Takayoshi Nagamine

Who was Takayoshi Nagamine?

Takayoshi Nagamine was a prominent Okinawan karate master and also at times a Naha City Councilman and a Criminal Investigator for the United States Marine Corps.

Takayoshi was born in Naha, Okinawa as the son of Shoshin Nagamine, the founder of Matsubayashi-ryu Karate-do. He commenced training in Matsubayashi-ryu Karate-do under his father's tutelage at the age of six years old.

Takayoshi was the second generation headmaster and successor to the World Matsubayashi-ryu Karate-do Association and the Matsubayashi-ryu system as founded by his father, Shoshin Nagamine. He was also the Chief Instructor of the Kodokan Nagamine Karate Dojo located in Kumoji, Naha, Okinawa, Japan from 1997 to 2012.

At the direction of his father, and in order to help the development of Matsubayashi-ryu Karate-do world-wide, Takayoshi went to the United States at the age of 20, in the late 1960s, and opened a dojo in Cincinnati, Ohio. Some of Takayoshi Nagamine's original students to achieve black belt in the United States included Jim Driggs, Rick Kemper, Al Rozier, Bill George, Dave Williams and Steve Rafferty. Takayoshi also taught clinics and seminars in the Ohio region and around the United States until he returned to Okinawa in 1979.