The Kanji character of 'Koku' translates as "country" and the character for 'Ba' translates as "Place". The character 'Koku' is pronounced as 'Koku' in Okinawa and as 'Kuni' in mainland Japan. The actual written form, in Kanji, is the same.
The Kokuba family traces their ancestry back almost 2,000 years and the charts to prove it are kept at the home of the head of the family, Koshu Kokuba who is the oldest male of the family line. The family history goes back to Yoshitsune Minamoto who was the younger brother of Japan's first Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo who became Shogun in 1192. The younger brother was considered a threat to Yoritomo because he was a strong warrior. He was exiled from the court and fled south where his descendants eventually wound up in Okinawa.
The family was also part of the last royal family of Okinawa, the Sho Shi family. Soke Kuniba and Shojin Nagamine are the only Okinawan martial arts masters who are directly related to the Okinawan royalty. Prior to World War II, there was a Kokuba village near the city of Naha. Today, it is a part of the city of Naha. There is still the Kokuba river which flows through Naha. There was a Kokuba Castle which housed the ancestral swords and relics but it was destroyed by American bombs during the war.
Today, the Kokuba family is a very prominent family in Okinawa. The family is one of the big Japanese conglomerates, involved in many industries, primarily shipping. In Naha, there are several large housing complexes called Kokuba Mansions and skyscraper buildings which house their business interests.
All males of the Kokuba family have as the first Kanji character of their name the character 'Ko' which means happiness or good fortune. It can be read as 'Ko' or as 'Yuki'. Soke Kuniba was given the name Kosho at birth and that can be pronounced as Yukitaka also. Kanji characters can be given a Chinese or Japanese reading and it often depends on the context of the sentence as to which way it is read.
Soke Kuniba's mother's family was also of the samurai class. They are the Furugen family and all males in that side of the family have names that begin with the Kanji for 'So'. Many of them are in real estate and they work together with the Kokuba family.
The founder of Seishin Kai, Kosei Kokuba, was born in 1901 in Kokuba Village. As a young boy he began training in the art of Karate with Founder Choki Motobu. In 1924 he left his homeland of Okinawa for the larger islands of Japan, living for several years near the foot of Mount Fuji.
In 1940 Sensei Kokuba located in Osaka where he opened a business and began formal teaching. On June 6, 1943, Sensei Kokuba founded the Seishin Kan Dojo. The character 'Sho' can be read as 'Sho' or 'Sei' and the meaning is "pure". Sensei Kokuba believed that true Karate-Do comes from the heart, so he called his dojo - SEISHIN or "pure heart" Dojo.
During World War II, many Okinawan Karate men visited the home of Sensei Kokuba in Osaka. In return for room and board, these men often taught at the Seishin Kan Dojo and gave private lessons to Sensei Kokuba's young son, Kosho. The dojo became a famous meeting place for budo men. Sensei Kokuba continued to teach in the style of Sensei Motobu and when Motobu died in 1947, Sensei Kokuba became the second Soke of the Ryu-Kyu Motobu-Ha Karate-Do.
Born of royal and samurai lineage, Sensei Kokuba trained his only son, Kosho, in the true samurai tradition. Sensei Kokuba continued to teach until he became ill in 1956. After his death in 1959, young Kosho became the third Soke of the Ryu-Kyu Motobu-Ha Karate-Do.
From the Seishinkai manual by James Herndon
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