by Henry Soon

 

The Kojosho Kempo is deeply rooted in China and even though change was inevitable the style has retained a classical motion and signature.  The early sets of this unique method were examples of how animal movement could be translated into offensive and defensive theories.  Later more possibilities were added and the thought provoking Element concept emerged.  With time Masters used this guide to create new and sometimes expanded sets and also to devise Kata.  These sets were taught in order of progressive difficulty and were ultimately linked into one long form that can be worked solo or with a partner.

The last thirty five years have seen the Kojosho grow progressively to more closely resemble modern Karate-Do.  The power driving this change was the inclusion of the Pinon Kata to facilitate the teaching of basic techniques and the kata Basai and Kusanku for their global recognition for competition and grading.   Additionally, the International Kojosho Karate Federation formed in 1966 announced in its mission statement the goal of "Preserving the works of past Masters" exposing the senior most student to different Kata and the pervasive influence of Japanese Karate-Do

 

FOREWORD

 

     The innumerable books about the martial arts in print today generally fall into several broad categories.  Most books are written about a particular martial style and attempt to show a novice how to perform the techniques of that particular discipline.  Other books try to inform the public about what makes a certain style, or several styles, historically or culturally valuable.  However, very few books attempt to convey the reasons why the advanced student would continue to study the martial arts.

     This book intends to accomplish three goals:  (1) Offer Kojosho students a text that will be useful in their development.  (2) Show them, in general, what makes Kojosho a unique and worthy study.  (3) And most importantly, to give the perceptive reader an understanding of the Philosophy of Kojosho.

     The Kojosho System goals are the goals of the traditional martial arts.  Lessons we learn can be applied to every area of our lives.  Karate is an efficient fighting art, and the self-defense benefits of Karate instruction are obvious.  But how often are we called upon to use this knowledge?  Luckily, most of us are secure in our lives, and the odds are very good in this day and time that we will never have to fight for our lives.

     Why, then, do we continue to study Karate?  There are health benefits to continued study.  And by mastering ourselves in our training, we can learn to master other aspects of our lives.  Personal, financial, or professional success is not beyond the capabilities of the Black Belt.  Those are benefits that can be seen and touched.  But the unseen and intangible benefits of philosophical study nourish the warrior's spirit and are even more meaningful.  Understanding aesthetics (what is beautiful), ethics (what is good), metaphysics (what is being), and epistemology (what is knowledge) can provide the Karate student the ability to discern what is true and beautiful and can deliver the wisdom and the strength to know what is just to do what is right.

     Although video captures dynamic movement well, a static medium like a book has its place.  The physical relearning process itself can be separated into four distinct elements - (1) identifying imperfect movement, (2) separating that movement into understandable components, (3) isolating the incorrect application, and (4) correcting each fault.  Since total movement must be broken down into its component parts for analysis, still drawings can accomplish this requirement by allowing the close inspection of weapon, target, intersection, and stance.  However, the reader should understand that the drawings are not motion.  When we move, our movement is not segmented, and we move with purpose.  This totality of motion must be experienced to be fully appreciated.

     As soon as a comprehensive book is written about a martial arts system, there is a danger of taking a system that is evolving and embalming it forever in pictures and words.  Change is inevitable, desirable, and necessary for all viable systems.  By being essentially non-technical, this book intends to bypass the pitfall of dictating absolutes of right and wrong technique that would prevent further growth.  There are no absolutes of right and wrong.  But there are better and worse approaches to achieve the overall goal of proper motion.

     This book is not intended to be a complete explanation of the Kojosho System.  There are no secrets, but inappropriate revelation would not serve the best interests of the System and would be contrary to our objective of personalized instruction.  Instead, an attempt has been made to detail many of the specifics and some of the complexities of the System.  The theories of motion and philosophical principles are as useful to the improvement of the beginning student as they are to the refinement of the advanced student.

