Kanbun was born in Deikusaku section but grew up in the Takintō section of the mountain farming village of Izumi on the Motobu Peninsula of Okinawa, Uechi's family were farmers of daikon radishes. While it is claimed that in his youth, Uechi studied bōjutsu and basic Chinese techniques with Motobu experts, some of whom had lived in China, a more recent Okinawan government sanctioned publication notes that there exists no record of him learning "any kind of martial art" prior to his move to China.
Time in China
Japan began a program of universal male conscription in Okinawa in 1897. In 1897 at the age of 19, Kanbun fled to Fuzhou in Fukien Province, China both to escape Japanese military conscription and to fulfill his dreams of studying martial arts with Chinese masters. Kanbun later told students he was the only survivor of his small "dugout" row boat trip to China, and he was rescued by a Chinese martial artist who eventually introduced him to another Chinese martial artist. Upon arrival in Fuzhou, Uechi took residence in the Okinawan boarding house Ryukyu Jyuentaku Hall. He initially took up the study of Kojo Ryū under two Okinawan men named Kugusuku and Matsuda, but the latter mocked him for a speech impediment, and the offended Uechi sought training elsewhere. Uechi next took up the study of herbalism and a Kung Fu system he identified as "Pangai-noon", under a Chinese master of Tiger and Crane styles of southern Kung Fu named Zhou Zihe . A great deal of unsourced apocryphal stories exist on how Kanbun met and came to train with Zhou Zihe, and more recent research in the region with assistance of the Fuzhou Wushu Association does not provide a detailed answer. However, the Wushu Association accepts that Zhou Zihe taught foreign students and Kanbun trained with him for 13 years, mastered the three kataSanchin, Seisan, and Sanseirui, as well as learned kote kitae, or "forearm tempering." Review of current Uechi-Ryū practice with several styles in Fuzhou linked to Zhou Zihe, which all developed on their own subsequently, led the Wushu Association to suggest that Kanbun made his own modifications to make what he would call "Pangai-noon". Kanbun received a teaching license from Zhou Zihe in 1904 and in 1906 he opened his own dōjō in Nanjing. He continued periodic training under Zhou Zihe during the next three years for a total of 13 years. After the three years, Kanbun Uechi returned to Okinawa, determined never to teach again because reportedly one of his Chinese students had killed a neighbor with an open-hand technique in a dispute over land irrigation.
Return to Okinawa and Travel to the Island of Japan
Uechi returned to Naha, Okinawa in 1909, and he refused to teach martial arts while in Okinawa. He soon married, and his first son, Kanei Uechi was born in 1911. In 1912, a tea merchant and White Crane Kung Fu master Go Kenki who knew him settled in Okinawa. As word spread from Go Kenki that Kanbun Uechi was a skilled martial arts teacher, he received requests to teach but refused. Due the economic situation in Okinawa, in 1924, at the age of 47, Kanbun Uechi left for Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan to find employment. While he was working as a security guard for a local Showa Spinning cotton spinning mill, he was persuaded by a co-worker, Ryuyu Tomoyose, to teach him privately after having been first convinced to show him ways of defending himself against different attacks. In 1926, after two years of private lessons, Ryuyu Tomoyose gathered together other interested potential students for a total of 30 men who all agreed to pay 5 yen each month. Since his month salary was only 15 yen each month, Kanbun Uechi agreed to resume teaching. Until 1932, he taught in small rooms in the company dormitory before work, during lunchtime, and after work He then opened a general store and the "Pangai-noon Karate Academy" open to the general public in Tebira, Wakayama Prefecture. In 1934, Kanbun Uechi met Kenwa Mabuni, the founder of Shitō-ryū, who interviewed Uechi in an article "The Story of Chinese Kenpo" he published in the 1934 edition of Karate Research. Mabuni suggested that Kanbun change the name of his style to "Uechi-Ryū" or "style of Uechi." The style he taught was renamed in 1940 to "Uechi-Ryū" Karate in his honor, and is one of the four major styles of Okinawan Karate. Kanbun Uechi continued to teach in Wakayama until 1946., In November of that year, Kanbun Uechi turned over his school to Ryuyu Tomoyose and returned to Okinawa and settled on the island of Iejima. Students which included Ryuyu Tomoyose's son, Ryuko, built a dōjō named the Uechi-Ryū Karate Academy. Kanbun Uechi passed away from kidney disease in 1948. After Kanbun Uechi's death, his style was systematized by his son Kanei and his senior students. This included the addition of a number of "bridging" kata between the three Kanbun Uechi brought back from Fuzhou. Uechi-Ryū has students and dōjōsaround the world, and it is particularly popular in the Northeastern United States.
Family
Kanbun Uechi had four children. His oldest son, Kanei, continued his father's work in the martial arts. He had another son, Kansai, and two daughters, Tsuru and Kamai.
