Shinjinbukan Shorin-ryu
Shorin-ryu and Okinawa Ti, a living
tradition.
Higa, Yuchoku
(1910 ~ 1994)
Yuchoku-sensei, 10th Dan Hanshi, was one of the most important, Shorin-ryu instructors in Okinawa and perhaps least known internationally was Yuchoku Higa. Higa was born in l910 and. in 1965, he was the first person to receive a Hanshi 9-Dan promotion from Choshin Chibana. Higa later left Chibana's Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate-do Association to form his own organization and also to assume the leadership of the Okinawa Karate-do Association as its third president. Higa sensei was still an active instructor at his Shorin-ryu Kyudokan dojo located in Naha City until ust a few few months prior to his death at the age of 84.
After
the war, Higa became a student of Choshin Chibana who then lived in Chinen
Yashiki-mura. Higa was again
studying Shuri-te. In October
of l948, Higa opened a dojo in Shuri-Gibo machi at Noei Miyagi's home.
Higa was also an apprentice teacher under Chibana at the Shuri City
Police Station and assisted Chibana in opening ten Shorin-ryu dojo.
When
Chibana organized the Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate-do Association, Higa was
his first Vice President. Higa
taught karate at the same address since he moved to Naha after
the war. He was the
president of the Shorin-ryu Kyudokan Association and Chairman of the Board
of Shihans for the All Okinawa Karate-do Association.
He was also president of the All Okinawa Karate and Kobudo
Association with a membership of 34 dojo.
The following biography of Yuchoku sensei has been
sitting around my desk for a very long time, I'm uncertain who wrote it,
so if anybody knows the author I would like to give credit where credit
is due. I suspect it might be Oscar Higa, one of his nephews from
Argentina, or somebody else from the international Kyudokan. 
The Master Yuchoku Higa was born in Naha,
Okinawa, February 4, 1910. His first master was the sensei Jiro Shiroma,
who was a specialist in Shuri-te, and who trained him for 6 years
utilizing intense practice of Kihon and Kata as his basis. Only in the
final phase of the relationship with J.Shiroma, did Y.Higa carry out the
Kumite exercises. On the death of the master Shiroma in 1933, and after
training alone for 1 year, he became a pupil of the masters Jinnan
Shinzato and Seiei Miyahira. With the former, who was in his turn a
disciple of master Chojun Miyagi and belonged to the Naha-te school,
Y.Higa learnt the characteristics of the style which is nowadays known
as Goju ryu, eventually incorporating the kata Seisan into the school he
was later to set up. Apart from broadening his knowledge of Shuri-te, Y.
Higa learnt from Master Miyahira the punching techniques, in which
S.Miyahira had become an expert.
In 1941 Y.Higa started teaching karate to the employees at the Town Hall
in Naha, and in the same year he started teaching from home.
In 1943 he met Master Choshin Chibana, a direct disciple of Master Anko
Itosu, and in a short time became his main pupil. From the very hands of
Master Chibana, Yuchoku Higa was to receive his Hanshi 9th Dan, thus
becoming not only the first pupil to have this grade conferred on him by
Master Chibana , but also one of the greatest exponents in the history
of karate-do.
In 1945, with his police-officer qualification, Master Y.Higa worked at
Yonabaru police headquarters, being transferred 2 years later to the
Naha police headquarters.
In the same year (1947) he inaugurated the Kyudokan Karate Dojo and
applied himself to perfecting and developing everything that he had
learnt from his masters, and especially from Choshin Chibana, with whom
he continued to practise. In 1961 when the first Shorinryu Karate-do
Association of Okinawa was formed, presided over by Master Chibana,
Y.Higa was assigned the role of vice-president. During that period he
alternated his political affairs with his role as karate master. As well
as having a role in the Okinawa House of Representatives, as either
president or member, on eight successive occasions, he was also
president of the Okinawa Federation of Karate and Kobudo, chief adviser
for the Okinawa Association of Masters of Karate-do etc. Y.Higa also
received countless awards, among which there was one for illustrious
individuals who were invited to the Royal Palace in Tokyo, by the
Emperor Hirohito. In 1976 he received his Hanshi 10th Dan, the highest
rank to which a master can aspire.
In 1992, along with other great masters, he took part in one of his last
and most memorable exhibitions at the Shuri Castle. The following year,
in February, he received the karate-do Merit Prize awarded by the Ryu
Kyu press.
Master Yuchoku died on November 6, 1994, in Naha, at the age of 84.
In an age when competition didn't exist, Master Y.Higa was the star of
numerous Kakidamishi (combat challenges), increasing his physical,
mental and spiritual attributes through intensive training sessions.
His punch technique was so famous on Okinawa island, where it was known
in the local dialect as "Yuchoku no tijikun", i.e. Yuchoku's punch. He
dedicated several hours of his practice every day to makiwara exercises,
and contrary to what most people might imagine, he wasn't a hard and
insensitive character. He was passionate about bonsai trees, and kept
numerous examples at the entrance to his dojo; he alternated this
pursuit with his keen interest in bird-life.
He himself maintained that these hobbies were fundamental for the growth
of his spiritual sensitivity.
His encouragement of the upkeep of tradition and the cultural heritage
of Okinawa can be synthesized in the following sentence: "I would like
the essence of Bujutsu Karate not to be lost; it is our sole inheritance
from our native land and one which our forefathers left to the world
with such pride". Synthesizing his thoughts about karate-do he stated;
"up to a certain time I thought being strong was the most important
thing. In time I realized that the most important thing is to be ready
to give assistance to others. Moreover it is important not to set
oneself limits, therefore I now preach Kyudo Mugen - the study-trail is
never-ending. The karate pathway is as immensely vast, profound and
boundless as the heavens that go on for ever beyond all limits.
anonymous
Copyright (c) 1999,2000,2001 & 2002
Shinjinbukan Canada, International Shinjinbukan and OkinawakarateDo.com.
All rights reserved.
Revised:
February 25, 2009