The history of Matsubayashi-ryu Karate began after World War II when, in 1947, Grand Master Shoshin Nagamine officially founded the style.
Nagamine Sensei opened his first dojo in 1942 and —according to Charles C. Goodin— named it the Tomari Ken Yu Kai. It was destroyed during World War II. In 1947, he named the style Matsubayashi-ryu and opened a temporary dojo the following year in Makishi. He finally opened his permanent dojo in 1953 and named it the Matsubayashi-Ryu Kododan Karate and Ancient Martial Arts Studies. The term Matsubayashi comes from the Okinawan pronunciation of the characters for Pine Forest. Matsu means pine and the word forest translates to Hayashi. When the two are placed together, Hayashi is pronounced as Bayashi, making it Matsubayashi. The term Shorin-Ryu comes from the Shaolin Buddhist Temple in China. Shorin means Shaolin and Ryu roughly translates to style or system. More literally, Ryu can mean river, which Nagamine Sensei felt reflected his view that the art of karate, and specifically Matsubayashi-Ryu, is a living, flowing thing.
Nagamine Sensei also chose the name “Matsubayashi” out of respect for two legendary Karatemen, Sokon “Bushi” Matsumura and Kosaku Matsumora, who had taught two of his most influential teachers, Chotoku Kyan and Choki Motobu.
In 1960 James Wax, an ex-American serviceman and the first American Black Belt in Matsubayashi-Ryu, opened the first U.S. dojo in the history of Matsubayashi-Ryu karate in Dayton, Ohio. Two years later, Nagamine Sensei sent a senior student, Ansei Ueshiro, to the United States to firmly establish Matsubayashi-ryu in North America.
It was at Sensei Ueshiro’s dojo in New York City that Zenko Heshiki (see Zenko Heshiki sensei videos here) trained before opening a dojo on West 72nd Street in Manhattan with Sensei Arthur Drago. Sensei Heshiki was born in Okinawa in 1938. His grandfather, Zensei, was a Karate sensei and student of Chomo Hanashiro, himself a student of Sokon Matsumura and Ankoh Itosu. Sensei Heshiki’s dojo prospered, and at one time he had over 40 active black belts and over 200 students.
It was there that Sensei Owen Masters began training in 1967. Masters Sensei later opened his own dojo on West 86th Street in Manhattan, at the Gelabert Art Gallery. It was there that David Troup started training in 1987. During the late 1990s, Sensei Owen Masters merged his dojo with the Shorin-ji Bushido dojo of Sensei Max Crevani on West 72nd Street.