Chan Migwa-te

Nick: Apparently there are four base arts of Okinawa. We throught there were three, Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te. We have officially discovered Migwa-te.

Andrew: Really? Never heard of that... does it have anything to do with Kyan? Kyan was nicknamed 'chanmigwa' - small eyes.

Nick: Apparently it's based on his alterations to technique. "They preserve Itosu's Shuri-te kata, but the hard-hitting linear technique is missing. Momentum techniques have been systematically removed. To a Shotokan stylist, it is bizarre to see people open pinan shodan by turning to the left and then BACKING away from the first block. These are styles where the performer stands upright much of the time and power generation often has a whiplash feeling to it. They are not using heavy upper-body power, and are also not using momentum impact. When you see Shuri-te kata done without high impact body shifting, then the style is neither Shuri-te nor Naha-te. It is something else, a different kind of karate, and Migwa-te is an appropriate name for it." It says this group includes Isshinryu, Nagamine's Matsubayashi, and several other "shorin" styles.

Andrew: That makes sense. Drew is a Seibukan Shorin-Ryu stylist under Zenpo Shimabukuro with direct lineage from Kyan so I guess this Migwa-te is part of this.

Nick: From Tatsuo sensei's Wikipedia:

It was during the late 1940s that Master Shimabuku began experimenting with different basic techniques and Kata from the Shorin-Ryu and Goju-Ryu systems as well as Kobudo. He comes to experimenting with his own ideas. He called the style he was teaching Chan-migwha-te after Chotoku Kyan nickname Chan-migwa (チャンミーグヮー). Master Kyan’s nickname was “Chan-migwa”, meaning “small-eyed-Chan." "Chan (チャン)" in the Okinawa dialect “Uchinaguchi” is “Kyan (喜屋武)." In Uchinaguchi “mi (ミー)” means “eye." The suffix “Gwa (グヮー)” or “Guwa (グヮー)” mean's “small.” So Chan-migwa means “Small eye Chan (Kyan).” Chan migwa-te was the style taught until he renamed his style "Isshin-ryū" on January 15, 1956.

This is from www.msisshinryu.com/masters/kyan/:

In fact, he was one of the most knowledgeable masters of his time, as he studied both the Shuri-te and the Tomari-te styles of karate. He studied Shuri-te from Sokon Matsumura and Anko Itosu and studied Tomari-te from Oyadomari Pechin, Maeda Pechin and Kosaku Matsumora. Kyan's teaching combined the elements of both of these styles of karate, with his students originally calling his system 'migwa-te', but later it became known as 'Sukunaihayashi-ryu'.

I'm sure this has a deep and profound meaning. From www.journaled.com/JED/MA/Isshinryu/main.htm:

Sunsu was T. Shimabuku's own dojo kata that he had when he was still teaching Migwa Te or Sun Nsu Te (this is what Major Mike called it).

And this is from mikeblum.8k.com/hist.htm:

During World Was II, Shimabuku's business was destroyed. He moved his family into the country to pursue farming. This was about the only way to support his family. After the was, he began teaching a synthesis he called "Chan Migwa Te", in honor of Master Kiyan. The name meant, "Small eyed Kiyan." In 1954, after making a number of radical changes to what he had learned, he called his karate, "Isshin do."

To be continued...