“He Saved Okinawan Kobudo From Extinction”

Taira Shinken 1897 - 1970

“He Saved Okinawan Kobudo From Extinction”

Shinken Tairawas a Japanese martial artist, born as Shinken Maezato in 1897 on Kume island in the Okinawan archipelago.

In 1922, after traveling to Tokyo to find work, he was introduced to Gichin Funakoshi, a fellow Okinawan and karate instructor. In 1929, Taira began his studies of kobudo under Moden Yabiku.

In 1932 after studying kobudo for three years and karate for 10 years, he received permission from his masters to open his own dojo. Taira began to teach karate and kobudo in the springs resort town of Ikaho, Gunma Prefecture.

In 1940 Taira opened a kobudodojo in Naha, Okinawa. He also opened dojo in Kantō and Kansai, two major districts of central Japan.

In the post-war era, even in Okinawa, the number of kobudo students was much lower than the number of karate students. To reviatalize Okinawan kobudo study, in 1955 he established the Ryūkyū Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai as a continuation of Moden Yabiku's Ryukyu Kobujutsu Society.

Taira was in 1960 Shihan for the Nihon Kobudo Kenkyujo and in 1963 vice-President of the International Karate Kobudo Federation.

On July 1, 1964, he was promoted to Hanshi by the Japan Kobudo Federation. He was the first president of the Ryukyu Kobudo Preservation and Promotion Society(July 1970).

Taira created the nunchaku kata taught in Ryukyu kobudo 'Taira no Nunchaku'.

Taira is credited with composing Maezato no Tekko, a kata using metal horse stirrups. The name Maezato relates to his birth name. He continued his studies in kobudo cataloging over 40 traditional weapons kata from around Okinawa.