Higashionna Kamesuke (1905-1968) - Toyama Sensei awarded the title "Hanshi Shihan" to him

There are several karate masters who, although they have not trained in the Shudokan dojo, have received high dan-grades and titles from Toyama Kanken Sensei or the AJKF. These masters included: Gima Makoto, Izumikawa Kanki, Kinjo Hiroshi, Akamine Shosuke, Higa Seitoku, Shimabukuro Eizo and Walter Todd.

In my book "Toyama Kanken - The Heritage of Shudokan" there are short biographies of these masters. However, I have forgotten the biography of one master, that of Higashionna Kamesuke (1905-1968).

Higashionna Sensei's surname can also be read as Higaonna. Later, he also used his nickname Hiroshi (quasi as a first name). Therefore, you can find this master in the karate literature as Higashionna Kamesuke, Higaonna Kamesuke or Higashionna Hiroshi and Higaonna Hiroshi.

Higashionna Sensei was born in Okinawa in 1905. We do not know when he started karate. He was, inter alia, a student of Motobu Choki (1870-1944), who described him as his favorite student. Higashionna Sensei was one of the pioneers who contributed to the worldwide spread of the karatedo. Together with Mizuho Mutsu (1898-1970), he traveled to Hawaii for more than 5 months in 1933, where they gave karate demonstrations. Higashionna published several articles on karate in the Ryukyu Shinpo in 1935, and in the same year he wrote a book about his time in Hawaii. Later he went back to Okinawa and headed a dojo in Naha. He gave his dojo the same name that Motobu Choki used for his former dojo in Tokyo: "Daidokan" (building of the great way). In 1968 Higashionna Sensei was involved in a traffic accident in Hawaii and died in the same year at the age of 63 due to his injuries.

How intense the contact from Toyama Sensei to Higashionna Sensei was I do not know. Higashionna Sensei received the title "Hanshi Shihan" from Toyama Sensei. The reasons could be one of the following:

• Toyama Sensei appreciated Motobu Choki very much. Perhaps he saw it as his obligation to graduate Motobu Sensei's favorite student. I do not know if he graduated him before or after Motobu Sensei's death.
• The karate historian, Toyama disciple and Toyama confidante, Nakasone Genwa, wrote in the book" Karate Kenpo "about the Hawaii trip of Higashionna Sensei:" Mr. Higashionna Kameseku is the deserved one, who started with a Hawaii expedition for us as the first step in the worldwide spread of karate.” Toyama Sensei also had plans to bring karate into the world, so he may have appreciated the efforts and enthusiasm of Higashionna Sensei.

For more information, I recommend the book "Higaonna Kamesuke: On Karate in Okinawa, Japan & Hawaii Paperback - January 18, 2017" by Henning Wittwer.