Masami Chinen

Masami Chinen (知念 正美, Chinen Masami; 1898-1976)^[1][2] was an Okinawan martial arts master who formed Yamani ryu. He taught Bōjutsu privately at his home in the village of Tobaru, in Shuri, Okinawa.

Masami Chinen
Born	知念 正美 (Chinen Masami)[1][2] 1898 (1898) Okinawa, Japan
Died	1976 (aged 77–78) Okinawa, Japan
Style	Shōrin-ryū, Yamani Ryu or Yamane Ryu
Teachers	Sanra Chinen,[1] Chinen- PECHIN (Yamagusuku Andaya), Shichiyanaka Chinen[3]
Other information
Notable students	Chokei Kishaba,[3] Shūgorō Nakazato[4]

Life

Like many martial arts masters Chinen had been a policeman. During the Second World War he lived with the martial arts master Horoku Ishikawa in Tainan, Taiwan.^[5] He also worked at the Shuri City Hall in Shuri, Okinawa.^[6]

Yamani Ryu Bōjutsu

Chinen named the style after his father Sanra Chinen who was also a teacher of Bōjutsu^[2] and known as Yamani Usumei and Yamane Tanmei.^[3][7]

Legacy

Although the style ceased to exist after his death, some of his katas were preserved by Seitoku Higa of the Bugeikan and Shūgorō Nakazato of Shōrin-ryū.^[3] Another student of Chinen's, Chōgi Kishaba and his student Toshihiro Ōshiro also privately practised Yamani Ryu katas. Ōshiro teaches Bōjutsu today,^[8] and so does Chinen's grandnephew Teruo Chinen.^[6]

See also

Okinawan martial arts