      There are Kojosho instructors all around the world.  Although the curriculum they teach remains the same, the teaching methods each instructor employs must necessarily differ.  Each instructor is a separate and distinct individual with personal goals and ideas of technical excellence and whose teaching methods may be tailored to a particular student's specific progress and only useful at that stage of the student's development.  But the goal of every instructor is to help each student achieve his or her maximum potential - physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Please understand that a book can inform, but it cannot teach.  And a student should not use this book, or any book, to second-guess his or her instructor.

     This book has an overly serious tone.  Camaraderie, joy, and laughter may be incorrect during some Karate practice, but sheer fun must be an integral part of the daily Karate experience.

     It was not always possible to avoid gender-specific wording in this text.  Using inclusive wording, like "he or she," sometimes interrupted the smooth flow of the text.  And the singular use of "student" seemed at times to require "he" and "him."

     Finally, whenever the word "Karate" is used in this text, it is used in its Americanized sense to refer to Asian boxing styles that emphasize their philosophical foundations, rather than in the strict Okinawan or Japanese interpretation of the word.  If it is necessary to refer to a particular Karate style, such as "Shotokan" or "Tang Soo Do," that specific name is used.  If it is necessary to refer to a national Karate style, such as "Japanese Karate," that specific term is used.  Whenever the word "Kempo" is used in this book, it is used in its Americanized sense to refer to Okinawan and Japanese boxing styles that acknowledge their Chinese roots.  If it is necessary to refer to a particular Kempo/Kenpo style, such as "Kojo-Ryu" or "Shorinji Kempo," that specific name is used.  If it is necessary to refer to a national Kempo/Kenpo style, such as "Okinawan Kempo" or "American Kenpo," that specific term is used.

 

WHAT IS KARATE

A MARTIAL ART

     The Japanese word "Karate" means "Empty Hand."  This translation has two meanings.  The first announces a method of unarmed self-defense.  The second carries the Zen implication of spiritual training.

     On a strictly physical level, Karate is a highly developed, extremely effective fighting skill, whose goal is the practical perfection of basically unarmed, primarily defensive striking techniques.  Hours of training are spent making the human body a destructive weapon because winning is the only acceptable reaction to physical threat during any mortal conflict.  Techniques are designed for actual combat, and successful performance is dictated by reality.  Karate's reputation over the past two thousand years has been based on displays of its fearsome power and lethal application.

     On a spiritual level, the emphasis is on Karate as a martial art.  Artistic ideals supersede martial applications.  And the goal of Karate training becomes the purification of the individual through the refinement of technique.  When the opponent is oneself, the means of perfection is the process of spiritual domination of the physical body.  Practical technique becomes less important than the time spent learning discipline through training.  The Karate form becomes the medium of artistic expression.  Perfect technique takes precedence over physical application.  And when one flawless technique is achieved, it is celebrated for its perfection.

     Some Karate schools emphasize the physical aspects of Karate training and promote the practical applications of Karate technique.  Those schools prescribe the use of force in resolving physical threat and graphically detail the potential damages inflicted on the opponent.  Other Karate schools emphasize the spiritual aspects of Karate training, feeling that martial arts training is simply a means of attaining the higher plane of spiritual enlightenment.

     Our System believes that proper Karate training should encompass both physical and spiritual disciplines.  And the separation of Karate into physical and spiritual levels is a misunderstanding of the nature of Karate.  Karate is a martial art.  Circumstances, and not individual taste, determine its outward appearance.

     Referring to Karate as a martial art shows the inseparable bond between martial application and artistic expression.  In war, the soul must become the warrior.  In peace, the soul becomes the artist.

 

SPIRITUAL HARMONY

     Karate training teaches the student that an unyielding will can overcome resistance and shape the outcome of events.  Each individual can learn to focus spiritual energy so strongly that perception can be made reality.  This lesson is gradually taught and only learned slowly and with difficulty.  As the student learns to strive and overcome, his or her will power is involuntarily and methodically tempered in the fires of determination and self‑control.

