Masami Chinen
# Masami Chinen

Masami Chinen (知念 正美, Chinen Masami, 1898-1976) was an Okinawan martial arts master who formed Yamani ryu. He taught Bōjutsu privately at his home in the village of Tobaru, in Shuri, Okinawa.

## Life

Like many martial arts masters Chinen had been a policeman. During the Second World War he lived with the martial arts master Horoku Ishikawa in Tainan, Taiwan. He also worked at the Shuri City Hall in Shuri, Okinawa.

## Yamani Ryu Bōjutsu

Chinen named the style after his father Sanra Chinen who was also a teacher of Bōjutsu and known as Yamani Usumei and Yamane Tanmei.

## Legacy

Although the style ceased to exist after his death, some of his katas were preserved by Seitoku Higa of the Bugeikan and Shūgorō Nakazato of Shōrin-ryū. Another student of Chinen's, Chōgi Kishaba and his student Toshihiro Ōshiro also privately practised Yamani Ryu katas. Ōshiro teaches Bōjutsu today, and so does Chinen's grandnephew Teruo Chinen.

