Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate #11
Toshihiro Oshiro 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu Kobujutsu
21/11/2020
Itoman, Okinawa
My name is Oshiro Toshihiro.
I was born on May 1st 1949 in what is today Nago, Okinawa, in a place known as Haneji Village near Aza. At the age of 16, I moved to Naha City to attend high school. In the second year of high school, I began to practice karate.
The Stories and Practice of the Okinawan Sai
by Toshihiro Oshiro and William H. Haff
Any penetrating review of Okinawan weapons history is a mixture of hyperbole and fact.
Most modern martial arts students have been taught that Okinawan kobudo developed as a result of the Okinawan samurai being stripped of their weapons at two different points in their history. But a review of these incidents shows that our current view of the roots of Okinawan kobudo might be based on misconceptions.
TERUO CHINEN
BRIDGING PAST AND FUTURE
By Dong Tran
This interview with Chinen Sensei took place at the Jundokan International's Spring Gasshuku on Sunday, May 31, 1997, in Montclair, New Jersey.
Sensei, thank you for granting me this interview. As your student, I see you as a living bridge between the past, from the roots of Goju-ryu in Okinawa, and the future, when the traditions will have been firmly transplanted to American soil.
OOOOOS! OSSU! OSSSSSS!
Oooos! Ossu! Osssss!
What on earth is going on with so many Karatedo practitioner sounding like Chinese fortune cookies? Who started this Ossu thing anyway? In this installments commentary, we embark [again] with hopes to settle the claims of “OSSU!”
So picture this, I walk into a friends Dojo. He is originally from Hawaii and of Japanese Decent. "Oooossu!" I hear, as his students pause class turn and bow to me. As a polite gesture I bow in return and have a seat until the end of his class. He gives me our common ‘what’s up’ nod of his head after he bows with his students however both he and I are the only that did not make the unfruitful phrase “Ooosssssu”.
KOBUJUTSU: MYTH AND FACT
from Sensei Dong Tran
Kobujutsu, or its modern appellation, Kobudo, is used by most martial artists as a synonym for "weapons art". Literally, it means "ancient martial art". Both weaponry and karate qualify as kobujutsu. What do not qualify are modern martial sports.
Educating the masses - looking to the old ...
... to understand the new
Interview with Sensei Toshihiro Oshiro
This article was first published in American Samurai Vol 7, July 2002
American Samurai: We would like to discuss some of your concerns about training
El camino del Yamanni-ryu
Una entrevista con Sensei Toshihiro Oshiro
por Dong Tran
Dong Tran: ¿Cuándo y dónde nació?
Toshihiro Oshiro: Nací 1o mayo 1949 en Haneji, Okinawa, Japón.
Yamanni Ryu - Bo-Jutsu of Okinawa
An Interview with Sensei Toshihiro Oshiro
by William H. Haff
All of the martial arts are rooted in the human experience, the human body. As one master said, "all martial arts comes from two arms, two legs, one head, one heart." But much of the history and background of martial arts today is shrouded in mystery. Because the training methods, techniques, and katas were passed down through verbal instruction and the old, almost secretive, face to face teaching methods, it is very hard for contemporary practitioners to know what is traditional, what has been changed, and what has been lost in the mists of time.