Higaonna Kanryō

Higaonna Kanryō (1853 to 1915) was a Ryukyuan martial artist from Nishimura in Naha, Okinawa, who founded the fighting style then known as Naha-te. Born into a merchant family of the lower Shizoku class, he began studying boxing as a boy in 1867, then travelled to Fuzhou in China, where he trained for years under several Chinese teachers, above all Ryū Ryū Ko, a master of Fujian White Crane kung fu. On returning to Okinawa after the Ryukyu Kingdom was annexed by Japan, he taught in and around Naha and blended hard and soft techniques into one system. He became so prominent that Naha-te was identified with his name, and he began teaching the public in 1905 at the Naha Commercial School. His powerful Sanchin kata was widely remembered. His students included Chōjun Miyagi, founder of Gōjū-ryū, and Kyoda Juhatsu, founder of Tōon-ryū, and so his teaching passed into much of modern karate.