Kanryo Higashionna (1850-1915) born a native of Naha, Okinawa. He was a child of a merchant family, whose business was selling firewood. In the early 1860s he began studying the Okinawan martial arts under a teacher named Aragaki Seisho, and most likely under several others.

Around 1870 Higashionna traveled to the Fukien province in China. He spent several years there studying with various teachers of the Chinese martial arts, mostly with a kung fu master named Liu Liu Ko a shoemaker.

In the late 1800s Higashionna returned to Okinawa and continued the family business. He also began to teach the martial arts in and around Naha. He became so prominent that the name "Naha-te" became identified with Higashionna's system.

Higashionna was noted for his powerful Sanchin kata, or form. Students reported that the wooden floor would be hot from the gripping of his feet.