     The student is never forced to perform impossible tasks, but is always asked to do a little more than the student believes he or she is capable of doing.  Small obstacles are placed across the path of the beginning student.  The student learns to contend in order to succeed.  Early successes are challenged by greater difficulties because more is demanded as the student advances.  This is the path of progression and development.

     The first barrier is personal inertia.  And class participation provides the early incentive to advance.  In these classes, the student tries to force his body to conform to his wishes.  The body resists.  The required movements are strained and unnatural.  Teachers are demanding and the pace is exhausting, but persistence is essential.  Although the body initially refuses to perform as directed, eventually repetition and perseverance systematically create a body that is disciplined and responsive.  The initial barrier to advancement is overcome when the student realizes that dedication and determination can eliminate obstacles that seemed insurmountable.

     The student slowly begins to understand that he, and he alone, is responsible for his success or failure.  Training has taught him that more personal effort and enthusiasm can make the difference when success hangs in the balance.  Many seemingly impossible barriers have fallen to his strength of will.  As it is impossible to know when the expenditure of more energy can overcome opposition, the student now strives constantly for success in attempting to impose his will on reality.

     At this point, however, the student's efforts have created an obstacle to further progress.  Success depends on his willingness to contend and the strength of his resolution to win.  Without determination, there can never be victory.  Still, a natural order and harmony exists in the universe.  When the student takes all defeats personally and attempts to alter reality, he can be spiritually destroyed.  Spiritual harmony lies in knowing when to contend and when to yield, and when yielding promotes overcoming.

 

IN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION

     There are many aspects of Karate training ranging from the excitement of tournament competition, to the showiness of breaking techniques, to the solitary beauty of formal exercises.  Training can encompass both public displays of abilities and personal, private exertions for proficiency.  Training benefits are increased self‑defense capabilities, improved physical coordination, and aesthetic satisfaction.  Applications of this martial art differ widely, and so do the personalities of Karate practitioners.

     Despite the diversity in Karate applications and personal benefits, Karate training aims at the perfection of the individual by establishing an ideal which is not easily fulfilled and constantly attempting to fulfill it.  The goal is perfection of character.  The means of fulfillment is daily Karate training.

     Attainment of this goal of technical perfection is secondary to the action of attaining.  The struggle is more important than the victory, because satisfaction lies in daily training.  Thus, Karate students continue to practice at advanced ages and are highly respected for their perseverance and dedication.  The goal is never reached.  Since the opponent is oneself, the struggle is for personal perfection.

 

WHAT IS KEMPO KARATE

 

     "Kempo" ("Fist Method") was the name used by the people of Okinawa (the largest of the Ryukyu Islands) to identify to their Chinese-influenced boxing techniques.  "Karate" ("Empty Hand") became popular during the early part of the twentieth century and emphasized the philosophical foundation of those very same fighting arts.

     "Kempo Karate" is the wedding of those historical and philosophical ideas.

     Gichin Funakoshi (who is acknowledged as the "Father of Modern Karate") used a similar conjunctive idea in the title to his 1922 book, Ryukyu Kempo Tode-jutsu (where "Tode" ("China Hand") can also be pronounced "Karate" and "jutsu" is Japanese for "techniques").

 

WHAT IS KOJOSHO

 

THE EIGHTEEN POSTURES OF THE SHAOLIN

     Kojosho, translated "Old Castle Pine," is a Karate system that traces its roots back to ancient China.  In 225 AD, a Chinese physician named Hua T'o created a series of exercises based on five animal movements.  The warrior monks of the Shaolin Temple added four more animals and nine elements to those movements and called them the Eighteen Postures.  The self‑defense applications derived from those postures became known throughout China and the rest of Asia as Shaolin boxing.  Over the centuries, Shaolin boxing influenced the development of every major fighting style in Asia, including Kojosho.

 

FROM SHAOLIN TO KOJOSHO

     All rational people love peace, but much of history has been written in blood.  In China, the necessity to fight and the desire to win stimulated the evolution of countless separate and distinct Shaolin boxing styles, hundreds of which exist today.

