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| Doshin So around 1950s. |
The Doshin So story is very interesting. His grandfather was a member of the Black Dragon Society(Kokyuryukai). He was Doshin So's first teacher. At the age of 17 he enlisted in the army and went to Manchuria as part of the Special Expeditionary Force. Afterwhich, he was posted in a Taoist school headed by Chen Liang who was a member of the secret Zaijia Li Society, and also a master of the White Lotus School of Northern Shaolin.
Doshin So studied Kung Fu and was also deeply influenced by Buddhist teachings. This proved to be the start of a long relationship with Chinese Martial Arts and Buddhism. In 1931 he became ill with typhus and returned to Japan. He then joined the airforce and was assigned to Air Corps I. In April 1931 he suffered a heart attack during a night flight. His recovery took six months, and doctors gave him between one and three years to live. In October 1931, Doshin So returned to Manchuria (and Chen) as an intelligence agent. Thinking he had little time left, he volunteered for many dangerous missions.
Chen improved his pupil's health with a treatment of acupressure techniques. These techniques are present in Shorinji Kempo and are called Seiho (or Seitai Jutsu). Doshin So carried out his missions disguised as a vagrant, accompanied by Chen. In 1932 they were in Beijing, where Chen's master Wen Taizong (“Bun Taiso”) was living. Wen was the Grandmaster of the Northern Shaolin School. In his youth, Wen was a monk at Shaolin and succeeded Huang Longbai as the Grandmaster. Wen introduced Doshin So to Huang, who became his master.
Huang taught him the 36 locking and grappling techniques of the dragon, called Longxi Zhuji. He also learned the throwing techniques of Wa Hua Quan (Fist Of Five Flowers), which is based on the principle of hard and soft being one. Having studied the Martial Arts with his grandfather and Master Chen, Doshin So made rapid progress. As a result, Wen thought that he had found a student to succeed him. In 1936 Wen and Doshin So attended a ceremony at the then dilapidated Shaolin Temple, and Doshin So was named the 21st generation Grandmaster of the Yihemen Quan. It was Wen who named him 'Doshin So', which means 'Religious Servant Of The Way'. His real name was actually Nakano Michiomi.
During his first visit to the Shaolin, Doshin So had been impressed with the wall paintings depicting Indian and Chinese monks training together. This image was influential in terms of Shorinji (Japanese for Shaolin) Kempo training methods.
