Tode Sakugawa was encouraged by his father to start his martial training
at the age of 17. His first teacher was the Buddhist monk Takahara
Peichin. Takahara was extremely strong and a well respected fighter. He
believed karate to be a way of life. He also believed that the way to
understand and preserve karate was through kata. Through kata fighting
techniques could be taught. He was the first to make a kata.
Sakugawa also learned from the Chinese envoy and military
official Kusanku who had settled on the island. From him Sakugawa learned
the Chinese system of Chuan-Fa (Kempo). Sakugawa went to China with
Kusanku to continue his study. When he returned to the Ryukyu Kingdom in
1762 he was considered an expert in Chinese Hand. He began teaching what
he learned from his two teachers. This made him the first Ryukyuan teacher
of Tode (Chinese Hand) and is why he became known as Tode Sakugawa. He
named this system Shuri-Te. He developed the Kusanku kata based on the
techniques he learned from Kusanku. Our bo kata, Sakugawa no Kun, was
named after him. You can read short stories on Tode Sakugawa on page 27 of
O'Sensei's book Old Grandmaster Stories.
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