Shushiwa

 

 

Chinese Martial Artist Cho Tzu Ho was known to the Okinawans as Shushiwa. He is the oldest known teacher in the Uechi Ryu Karate Do lineage. Of course, the teaching lineage extends into the indefinite past with countless influences, tributaries, and parallel and related traditions.

Legend has it that Shushiwa was a master of multiple martial arts traditions and taught a mysterious amalgamation of Tiger, Crane and Dragon styles known to us by the somewhat generic designation, Pangainoon.

Shushiwa was renown for his physical prowess – he was reported to be capable of supporting two full-grown men off the ground with his outstretched arms – and he balanced his “hard” work with “soft” pursuits, including calligraphy – some businesses in Fuchow still have signs purportedly painted by Shushiwa. The photograph we have of Shushiwa shows him in traditional Daoist clothing and topknot.

Recent research on Shushiwa conducted by Tomoyose and George Mattson in China has been inconclusive but has cast some doubts on the truth of the legends associated with Shushiwa and even on the his identity as Kanbun’s teacher.

"Acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement. Because we possess such fear, we also are potentially entitled to experience fearlessness. True fearlessness is not the reduction of fear; but going beyond fear."

Chogyam Trungpa