The Greatest Karateka Who Ever Lived! (Part 1)

Sokon Matsumura has been called the 'Miyamoto Musashi of Karate' and the 'Grandfather of modern Karate'.

Every system of Karate around today has, either directly or indirectly, been influenced by this one master.
He directly taught many of the most influential masters for example: Anko Itosu, Anko Asato, Motobu Choki, Chotoku Kyan, Kentsu Yabu, Nabe Matsumura and Gichin Funakoshi.

Born around the year 1800(exact years of his birth and death are uncertain) in Yamagawa village in Shuri, he began learning 'Toudi' from the age of 14 under tutelage of Kanga Sakugawa.
Sakugawa was very old and didn't want to take on another student, but Matsumura's Father insisted and asked it as a personal favour of Sakugawa.

Sakugawa trained Matsumura in Budo until his death in 1815.

Matsumura received the title/rank ‘Chikudun Pechin’ during his service as chief martial arts instructor and bodyguard to last three Ryukyu kings; Sho ko, Sho Iku & Sho Tai (until Sho Tai’s abdication & exile in 1879).
During his time in service he travelled throughout Asia, particularly in China and Japan, learning and expanding on various forms of Budo.



There are many stories and legends regarding Bushi Matsumura. One of the most well known is the following story regarding Matsumura and the Engraver.
The following is based on the the story from Gichin Funakoshi in his book 'Karate-Do: My Way of Life'.

 

One day in old Okinawa, The famous Budo Master, Bushi Matsumura, entered the shop of the local engraver, as he wished to have a design engraved on the bass bowl of his long-stemmed pipe. Upon entering the shop he at once noticed that the engraver would have been a Fighter of great prowess. Though he was older than Matsumura still in the very prime of his manhood. He was obviously large and strong, clearly, although a modest artisan, he was a man to be reckoned with.

The engraver recognised Matsumura as he enquired: "I beg your pardon, sir, but aren’t you Matsumura, the Toudi teacher?"

"I am" replied Matsumura "But I no longer teach".

To which the engraver enquired "You teach the King himself, don’t you? Everyone says you are the greatest Budo Master in the land."

"I no longer teach" said Matsumura, "I lost my job as the King’s Budo teacher. He neglected the refinement of his technique, which, despite all my efforts, remained very crude. I pointed out some of his weaknesses and then I dare him to attack me with all his might. He countered instantly with a double kick (nidan-geri).

I decide to make use of this error to teach him a much needed lesson. I at once stopped his double kick with my sword hand and send him sprawling, but before he actually struck the floor I crash my body against his. He finally came to rest in a heap at least six yards away."

"Was he badly hurt?" asked the engraver. "
"His shoulders, his hands, his legs, where my sword hand struck it, turned all black and blue. For a long while, he couldn’t even get up from the floor." 
"Were you reprimanded?" asked the engraver.
"Of course, I was commanded to leave at once and not to reappear until further notice."
"I see," said the engraver thoughtfully. "But surely he will pardon you."
"I think not. Although the incident took place more than a hundred days ago."
To which the engraver said "In every man’s life there are ups and downs. But," he added, "Since you’re no longer teaching him, why don’t you teach me?"
Matsumura denied the engraver’s request saying "Following the events with the King, I have lost interest in teaching other Toudi"

"Then," said the engraver, his tone of voice rather less polite than it had been in the beginning, "if you refuse to teach me, will you refuse also to grant me a match?"

"What is this?" asked Matsumura incredulously. "You want a match with me? With me?

"Exactly! And why not? In a match there are no class distinctions. Furthermore, since you are not longer teaching the King, you do not need his permission to meet me in a match. And I can assure you I’ll take better care of my legs and my shoulder than he did." By this time, the engraver’s words, as well as his tone of voice, could only be regarded as insolent.

"I’m sure you’re very good at Toudi," said Matsumura, "although of course it would be a matter of life and death. Are you so set upon dying?"

"I’m quite willing to die," replied the engraver.