     However, in an effort to maintain secrecy, some of these boxing styles limited their students to family members.  Over the years, through mishap or natural selection, many of these smaller styles were lost.   

     The Kojo line is one such small, Shaolin-influenced family style, which restricted its students and, as a result, was brought very nearly to extinction in the early twentieth century.  Fortunately, circumstances delivered the System from Chinese hands into Okinawan hands and finally, into American hands.

     The Kojosho System teaches Karate using traditional Okinawan Kata and a series of Two-Person and Three-Person Forms based on the Eighteen Lo‑Han Postures.  Offensive and defensive theories of motion, taken from the Eighteen Postures, were used to construct Forms that are designed to be worked by two and three people simultaneously.  These Two-Person and Three-Person Forms incorporate the combative and self‑defense applications unique to the Kojosho System.  They discuss the elements of rhythm, timing, and distance that are essential to achieve effective technique.  They also demonstrate the necessity for the combative attitudes of motivation, strategy, and commitment, which must precede technique.   

     The Forms are the basic textbooks of the Kojosho System.  They demonstrate to all students who study them the sequence of threat and reaction and the necessity for physical, mental, and spiritual discipline.  As advanced, black belt students continue to study, they are gradually introduced to the concept of the Third Person, a series of Forms that work between the Two-Person Forms, defending against an attacker while simultaneously attacking a defender.

     The Forms show Kojosho to be a System of self-defense which utilizes both hand and foot techniques, with a slight bias in favor of hand techniques.  The usual tendency is to favor one type of technique over the other, but both have limitations.  Although foot techniques are stronger than hand techniques because they are driven by the heavy muscles of the leg, half of the base of body support must necessarily be sacrificed in order to deliver the foot, and temporary loss of mobility occurs.  Although hand techniques are faster than foot techniques because they are more efficiently driven from the epicenter of power, more of the vital areas of the body must be exposed to a possible counterattack, and there is a natural reluctance to commit.  Strategically, hand technicians try to close the gap which foot technicians try to maintain.  The Forms view this dilemma as a problem of distance.  Foot techniques are delivered as long as the range remains long.  As the distance closes, the emphasis shifts to hand techniques.  The Kojosho System has no prejudice for either hand or foot technique, but since hand‑to‑hand combat takes place most often at close range, the Forms deliberately show a bias in favor of hand techniques.

     The Kojosho System encourages the development of the martial artist by presenting formulated principles of behavior and theories of motion.  Principles and theories are generalized statements drawn from multiple realities, distilled to the simplicity of generalization.  But only when these generalizations are properly introduced and interpreted can they be meaningful or useful.  A conglomeration of facts about virtuous behavior and observations about successful techniques are too disorganized to be useful to the student.  To be meaningful, facts must be systematically arranged and interpreted, and understandable generalities must be made.  Successful teaching methods require that order be created from chaos.

     The duty of the teacher is to pass his knowledge on to interested students.  In all cases, the burden is on the individual student to make that knowledge his or her own.  The teacher only serves to point the way.  The student must walk the path.

     However, martial arts instructors in coherent systems are able to make the student's path much easier because criticism is presented as misapplication of essential theory within the overall structure.  Instead of isolating many improperly performed techniques and commenting on them individually, the superior instructor shows the student that poor performance is the result of misapplication of theory.  The student should then be able to apply that theory to critique other techniques.  The System grows as new theories are added to the existing base.  The student stands taller because he or she stands on the shoulders of all who taught before.

 

THE STUDENT

     The Kojosho System considers everyone a student.  Although every martial art must have teachers, in the Kojosho System, even teachers are students.

     Two philosophical statements are made by this emphasis on the word "student."  The first is a conscious exhibition of the virtue of humility.  The Kojosho System has no living masters.  We acknowledge certain men as masters whose importance to the Kojosho System demands the use of that word.  We consider those men to be giants.  Their legacies serve as inspirations to every student because they dedicated their lives to the advancement of the System.  We celebrate their contributions, and accept the status of students in deference to these men.  Good manners demand this ceremonial bow.  To do otherwise would be unthinkable.

