Background
Nagamine was born in Tomari, in Naha, Okinawa.
長嶺 将真
Nagamine was born in Tomari, in Naha, Okinawa.
He began a self-imposed diet and took up karate under the watchful eye of his next-door neighbour, Chojin Kuba. Nagamine soon became a picture of good health, crediting his recovery to "hard work both at school and training of Karate". His health improved to such an extent that he became a leader of the school"s karate club, and his friends dubbed him Chippaii Matsu, a nickname meaning "tenacious pine tree".
After graduation in March 1928, he began to study martial arts full-time, moving to Shuri and training under Taro Shimabuku (島袋善良)and Ankichi Arakaki.
Later that year, he was conscripted into the Japanese army in the 47th Infantry Division, and fought in China before receiving an honourable discharge in 1931. Leaving the army, Nagamine sought an area in which his martial arts abilities would be useful, eventually settling on the police force.
By 1951, Nagamine was a Police Superintendent, of Motobu, and was training his own officers in karate. Nagamine retired as a policeman in 1952, and in 1953 he returned to Naha City and set up his own dojo, which he named "Matsubayashi-Ryu Kodokan Karate and Ancient Martial Arts Studies".
From the dojo he taught Matsubayashi-ryu, a karate school he had invented in 1947, and named in honour of Sokon Matsumura and Kosaku Matsumora.
He continued to teach the discipline until his death in 1997.