Chatan Yara no Kon (learning speed)
I wrote about Chatan Yara no Kon back in 2015, including an excerpt video (see here https://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=4203) and it became a huge succes worldwide almost instantly. I have been asked to talk about and to teach it variously, however, I do not have much time.
Note that this is Okinawan Taira lineage!!!
As regards the timeline of its practice, it is intriguing. It was Minowa Katsuhiko who performed Chatan Yara no Kon during a commemorative demonstration in the 1970s, but other students of Akamine Eisuke obviously never learned it.
Then, in 2019, Nakamoto Mamoru Sensei of Bunbukan performed the kata at a tournament, which must have been a huge surprise for most people.
Now other people also began to research and recreate the kata to include it in their curricula.
All in all, I feel it was a huge success to raise the topic and put it out there.
The next thing to do now is to figure out: Where does everyone got it from? Because for those interested in accurate chronologies, and traditions, here are the words of the late Don Shapland Sensei, shared with me in June 2021:
"Akamine Eisuke Sensei only taught [Chatan Yara no Kon] to ONE student, and that student returned to Amami Oshima and died many years ago. When Eisuke Sensei died in 1999, [his son] Hiroshi was 4th Dan and certainly did not know that Kata."
The source, then, must be Minowa, and his sucessor still teaches the kata in Amami. Also, the kata video of Minowa is still out there, and make no mistake, Okinawans also learn from video. Finally, the handwritten kata descriptions of Akamine Eisuke are also still there, albeit only with a very few people who might have access to it.
Again, huge success, otsukaresmadeshita.
BTW, I used a 1.96 meter Shureido straight oak bo.