     The second philosophical statement lies in the implications of the words "master" and "student."  From all indications, life does not accept stasis.  Clearly, all things are either growing or decaying, and that which does not advance must inevitably decline.  Instead of being, the student is in a state of becoming.  Only under this condition is the student actively attempting to reach his or her goals and continuing to evolve.  Although "master" is a traditional title, when the term "master" implies perfection, there is no more need for change or for evolutionary growth.

 

THE MARTIAL ARTIST

     The goal of the Kojosho System is to guide martial artists in their growth as strong individuals.  Achievement of this goal requires physical, mental, and spiritual growth.  The Kojosho System views the black belt as a stepping stone in the development of the martial artist, not as an end result.  A process of growth is required, becoming instead of being.  Thus, the System must be able to set genuine goals for the sixty‑year student as well as for the first‑year student.  A system's true test is whether the advanced martial artist can find expression and satisfaction without confinement.

     Total development of the martial artist requires physical, mental, and spiritual goals.  The physical challenge is the development of effective and efficient motion.  The mental requirement is that the student fully understands the concepts of motion within the Forms and is then able to communicate his or her discoveries.  The spiritual goal is the cultivation of virtuous behavior in each individual because spiritual development is the key to the inner power.

     The traditional Chinese martial arts school views instructors as parents and students as children.  Students come to the instructor as infants.  They are ignorant of proper behavior and cannot even know the depth of their ignorance.  It is the duty of the instructor to nurture and teach these infants by lecture and example.  As students mature, they are each given additional responsibilities - alternately praised and scolded, pulled and pushed, and above all, shown the ideals of proper behavior. 

 

THE STORY OF THE STONE

     Traditionally, the instructor gives every promising Kojosho student an unusual gift.  On some momentous day, an insignificant stone is picked off the ground and formally presented to the eager student.  This stone becomes a pearl of great price.

     Nothing has intrinsic value.  The worth of any object is determined not by its essential nature, but by the price a person is willing to pay.  A diamond can have utilitarian value as a cutting tool and aesthetic value as a gemstone, but its value is measured by the price it commands in the marketplace.

     An object is given worth by the person who possesses it because that person lends value to the object.  Technical expertise in Karate cannot be bought with money.  Its price is years of effort, countless attempts, innumerable failures, and finally some measure of success.  The value the student places on his or her training is readily apparent to all, and the superior student cherishes all martial arts, all instructors, all students, and thereby enriches him or herself.

     The warrior who owns a priceless sword does not place it in the hands of a child.  Ignorant of its worth, the child will not value that treasure or treat it with responsibility or respect.  To a child, a sword is just another toy, and in play, without a care, that child will drag even the most precious sword through the mud.

     To most people, Kojosho training is as worthless as any stone on the ground, unknown and unimportant.  It is the responsibility of the instructor to show his students the respect he has for his art and to teach them to treat it with reverence.  The most insignificant stone, when presented by an instructor, gains in value when guarded and cherished.  The student who makes the commitment lends to Kojosho the value of personal devotion.

     Every serious student should have a working knowledge of the history and development of Karate and the Kojosho System.  However, the student should also understand that history has never been carved in granite.  Records have been kept haphazardly, details have been lost through oral transmission, and much has been destroyed by fire or war or other disasters, both natural and man-made.  At times, critical information has been deliberately withheld, concealed to maintain secrecy, or intentionally shrouded in mysticism and legend.

     Reliable and accurate historical records have been kept only since about 1900 AD.  And though some Karate styles my claim more ancient lineage, very few can prove their claim in a way that would satisfy even the most lenient court of law.  Many historical gaps have been filled by conjecture masquerading as fact or hearsay evidence presented as The Truth.  The irony of history, it seems, is that it is conceived in the past and born in the present as a conundrum for the future.

