Taira Shinken - Taira's Legacy

Taira's Legacy

In the post-war era, even in Okinawa, the number of kobudo students was much lower than the number of karate students. To reviatalize Okinawan kobudo study, in 1955 he established the Ryūkyū Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai as a continuation of Moden Yabiku's Ryukyu Kobujutsu Society.

Taira was in 1960 Shihan for the Nihon Kobudo Kenkyujo and in 1963 vice-President of the International Karate Kobudo Federation. On July 1, 1964, he was promoted to Hanshi by the Japan Kobudo Federation. He was the first president of the Ryukyu Kobudo Preservation and Promotion Society(July 1970).

After his death in September 1970, Taira was succeeded in Ryūkyū Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai in Okinawa by Eisuke Akamine and in mainland Japan by Inoue Motokatsu.

Taira created the nunchaku kata taught in Ryukyu kobudo 'Taira no Nunchaku'.

Taira is credited with composing Maezato no Tekko, a kata using metal horse stirrups. The name Maezato relates to his birth name. He continued his studies in kobudo cataloging over 40 traditional weapons kata from around Okinawa.