All posts tagged: Ryukyu

Yotsudake Dancers, Ryukyu Dynasty Parade, Kokusai Street.

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Yotsudake is one of the traditional Ryukyu dances. The dancers wear a flower shaped hat, and a bingata kimono. They hold a pair of instruments similar to castanets which are made from four (yotsu) pieces of bamboo (take). They clap the yotsudake in time to the music. These images were all shot with the Pentax 645Z and the 90mm lens. The 90mm lens is an excellent portrait lens, allowing a shallow depth of field when needed and also has image stabilization to reduce motion blur due to camera shake.

Nunchaku by the Numbers

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Masakazu Kinjo demonstrates that there’s more to nunchaku than just swirling them around the body. Use the end to jab and break your attacker’s ribs. Trap the attacker’s wrist between the two shafts of the nunchaku. Use your forearm to bend and twist the attacker’s arm. The step into the attacker to to take control. From here onwards it’s the simple and painful application of leverage. Twist locked arm and apply further pressure to elbow as required.

Shorinryu Karate and Ryukyu Kobudo Master Hiroshi Akamine

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Hiroshi Akamine a master in both Shorinryu Karate (no weapons) and Ryukyu Kobudo (a whole range of weapons). Lovely man based out of a new dojo in Tomigusku. On the wall of Akamine’s dojo there was an old black and white image of Akamine’s teacher posing for a photograph with a bo (staff). It isn’t part of the portrait series, but James and I thought it would be nice for Akamine to have a shot of him in the exact same pose many years later. The sepia tone was added in Photoshop to match the original image.