Higaonna Kanryō

, and sometimes known as Higashionna West to distinguish him from his cousin,

Early life Higaonna was born in Nishimura, Naha Kanryo spent years doing household chores for master Ryū Ryū Ko, until he saved his daughter from drowning during a heavy flood and begged the master to teach Kung Fu as a reward. Higaonna learned 4 kata whilst studying in China; Sanchin, Seisan, Sanseru, Bechurin (a cousin form of Suparinpei).

In the 1880s, after Ryūkyū was annexed by Japan, Kanryo returned to Okinawa and continued the family business. He also began to teach the martial arts in and around Naha. He began by teaching the sons of Yoshimura Udun Chomei. His style was distinguished by its integration of both go-no (hard) and ju-no (soft) techniques in one system. He became so prominent that the name "Naha-te" became identified with Higaonna Kanryo's system. He travelled to China several times thereafter. His last visit was in 1898 when he escorted Yoshimura Chomei and two of his sons to Fuzhou. History records that they were blown off-course to Zhejiang and travelled by land to Fuzhou with an escort provided by the local Zhejiang authorities.

Higaonna's most famous students were Chojun Miyagi who founded the Goju ryu school of Karate and Kyoda Juhatsu who founded Touon ryu, a lesser known sister school of Goju ryu which preserved 3 out of 4 of Higaonna's kata.

He began to teach Naha-te to the public in 1905 in the Naha Commercial School.

Kanryo was noted for his powerful Sanchin kata, or form. Students reported that the wooden floor would be hot from the gripping of his feet.

Legacy Several of Kanryo's students went on to become influential masters of what came to be called karate, amongst them Chōjun Miyagi, Kyoda Juhatsu, Kenwa Mabuni, Koki Shiroma, Higa Seiko, Tsuyoshi Chitose and Shiroma Shinpan (Gusukuma).