An Okinawan karate master, he started his training under the Okinawan monk, PeichinTakahara, in Akata.  At 17 he trained under the famous Chinese kempo master, Kusanku (known also as Ko Sokun; Chinese name: Kung Hsiang-chun) who, with a group of followers, is credited with bringing Chinese kempo from China to the Kume-Mura section of Naha in the mid-1700s.  Sakugawa also sailed to China, trained in Chinese kempo there and returned to Okinawa after many years.  The Sakugawa no kun kata, a bojutsu kata, was named after him.