Jump to content

Yonamine Chiru

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by GoingBatty (talk | contribs) at 05:08, 10 February 2021 (fixed layout & references). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Yonamine Chiru was an Okinawan martial artist in the 1800s and the wife of Matsumura Sōkon. Nicknamed Tsuru-San (“crane”) or Yonamine no Bushi Tsuru (“Yonamine the crane warrior”), she was well-regraded as an Okinawan sumo wrestler and considered a “tomboy” for her love of fighting.[1] She may have had a hand in developing the Matsumura Orthodox version of the kata Seisan, which is said by the Takae-Ryu Karate-Do Association to allow women to fight with a baby on their backs.[2]

In addition to her studies of sumo wrestling and tegumi, she was known for her skills with weightlifting.[3]

She was the daughter of a wealthy business owner[1] and she came from a prominent martial arts family,[4] but she could not find a spouse because of her love of fighting. As she aged, her parents increasingly raised the dowry to marry her, but found few takers until Matsumura learned about her.[1] While some legends describe a wrestling match between the two, Shōshin Nagamine writes that Matsumura took the more traditional route of asking her parents’ permission.[1] They may have been married in 1818.[5][4]

After their marriage, Matsumura was worried about her habit of walking home alone at night, so he pretended to be a thief to scare her; however, she managed to best him in combat and tie him to a tree before realizing it was her husband.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Nagamine, Shōshin (2000). Tales of Okinawa's great masters (1st ed.). Boston: Tuttle Pub. ISBN 0-8048-2089-9. OCLC 43839845.
  2. ^ "Seisan".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b Kim, Richard (1974). The weaponless warriors. Los Angeles: Ohara Publications. ISBN 0-89750-041-5. OCLC 1217438.
  4. ^ a b "Sokon Matsumura".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Arefi, Kam. "Sokon Matsumura".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)