"Then I’ll be happy to oblige you," said Matsumura. "The time and the place of our encounter I leave up to you."

At five o’clock the next morning they met for their match. They stood facing each other, a distance of some twelve yards between then. The engraver made the first move, closing the gap by about half, at which point the thrust out his left fist in a gedan position and held his right fist at his right hip. Matsumura, having risen from the rock on which he had been sitting, stood facing his opponent in a natural position (shizen tai).

Baffled by the posture his opponent had assumed, the engraver wondered if the Matsumura had taken leave of his senses. It was a fighting posture that seemed to offer no hope of defence, and the engraver prepared to launch his attack, just at that very moment, Matsumura opened his eyes wide and looked deep into the eyes of the other. Repelled by a force that felt like a bolt lighting, the engraver felt back. Matsumura had no moved a muscle; he stood where he had stood before, apparently defenceless.

Sweat beaded the engraver’s brow, and his armpits were already damp; he could feel his heart beating with unaccustomed rapidity. He sat down on a nearby rock. Matsumura did the same. "What happened?" the engraver muttered to himself. "Why all this sweat? Why is my heart beating so wildly? We haven’t yet exchanged a single blow!"

Then he heard Matsumura’s voice: "Hey! Come on! The sun is rising. Let’s get on with it!"

The engraver was determined to complete the attack this time, and he advanced toward his opponent—from twelve yards to ten, then to eight…six…four. And there he stopped, immobilized by the intangible force that flashed from Matsumura’s eyes. At the same time, he was quite unable to tear his glance away from that of his opponent; in his bones he knew that if he did, something very terrible would happen.

Suddenly he gave voice to a great shout, a kiai that echoed back from the surrounding hills. But Matsumura still stood unmoved. At this sight, the engraver once again sprang back startled and dismayed.

Master Matsumura smiled. "What’s the matter?" he called. "Why don’t you attack? You can’t fight a match just by shouting!"

"I do not understand, I’ve never before lost a bout. And now the result of the match has already been decided, I know that, but let’s finish it. If we don’t, I’ll lose face, and I’d rather be dead.

"Good!" Matsumura called back. "Come on!"

"I give up!" cried the poor engraver. "I give up!"

"What!" cried Matsumura. "That’s no way for an expert to talk!"

"I was a fool to challenge you," said the engraver, rising. "The result was obvious from the very beginning, I feel completely ashamed. There’s just no comparison between my skill and yours."

"Not at all," replied Matsumura gently. "Your fighting spirit is excellent, and I suspect you have a great deal of skill. If we had actually fought, I might well have been defeated."

"You flatter me," said the engraver. "The fact is, I felt completed helpless when I looked at you. I was so frightened by your eyes that I lost whatever fighting spirit I had."

Matsumura voice became soft. "Perhaps," he said, "But I know this: you were determined to win and I was just as determined to die if I lost. That was the difference between us."

"Listen," he went on. "When I came to your shop yesterday, I was very unhappy about being reprimanded by the King. When you challenged me, I was worried about that too, but once we decided on a match, all my worries suddenly vanished. I realized that I had been obsessed with relatively minor matters—with refinements of techniques, with the skill of teaching, with flattering the head of the clan. I had been preoccupied with retaining my position. Today I am a wiser man than I was yesterday. I’m a human being, and a human being is a vulnerable creature, who cannot possibly be perfect.”

With that, he fell silent. The engraver was silent too, pondering the invaluable lesson had been taught. Whenever, in later years, he spoke about the incident to his friends, he never failed to describe his former opponent in the most glowing terms as a man of true greatness. As for Matsumura, he was before long reappointed to his former position as personal instructor in Toudi to the King.

This story seems to be more 'legend' than 'history'. Gichin Funakoshi probably embellished many of these events, as he did like being poetic in much of his writing.

But the basis of the story of 'Matsumura & The Engraver' may be a true event (for all we know).

