ryu ryu ko

[lmgrahamdc]

Just a little commentary and please jump in, prior to the 1990's almost everyone believed that ryu ryu ko was a person.  But since new information has come out i.e. the Bubishi's translations, new books on Okinawan martial arts, and more people being open about what they know, there is now a belief that perhaps ryu ryu ko was a place.  Several arguments made are: if it was a person, they lived a VERY long time (having taught so many of the Okinawan masters), his grandson has been found - is this true?, etc.  What do you think? and why? (THis is what is good about this country - debate!) Leslie  

[jvaran]

I have heard from someone who speaks the language natively that when foreigners translate Okinawan dialects, it is very easy for them to confuse people's names with names of places, due to the grammatical structure. Several authors have made this mistake including, I believe, Patrick McCarthy. This is probably why many older books referred to ryu ryu ko as a person. I've seen the reverse mistake as well - there was a book I once saw that referred to Ahnan (the monk in the cave) as a place. It said that "Ahnan" was the name of the cave.

[lmgrahamdc]

It is not unusual for people to misinterprete things. Especially when dealing with a foreign language.  It can get pretty interesting as well.  So far we have a person, or a place....any thing else to add one way or the other?  Leslie

[lmgrahamdc]

Just as a side note, go to www.goju.co.za/ and look under lineage - you'll see a photo of ryu ryu ko!   I think I've seen that photo somewhere else....Leslie 8)

[jvaran]

That's the same picture in McCarthy's book, isn't it? Perhaps it's one of the people that taught or studied AT ryu ryu ko...?

[afwalker]

I have seen that picture too.  That is a picture of Ahnan.  Sensii showed that to me, there are others when he was young.

That is not Ryu Ru Kyo, that is Ahnan who taught at the Ryu Ru Kuo. Sometimes in China people were called what they were famous for. It was not uncommon for a person who had incredible martial arts to be known as Lei Gung Fu. I think it is the same here. Sigung Ahnan was Master instructor at the Ryu Ru Kyo, and so he was called by that name.  The Dates of Life and Death are correct also I think. I wil have to check on that.