Yabu Kentsu 1866 – 1937 “The Sergeant”
“The Sergeant”
Kentsū Yabu was a prominent teacher of Shōrin-ryūkarate in Okinawa from the 1910s until the 1930s, and was among the first people to demonstrate karate in Hawaii.
Yabu was born in Shuri, Okinawa Ryukyu Kingdom. As a young man, Yabu received training in Shōrin-ryū karate. His teachers included both Matsumura Sōkon and Itosu Anko.
In 1891, Yabu voluntarily enlisted in the Japanese Army, and served in Manchuria during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. His goal was reportedly to prove to the Japanese that Okinawa produced soldiers who were every bit as good as any home island Japanese. Because he was a volunteer, the Japanese army sent Yabu to a military school. Upon graduation, he was promoted to sergeant. He was then promoted to lieutenant, but to subsequent students he was often referred to as gunso (the sergeant).
Richard Kim, was a student of Yabu, when he visited Hawaii in the early 1920’s and made a lasting impression on the young Kim. Kim wrote that Yabu fought over 60 lethal karate duels, that he perfected his karate on the battlefield, and developed a style that was deadly and effective. Further, that Yabu viewed karate as a martial art (not a sport), a way of life, a builder of character, and a master game played to the end.
Fol
lowing his military
service, Yabu studied at the Shuri Prefectural Teacher’s Training College. As a
school teacher his students recalled that his instruction stressed endless
repetitions of Naihanchi.
As a former soldier, Yabu has been credited with helping make Okinawan karate training more militaristic. This was probably part of the general militarization of Japanese athletics commencing in the early 20th century. His favorite kata reportedly included Gojushiho and Naihanchi.
Yabu visited the United States twice, once during 1921-1922, and again in 1927. During the second visit, he returned to Okinawa via Hawaii. He spent nine months in the Territory, spending most of his time on Oahu, and visiting other islands. In Honolulu, he gave two public demonstrations. The first was at a luncheon club meeting in July, 1927. Three months later he gave a very successful demonstration at the Nuuanu YMCA attracting people from all walks of life this is where Richard Kim met and watched him demonstrate and teach.
In 1936, Yabu visited Tokyo. While there, he met the young Shōshin Nagamine, who later became another well-known karate teacher. Yabu reportedly warned Nagamine that karate’s kata were undergoing rapid changes, and that it was up to him and other young men of his generation to preserve the Okinawan kata in their traditional forms. The following year Yabu succumbed to his illness. He died on August 27, 1937, at age 70, in Shuri, Okinawa, Japan.
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