 He was quite young when he began his training in Karate with Shinpan Gusukuma, also known under the name of Shinpan Shiroma (1890–1954), who was his teacher at primary school.One of his teachers at his school was Chomo Hanashiro (1869–1945).Later he became a student of Choshin Chibana (1885–1969), founder of KobayashiShorin-ryu (en).