Who was Shoshin Nagamine?

Shoshin Nagamine (1907-1997) was an Okinawan karate master and police officer who founded Matsubayashi-ryu karate in 1947 and wrote The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do and Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters.

Who were Shoshin Nagamine's teachers?

Chojin Kuba, Zenryo Shimabukuro, Ankichi Arakaki, Chotoku Kyan and Choki Motobu.

When did Shoshin Nagamine die?

He died in Naha, Okinawa, on 2 November 1997, aged 90.

Shoshin Nagamine, 1907–1997: The Master Who Wrote It Down

Q: What does Matsubayashi-ryu mean?

Pine forest school. Nagamine named it in honor of the nineteenth-century masters Sokon Matsumura and Kosaku Matsumora. It is a branch of Shorin-ryu karate.

Shoshin Nagamine was a sickly boy who took up karate to get well, a police officer who trained under Okinawa’s great teachers on duty and off, and the founder of Matsubayashi-ryu. He also did something few Okinawan masters did: he wrote the history down, in two books that became standard reading in English. He died in Naha on 2 November 1997, aged 90, and his son succeeded him.

Full name: Shoshin Nagamine
Born: 15 July 1907, Tomari, Naha, Okinawa
Died: 2 November 1997, Naha, Okinawa, aged 90
Art: Matsubayashi-ryu (Shorin-ryu Matsubayashi), founded 1947
Trained under: Chojin Kuba; Zenryo Shimabukuro; Ankichi Arakaki; Chotoku Kyan; Choki Motobu
Career: Police officer, rising to superintendent in 1951; Naha City assemblyman, 1953–1957
Dojo: Matsubayashi-ryu Kodokan, Naha, opened 1953
Books: The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do (English 1976); Tales of Okinawa’s Great Masters (English 2000)
Successor: His son, Takayoshi Nagamine (1997–2012)

The tenacious pine

Nagamine was born in Tomari, one of the three historic centers of Okinawan karate, and was, by his own account, a small and sickly child. After a serious illness in 1926 he began training with a neighbor, Chojin Kuba, and credited karate with his recovery; friends called him “Chippaii Matsu,” the tenacious pine. He went on to train under Zenryo Shimabukuro and Ankichi Arakaki, served in the Japanese army in China, and was discharged in 1931.

A policeman’s education

Nagamine joined the Okinawan police, and his police career gave him access to two of the greatest teachers of the day: Chotoku Kyan and Choki Motobu, both of whom also taught Tatsuo Shimabuku. He rose through the ranks to become police superintendent of Motobu in 1951 and retired the following year.

Matsubayashi-ryu

In 1947 Nagamine named his style Matsubayashi-ryu, “pine forest school,” in honor of two nineteenth-century masters, Sokon Matsumura and Kosaku Matsumora. It belongs to the Shorin-ryu family of Okinawan karate. In 1953 he opened his dojo, the Kodokan, in Naha, and in the same year was elected to the Naha City assembly, where he served until 1957. The dojo became the headquarters of an organization with branches in Japan, the United States and elsewhere.

Writing it down

Okinawan karate was traditionally passed on orally and in private. Nagamine wrote. The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do, published in English in 1976, set out his style’s kata and philosophy for readers who would never visit Okinawa. Tales of Okinawa’s Great Masters, translated into English in 2000, recorded the lives of the teachers of the previous generations and is still one of the most widely cited sources on Okinawan karate history. Much of what English-speaking students know about the old masters comes, directly or indirectly, from him.

Death and succession

Shoshin Nagamine died in Naha on 2 November 1997, aged 90. We have not found a published cause of death. His son, Takayoshi Nagamine, succeeded him and led Matsubayashi-ryu until 2012.

What a school owner should take from Shoshin Nagamine

Nagamine is the clearest example in this archive of a teacher who built authority by publishing. His books reached far more students than his dojo ever could, and they made him the authority on a subject everyone else had kept private. A school owner who writes about his art, his method and his local history becomes the expert people look for.

He also shows the value of honoring your lineage openly. He named his style after the masters he learned from, and told their stories. Students trust a teacher who shows where his knowledge came from.

And he settled his succession, naming his son, who led the style for fifteen years after him.

Quick answers

Who was Shoshin Nagamine?: Shoshin Nagamine (1907–1997) was an Okinawan karate master and police officer who founded Matsubayashi-ryu karate in 1947 and wrote The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do and Tales of Okinawa’s Great Masters.
What does Matsubayashi-ryu mean?: “Pine forest school.” Nagamine named it in honor of the nineteenth-century masters Sokon Matsumura and Kosaku Matsumora. It is a branch of Shorin-ryu karate.
Who were Shoshin Nagamine’s teachers?: Chojin Kuba, Zenryo Shimabukuro, Ankichi Arakaki, Chotoku Kyan and Choki Motobu.
When did Shoshin Nagamine die?: He died in Naha, Okinawa, on 2 November 1997, aged 90.

Sources, and what we could not confirm

Sources: the English Wikipedia biography of Shoshin Nagamine and the sources it cites, for his life, illness, teachers, military and police service, the founding of Matsubayashi-ryu, the Kodokan, his assembly term, his books, his death and his succession; and our own profile of Tatsuo Shimabuku.

Conflicts printed rather than smoothed over. Sources differ on the years in which he trained with each teacher, and on the date his dojo first opened, which some place before 1953.

Not independently documented. His cause of death, and the details of his early illness, which come from his own account.

Corrections. See our editorial policy. If you trained at the Kodokan, we want to hear from you.