AlienRage

Ah, good catch! So, Kūsankū may have been in the military, explaining his personal favor (or at least company) with the Emperor. Chinese military experts did start training in the Northern Shaolin Temple around the mid-16th century, but it still leaves a little bit of confusion as to how Kūsankū knew Southern Shaolin. I suppose it's possible that he could have learned it then defected from the Southern Shaolin to join the military and support the Emperor. Like I said earlier, there are also reports of Yong Zheng Emperor infiltrating the Southern Shaolin temple to learn from them, so it could be possible that Kūsankū did something similar, as well. Being in the military would clear up the reason why he was recognized by the Emperor, at least (for good or bad). Also odd is that, due to the Satsuma occupation of Okinawa, from 1609 - 1879, martial arts training was banned by the government. So, it almost seems like that it wasn't a diplomatic mission by the Chinese Emperor, but rather it may have had some other motive. (Unless, of course, he was there to train their military in Ch'uan Fa, and ended up training others too.) What might make this whole story a lot more sensible is that it was Chatan Yara who infused the Fujian White Crane influence into the modern style. He verifiably learned this style from Wong Chung-Yoh first, then studied with Kūsankū later. His style was passed to Peichin Takahara, then to Kanga Sakugawa, then to Matsumura Sōkon. I might have to try to find some more information about Chatan Yara to see if this was possible...

The account of the Fujian temple being razed is found in the text "Qing bai lei chao" by Ju Ke, written in 1917. But you're also correct in that the existence of the Southern Shaolin Temple is still under question. Ju Ke's book is one of the few that gets specific about it, apparently, identifying facts and locations of the supposed temple. I do suppose that his actions may have been more political than personal. One thought that crossed my mind is that there are reports that the Qing Emperor has infiltrated the Southern Shaolin Temple to learn Shaolin Ch'uan Fa (source: "The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu" by Wong Kiew Kit). So, while being politically against it, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to think that Kusanku may have been a close personal teacher to the emperor, aiding him in learning Shaolin Ch'uan Fa, making it possible for him to not be a monk but still be favored by the Emperor. This sounds plausible, I think?

That assumption is based on the reported fact that he was sent by the Emperor as a respected martial artist to Japan. That same Emperor was the one who, a mere 20 years earlier, raided the Northern Shaolin Temple to flush out all of the martial arts who were learning the art, but who weren't ordained. So, if he did study any kind of Shaolin martial art, he would have to have been a monk in order for the Emperor to recognize him as a proper and respected martial artist. That Emperor would not have sent a non-ordained student, even if they were well-trained in Shaolin Ch'uan Fa, due to his obvious distaste for non-monastic Ch'uan Fa practitioners. That is the aspect that is perplexing and makes it hard to determine if one of these "facts" is incorrect. The other question would be if there were any other Shaolin-based martial arts around during that time that were well-respected in China. I don't know enough about Chinese martial arts to answer that question, however. The stumbling block is that he was sent as a martial arts envoy by the Emperor...so he would have had to have practiced an art that was recognized as a skillful one by the Emperor for him to send Kusanku over to Japan...and an art that apparently was identical to (or shared many aspects with) Fujian White Crane, which was supposedly developed in the Southern Shaolin temple circa 1700.

I believe it's clear that the style of martial arts Kūsankū passed on was a form of Fujian White Crane, based on several techniques that mirror that style, along with the supposed transmission of the Hakutsuru kata. It was also reported that he lived in Fukien, therefore it makes sense that Kūsankū was trained in Southern Shaolin Ch'uan Fa. However, it appears that the practitioners of Southern Shaolin Ch'uan Fa around that time (1700's) were actually defectors of the Emperor who came down from the North, causing the government to down the Southern Shaolin temple sometime between 1647 and 1732. I find it odd that Kūsankū was a practitioner of this Southern Shaolin art, yet he was sent as a respected dignitary (assumingly by Qianlong Emperor) to Japan in 1756. Is anyone able to offer an explanation as to how this is possible, given the facts that are known? If Qianlong Emperor did send Kūsankū to Japan in 1756, that would surely mean that Kūsankū himself was a Shaolin monk in good standing with the Emperor, because in 1735-1736, Qianlong Emperor proceeded to raid the main Shaolin Temple to oust any "fake monks" (otherwise known as Shaolin practitioners who weren't ordained monks). So, it seems that either he must be a monk, or he did not come to Japan under the request of the Emperor. Perhaps there is an alternative explanation for this that I am missing? I suppose it is possible that he was actually a practitioner of Northern Shaolin, which in turn was combined by Kanga Sakugawa with the teachings from the Southern Shaolin line that was currently in Japan (Wong Chung-Yoh -> Chatan Yara -> Peichin Takahara -> Kanga Sakugawa) to form Shuri-te. Is anyone able to shed any historical light on this?

there used to be an archive of very well done kata videos at https://www.shorinryu.dk, but the site has unexpectedly diappeared. i was wondering if anyone has a mirror of these videos?

start with bo...it also helps everything else that you do, believe it or not! and it's the most adaptable weapon...anything could potentially be a bo!

my classes are very casual. it's not held at an actual dojo...it's held in a theater, and is a brach of the local dojo. so, our classes are fairly informal. gi's are welcome, but not necessary. i almost always wear a blank white t-shirt and a pair of black workout pants, with my karate belt, of course. when i goto the actual dojo, however, everyone MUST wear a gi.

yeah, about. it takes longer as you go up the ranks. white to green tip is a couple months. green tip to green takes a little longer. green to brown tip has a 50 class requirement before promotion. brown tip to brown has a higher class requirement, etc. so, depending on how often you take classes, it could take anywhere from i think 3 years or more to reach 1st degree black belt. 3 years would mean working EXTREMELY hard, however. i like this system too...it takes a lot of emphasis off belts, and testing is always optional.

yeah, i suppose they are merely cool conversation pieces. they are false edged so they couldn't do anything anyways. the set i got was a 3 piece samurai sword set off ebay, costing a total of $32 i think. they look cool at least, ha. thanks everyone. maybe i'll get a bokken to mess around with...

yeah, it came in a set of 3, and the blade stop at the hilt, i think. the handle feels hollow. so there's no way to fix it?

i recently bought a katana. (yes, it is stainless steel, yes, it was completely cheap, and no, i am not going to use it in a martial art.) the blade on it wobbles around a TINY bit when i move the sword around. is there an easy way to fix this?

there are many random conspiracy theories, but... the actual cause of death, after much investigation, was hypersensitivity to a checmical compund found in Equagesic, which is a relatively strong asprin pill. one of his fellow actresses, Betty Tai-Ping, gave him the pill when he had a headache. he fell into a brief coma-like state, and died about 3 hours later. that is the "official" answer, though many people think that there may have been foul play...

mine is more of a "eeeeeeeaaass"...

Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu has: white green tip green brown tip brown black tip black

thanks you guys, i'll try all of that out and see how it works.