Background
Kanbun grew up in the mountain farming village of Izumi on the Motobu peninsula of Okinawa.
上地 完文
Kanbun grew up in the mountain farming village of Izumi on the Motobu peninsula of Okinawa.
In his youth, Uechi studied bōjutsu with Motobu experts.
Uechi"s family were farmers of daikon radishes. Japan began a program of universal male conscription in Okinawa in the late 1800s. In 1897 at the age of 19, Kanbun fled to Fuzhou in Fukien Province, China both to escape Japanese military conscription and to fulfill his dreams of studying martial arts with Chinese masters.
Upon arrival in China, Uechi initially took up the study of Kojo Ryū, but dojo management mocked him for a speech impediment and the offended Uechi sought training elsewhere.
Uechi next took up the study of herbalism and a Kung Fu system called "Pangai-noon" (or Pangainun), under a Chinese master named Shushiwa. Uechi received a certificate of mastery in 1904, and he later opened his own dojo in Nansoye, China.
Uechi continued to teach in Wakayama until 1948. The style he taught was renamed in 1940 to "Uechi-Ryū" Karate in his honor, and is one of the four major styles of Okinawan Karate.
lieutenant was greatly systematized by Uechi"s son, Kanei.
Uechi-Ryū has students and dojos around the world, and it is particularly popular in the Northeastern United States (along with one of its variants, Shohei-ryu). Kanbun Uechi had four children. Biography from the official site of the Okinawan Prefecture.