially and witnessed him performing rather drunken versions of Okinawan folk dances that had the appearance of karate moves in them, but also kata. How much learning happened between Konishi and Arakaki, and at what depth, is somewhat hazy in the various sources.

Konishi’s involvement in martial arts at Keio university was a full-time thing; eventually becoming one of the main kendo coaches. Looking at his involvement with the university and the suggested timeframe, Konishi’s position at the university seemed to spread well beyond time spent on a university degree.

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