Chatan Yara
Chatan Yara is truly a legendary figure in Okinawan Karate’s history. It is said that Yara left Okinawa while in his twenties to travel to China to learn the martial arts of the Chinese. While in China Yara studied Chinese Kempo and Kobudo heavily. He devoted all of his time to his training. Yara never established any type of system or school of karate. Instead he left his influence through kata that he formulated or redefined. Chatan Yara is most known for his version of Kusanku. Yara was known throughout the karate community as a weaponry master. He was very skilled in the use of the bo, tonfa, and most notably the sai. Yara was said to have developed the best sai techniques of his time. To pass on his knowledge of the sai, Yara created the kata, which has been named “Chatan Yara No Sai.” An interesting element of this kata is its use of empty hand techniques along with sai techniques to defeat the opponent. Yara is also known for his kata ‘Chatan Yara Tonfa,” which uses a reverse grip to manipulate the weapon in a fashion that had not been seen before.