     Given those considerations, the chapters on the Development of Karate and the History of Kojosho attempt to reflect the most current thinking by the most serious scholars.

 

DEVELOPMENT OF KARATE

 

     The pervasive influence of Chinese boxing on the development of almost every Asian martial art is sometimes indistinct, but always unmistakable.  Beginning nearly 2,000 years ago, the Chinese introduced combat techniques that started the radically divergent growth of the early fighting styles of Okinawa, Korea, and Japan.  In Japan, the initial Chinese impact was felt in the growth and evolution of jujitsu and atemi techniques.  In Korea, the martial arts flourished during the rise of the Hwarang warriors, but later fell into decline.  In Okinawa, the Chinese influence was warmly sought and eagerly welcomed as Okinawan martial artists often traveled to China to gain new insights and to refine their technique.

     The growth of boxing styles in China was exceedingly diverse and staggeringly complex.  From its Shaolin Temple beginnings around the sixth century, Chinese boxing ultimately grew to encompass hundreds of separate styles.  Each style was a personal revelation, and many variants of every major style eventually appeared.  In an attempt to classify this profusion, the Yangtze River was chosen as a suitable boundary and a division was made separating Northern Shaolin from Southern Shaolin boxing styles.  Typically, Northern Shaolin boxing emphasized kicking techniques and Southern Shaolin boxing emphasized hand techniques.  Then, when the Hsing‑I, Tai Chi, and Pa‑Kua schools gained in popularity around the 17^th and 18^th centuries, another convenient division separated these internal schools from the external Shaolin schools.  These internal/external, hard/soft divisions worked fairly well, although there were many styles that were not easily pigeonholed.

     The roots of today's Karate are found in China.  For centuries, and particularly during the Han, Tang, and Ming Dynasties, China was literally and figuratively the center of Asia - the dominant country in the Orient, both culturally and militarily.  Poets, artists, and scholars came from all the surrounding countries to live, work, and study in China.  And some of those who studied Chinese boxing returned home with those skills.  Buddhist priests came to meditate and train at the Shaolin Temples and when they left to spread their faith, they took with them the fighting skills they learned at the Temples.  Chinese warriors utilized Shaolin combat techniques wherever they fought.  Merchants traveled, some with Shaolin training.  And Chinese officials, who were proficient, spread Shaolin boxing wherever they were sent.  And in ways both formal and informal, Chinese boxing spread throughout Asia and affected the evolution of every emerging national fighting style.

     Karate, as we know it today, is the product of Chinese influence and Okinawan descent.  Some Okinawan styles trace their lineage to the Shaolin boxing techniques taught by the Thirty-Six Chinese families who went to live in Okinawa in the late-1300s.  Some styles include in their lineage Kung Shang K'ung (Kusanku in Okinawan), a Chinese official who spent time in Okinawa in the late-1700s.  And some cite Iwah, a Chinese who taught Shaolin boxing in the late-1800s, both in Okinawa and also at the Kojo family dojo (martial arts school) in Fuzhou, a coastal Chinese city near Okinawa.

     Karate gradually developed in Okinawa.  And even though Karate movement became less Chinese and more Okinawan, Okinawans still called their fighting art "Kempo," the Okinawan pronunciation of the Chinese "Chuan-Fa" ("Fist Method"), or "To-de," the Okinawan pronunciation of "China Hand," in deference to its Chinese roots.

     In the early-1900s, although Okinawan Karate had previously maintained close ties with its parent, Chinese boxing, many Okinawan Karate teachers decided to change the written characters of Karate from "China Hand" to "Empty Hand".  The name was changed to establish Karate as a separate and distinct Japanese martial art.  However, some Okinawan Karate teachers continued to use the name "Kempo."

     Karate's exposure to the modern world began when a group of Okinawan Karate teachers decided to introduce Karate to Japan.  After much deliberation, the man they sent was Gichin Funakoshi.  Gichin Funakoshi is known today as the Father of Modern Karate.  In 1922, he was chosen to take Karate, then a limited Okinawan martial art, and demonstrate its universal application before a highly critical Japanese audience.  Other famous Okinawan Karate teachers followed Funakoshi to Japan, and together, they firmly established Karate as a popular Japanese martial art.