 

Probably the most well known story of Matsumura is that of the challenge with the Bull.
It is a good example of how a good Warrior is not only skilled but also smart and even sometimes cunning.

 

The following story is an adaptation of the story by Richard Kim (from his book 'The Weaponless Warriors: An Informal History of Okinawan Karate')

One specific year, after the king had received a fine bull from the Emperor of Japan, he decided to have the best martial artist of the island fight with it, Matsumura. 

 

This announcement created immense expectation among the islanders. People forgot about their problems and waited anxiously the fight between the king's bull and Matsumura in Aizo-Shuri.

 

When he heard about the king's edict, Matsumura decided to take no chances whatsoever. He went directly to the king's stables and paid the bullkeeper a visit at his home. The keeper was totally dumbfounded when he saw Matsumura's figure at the door, a man idolized by Okinawans as a semi-god. He could only stand there staring unfocused at him, holding his breath and with his mouth agape.

"May I see the bull?", asked Matsumura, trying to get the man to relax.

"Whatever you say", he finally answered very uncomfortably and started to take Matsumura towards the stable.

"Please do not mention to anybody that I have come to pay the animal a visit", said Matsumura, "and make sure the bull is tied up strongly".

The keeper looked at him strangely and nodded his head, while he watched Matsumura put on his battle equipment and the helmet-mask on. He first checked that the bull was firmly strapped, then he carefully entered the corral and started to get close to the animal...

When the day of the encounter arrived, people from all over the island massed in towards Aizo-Shuri even from as far as Hama-Higa. The air was full of festivity and people had completely forgotten about their taxes. They were all prepared for the most incredible show on the face of the Earth: Matsumura fighting with the fine bull of the king.

 

When the bull trotted into the arena an expectant silence arose and then a collective roar of admiration. It was truly a magnificent animal. Even the king must have asked himself if any human being could beat such a beast.

 

The bull scraped the ground and snorted ferociously as the cheers arose from the public. In one of the corners Matsumura had appeared. He walked slowly towards the bull, dressed in full battle equipment and his helmet-mask. 

The public in complete silence waited for the decisive moment. The bull preparing his attack, eyes ablaze. But then the bull finally caught Matsumura's smell, gave a bellow of fear, turned around and ran out of the arena.
The spectators let out a deafening roar. Nobody had ever in their lives seen, or heard, of anything like this. Even the king was dumbfounded, he asked himself how Matsumura had made the bull run out with such fear without even touching it. When he finally regained his composure he announced to the public:

Today by royal edict, Matsumura is named 'Bushi' (warrior title), in recognition Of his unusual skill in the martial arts". From that day on Sokon Matsumura was known as Bushi Matsumura.

But how did he do it? Well, when we left Matsumura, he was in the stable with the bull strongly strapped down. He then proceeded to take a very long needle out from his sleeve, he then plunged it deeply into the nose of the bull. The reaction was tremendously loud. The bull roared deafeningly with pain and vainly tried to attack his torturer. Matsumura very pleased with the results, repeated the process every day until the bull learned to recognize and fear him.

Obviously the cruelty to a restrained defenceless animal would not be venerated in today's culture, but this isn't the point of the story either.

Most people in Bushi Matsumura's position would only see two options. To refuse the challenge and face the shame of being branded a coward or to face the Bull and probably die horribly.
This story doesn't highlight Matsumura's considerable skill or physical prowess. It shows that as the best warrior in the land, Matsumura was smart and able to think out of the box. He found another option by thinking, analysing the situation and acting on it.

It highlights the very spirit of a real warrior, to be strong, skilled AND smart.



Information sources:

http://www.suikenbugeikai.com/hist.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumura_S%C5%8Dkon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8D_Tai
http://www.shotokai.com

'Karate-Do: My Way of Life' - By Gichin Funakoshi
'The Weaponless Warriors: An Informal History of Okinawan Karate' - Richard Kim



Comment below to share any thoughts or opinions you might have.  :)

Thanks for reading.
Derm

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