In 1927, at sixteen years old, Kanei traveled to Wakayama and joined his father. Kanei joined the Shataku dojo and began chuan fa training under his father.
Kanei Uechi
|
|
While Kanbun Uechi was in
Wakayama, Japan, his eldest son Kanei lived in Okinawa with his mother.
After Kanei reached thirteen years of age, he lived with his grandmother for
three years. In 1927, at sixteen years old, Kanei traveled to Wakayama and joined his father. Kanei joined the Shataku dojo and began chuan fa training under his father. |
Kanei soon realized he would be the successor
of the martial arts legacy left by his father. He took this responsibility
seriously and trained daily with great enthusiasm to become proficient in
Pangainoon. After ten years of rigorous study Kanei Uechi received a certificate
of instruction and full proficiency from his father in 1937. At age 26, he
opened a branch dojo of his own, the Osaka dojo.
In 1941, Kanei Uechi was promoted by his father to Master level. In 1942, Kanei,
with his wife and family, returned to his mother's new home in the village of
Miyazato, near Nago, Okinawa.
Kanei Uechi began teaching his twenty-five
year old brother Kansei and other young men from the village in the yard of his
home. This was the first time Pangainoon (soon to become Uechi ryu) was taught
in Okinawa.
Kanei closed his dojo after only two years. He and his students responded to the
government call into the war effort to defend Okinawa.
In July 1959 Kanei Uechi was awarded the Master
Instructor Certificate by Ryuyu Tomoyose.
In February 1967, Kanei, at age fifty-six, was promoted to Hanshi Judan (tenth
degree) by the Japanese Karate-do Federation, Zen Nihon Karate-do Renmei.
In May 1975, Kanei, sixty-four years old, was elected President of the All
Okinawa Karate-do Federation, Zen Okinawa Karate Renmei, which had been founded
in May 1956. In April 1977, Kanei was promoted to Hanshi Judan by that
association, ten years after his promotion from Japan.
In 1987, Kanei Uechi was hospitalized with a severe stomach ailment. He remained
in that frail condition until his death on February 21, 1991. He was eighty
years old.
Kanei was a kind, gentle person like his father. His soft-spoken manner was in
direct conflict with the expressiveness of his karate. He dedicated his life to
his father's style of karate and directed his efforts to its propagation. Kanei
Uechi's vision and years of tenacious work have created a karate system that is
practiced in many countries throughout the world.