     In the 1930s, Hawaii's large Asian population in made it a fertile place for the introduction of several Chinese and Okinawan Karate styles (Kosho-ryu Kempo, various Gung-Fu styles, etc.).  This eventually led to the development of eclectic Karate styles (Kajukenbo, etc.) beginning in the 1940s.  From Hawaii, several Karate styles then migrated to the mainland United States.

     The great interest in Asian martial arts in the United States began after World War II when American servicemen were exposed to Oriental arts and cultures during the occupation of Okinawa and Japan.  When they were discharged, many brought the Okinawan (Shorin-ryu, Shorei-ryu, Uechi-ryu, etc.) and Japanese (Shotokan, Goju, Shito, Wado, etc.) Karate styles they learned back to the United States.

     In the years following the Korean War, Americans stationed in Korea began studying Korean Karate, a hybrid combining the remaining traces of Chinese‑influenced Korean styles with the Karate introduced by the Japanese.  And they, too, brought the Karate styles (Tang Soo Do, Mu Duk Kwan, Chung Do Kwan, etc.) they studied back to the United States when they returned.

     During the 1950s, Okinawan, Japanese, and Korean Karate organizations began to export their national Karate styles worldwide.

     In the 1970s, a boom in all Asian martial arts began that was greatly fueled by the increased awareness engendered by the communications media.

     Today, extremely high‑quality martial arts instruction can be found almost everywhere in the world.

 

HISTORY OF THE KOJOSHO SYSTEM

 

     Kojosho is one of many systems said to derive from the Southern Shaolin that traces its lineage back to Hua-T'o, the Chinese philosopher and physician.  Hua-T'o lived in the third century and is the person generally credited with the creation of a series of exercises based on the movements of animals.  The Shaolin monks worked Hua-To's original five animal movements, added more animal and element movements and created the Eighteen Lo‑Han Postures.  The Eighteen Postures were said to be both a means of physical culture and an effective fighting art - a combination of health benefits and self‑defense applications in the same exercise.

     Kojosho works a series of exercises also named the Eighteen Postures.  And oral Kojosho tradition maintains that the Eighteen Postures of Kojosho are derived from the Eighteen postures of the Shaolin as taught at the Cai Ji Quan (Kojo Family Dojo) in the port city of Fuzhou, Fukien Proveince China.

The Kojosho System has long maintained the truth of this story - when little evidence existed to support its Shaolin claim and some even disputed the existence of a Kojo family.  However, during the last few years, more and more evidence has appeared that supports the historical accuracy of the Kojosho story.

     Recent evidence clearly shows that the Kojo family was in fact one of the most prominent martial arts families in Okinawa and was descended from one of the Chinese Thirty-six Families that settled at Kume, Okinawa in 1392.   Over the years, the Kojo Family had a long-standing relationship with the city of Fuzhou, China.  The Kohos regularly traveled back and forth between China and Okinawa.  In 1848, Isei Kojo accompanied his father, Shoi Sai Kojo, when his father returned to Fuzhou.  There, Isei Kojo learned Chinese Boxing from a Chinese military attache' named Iwah and became an assistant at Iwah's dojo.  Isei's son, Kaho, was born in China and eventually became a student of Iwah's.  In 1874 after being granted independence from Iwah Kaho Kojo opened a large dojo in Fuzhou which became well known.

     In March 1897, three people left Okinawa for China.  Two of those men were Tokusaburo Matsuda and Kanbum Uechi, who left to escape the draft.  The Kojosho System believes the name of the third person was Kosaburo Matsuda, a relative and namesake of Tokusaburo Matsuda. The Kojosho System believes that Kosaburo Matsuda (Matsu) studied Shaolin boxing at the Kojo dojo with both Kaho Kojo and Tokusaburo Matsuda.

---