The Chibana Project

A blog where I post my research on a certain Okinawan named Chibana Choshin.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A Random Quote

I received an email on November 8, 2006, from Sensei Patrick Nakata ascribing a quote on politics to Chibana Sensei:

We are not politicians.  We are Budoka.  We are patriots, no matter what country we live in and whatever that ideology may be.  We do not deal with life through politics.  We do not set our direction with politics.  We set our direction by Budo or Karatedo.  We are concerned with humanity, the well being of others, and the development of our own character.

There is no context to this comment from Chibana Sensei.  The context of Mr. Nakata quoting the quote was the 2006 mid-term elections in the US.  While there is no basis in substantiating that Chibana Sensei actually said this, it is congruent with Chibana's writings, such as Karatedo no Kokoro e, as well as descriptions from other observers of Chibana Sensei's character and philosophy.  

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Jindou - Humanity

The following is another sample of Chibana's calligraphy.  As simple as it appears, the sentence is one of the more classically styled I have seen from his samples aside from his Karatedo no Kokoro e.


 
"Saving a person in distress is the way of humanity"

- Okinawa Shorin Ryuu Karatedo Association President
Hanshi 10th Dan Chibana Choshin