Eyewitness accounts about Yabu Kentsū (1866–1937) are not so numerous and therefore very valuable. I recently read a short passage recorded by the linguist, folklorist, and pioneer of Okinawan studies Iha Fuyū 伊波普猷 (1876–1947), of whom the historian Higashionna Kanjun 東恩納寛惇 (1882–1963) once said that no one knows Okinawa more deeply. Iha recounts an incident from his middle school days. According to this account, before and after the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95), military training was actively conducted by officers of the Okinawa detachment. He writes: “Sergeant Yabu, a brave soldier of the Sino-Japanese War, was particularly enthusiastic about Napoleon’s words, ‘Victory or defeat is proportional to the product of military strength and mobility.’ He strongly encouraged running and repeatedly made the students run back and forth between Chūzanmon Gate [demolished in 1908] and Shureimon Gate [the distance is approximately 500 meters]. However, this rigorous training often resulted in a considerable number of dropouts.” This short story is a beautiful first-hand account of how determined Yabu was. This fits perfectly into the picture of him that other descriptions available to us provide.
Source:
伊波普猷全集 第10巻 (1976), pp. 166–167.
Image AI-generated with chat.openai.com – Public Domain Mark
Investigations into the history of karate 