"ALL IS IN SANCHIN"  - KANBUN UECHI

In Okinawa and China, building strength in daily work and karate training were closely related.
 
Kanbun studied under Shushiwa for 10 years learning not only the physical art (which at that time included Chinese medicine) but also philosophy and the ancient Chinese classics. He became fluent and literate in Chinese during his stay. To supplement his income he would sell medicines outside the temple gates.
 
In the spring of 1904, the same year that war began between Japan and Russia, Kanbun Uechi received the Menkyo Kaiden certificate naming him a master of Chinese Pangainoon (half hard-half soft style). It was a monumental event in his twenty-seven years of life. He had vowed to himself to become proficient in the martial arts of China or never return to his homeland.
 
Kanbun became an assistant to Shushiwa, continuing his martial arts training and lessons in Chinese literature and medicine for three more years. Kanbun felt a strong obligation to perform and teach Pangainoon precisely as Shushiwa taught him. He was diligent about every aspect of his teaching.
 
Kanbun had learned a great deal about the language and herbal medicine by that time. The knowledge of growing, preparing and administering herbal medicine went hand in hand with martial arts teaching. A teacher was expected to heal his students when they were injured during training.
 
At thirty years of age, Kanbun opened his own dojo, the Pangainoon Kempo Sho (Martial Arts Institute) early in 1907. He chose a town he liked called Nansei no cho (Nanching), approximately 250 miles southwest of Fuchow. Nanching was well known for its large number of famous kung-fu fighters and teachers.
 
A tea merchant and friend to Kanbun, Wu Hsien-Kuei (in Japanese Gokenki) warned Kanbun not to try to open a school in that district - many had tried before and failed. But Kanbun replied that he liked the area and looked forward to the challenge. In time, despite a few run-ins with jealous locals, Kanbun's reputation grew, and he was heading a successful school. Even Wu Hsien-Kuei, the very man who warned him of trying to teach there, left his old system of Kingai (a Chinese forerunner of Goju-Ryu) and became his student.
 
Kanbun Uechi was a warm hearted, affectionate man who was well like by his students. His fierce martial arts ability was secondary to his easy, likable demeanor. Though now teaching in his own dojo, Kanbun continued his instruction by making semiannual visits to Shushiwa to continue his own dedicated training.
 
By 1909 Kanbun was doing quite well as a teacher and was very happy with his new life. when one of his students fell into an argument with another man over a farming dispute. That year had seen a severe drought in the area, and the disagreement concerned the irrigation of the parched rice fields. Violence ensued. Kanbun's student instinctively called upon his training, struck the other man with a heavy blow and killed him. It was well known that he was a student of Pangainoon under Master Uechi. While the young student was punished, Kanbun Uechi was held responsible for having trained him. The city accused Kanbun of failing to teach the proper spirit of Kenpo (Chinese boxing). In that society that accusation was a very serious thing. Kanbun vowed never to teach again.
 
Kanbun Uechi, despite requests from his students and Shushiwa to remain, closed his dojo in 1910 and left China forever. During his thirteen years in China, Kanbun learned three kata. They were Sanchin, Seisan, and Sanseiryu. Kanbun called the third kata Sandairyu. Kanbun also learned various methods of Chinese body conditioning. He also has the distinction of being the only Okinawan ever to have been accepted in China as a teacher of Pangainoon. 
 
 

Excerpts from "The Secrets of Uechi Ryu Karate and The Mysteries of Okinawa" and "The History of Uechi-Ryu Karate"