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Shito-Ryu Karate
Goju Ryu KarateFounded by Master Chojun Miyagi in the 1920s, Goju ryu is popularly known as a hard/soft karate style. Goju ryu ..... For nearly four decades, Karate has been taught outside of Japan. It has been exported worldwide along both stylistic and organizational lines. Today, martial artists from all over the world are familiar with the names of most styles of karate.
Shito-ryu is a traditional karate system that has managed to remain in obscurity. Even though Shito-ryu has prominent practitioners such as the influential Fumio Demura and the prolific Tour Hayashi have achieved widespread fame, Shito-ryu is little understood outside of its schools. Shito-ryu is often described as a blend Shotokan and Goju-ryu. Shito-ryu is also characterized by its teachers' use of kata (formal exercises or forms), which have been adapted from many Okinawan systems. However, these explanations still fall short of describing what Shito-ryu truly is.
Shito-ryu is one of the four major karate systems of Japan (with the exclusion of Okinawa). The other three are Goju-ryu, Wado-ryu and Shotokan. Master Kenwa Mabuni (1899-1952) is credited as the founder of Shito-ryu. Like most of the old masters of karate, Master Mabuni was descended from Okinawa's so-called bushi (warrior) class or aristocracy. Master Mabuni's ancestors served Okinawan lords for hundreds of years. At 13, Mabuni began training karate under Master Anko Itosu (1830-1915). Master Itosu is known as the man who organized early karate in the Okinawan school system. Master Itosu studied karate under Master Sokon Matsumura (1792-1887), one of Okinawa's most eminent karate masters. Master Matsumura is regarded as the forefather of shorin-ryu. Master Itosu liked the young Mabuni. Before Master Itosu died, he managed to teach Mabuni around 23 kata. Devastated by Master Itosu's death, the young Mabuni built a shrine in front of Master Itosu's grave. Mabuni remained close by for a year and he practiced his kata every day.
Mabuni didn't learn all he knew from Master Itosu. Master Itosu wasn't Mabuni's only teacher. Chojun Miyagi, who later founded Goju-ryu karate, was Mabuni's friend. When Mabuni was a teenager, Miyagi introduced him to Kanryo Higashionna (1853-1915). Under Higashionna, Mabuni studied naha-te, a Chinese-influenced style of karate. The reclusive Arakaki-kamadeunchu (1840-1918), who taught a style similar to Higashionna's, also became Mabuni's teacher. Chito-ryu founder Tsuyoshi Chitose, Shotokan founder Gichin Funakoshi and Kanken Toyama of the Shudokan school were all students of Arakaki. Arakaki was an regarded as a bo (staff) expert and he taught Mabuni the unshu, sochin, niseishi, arakaki-sai and arakaki-bo forms. In the 1920s, Mabuni joined a karate club managed by Miyagi and Choyu Motobu, with help from Chomo Hanashiro and Juhatsu Kiyoda. Choyu Motobu was a master of Shuri-te (the precursor of Shorin-ryu) and Gotende, the secret grappling art of the Okinawa royal court. Hanashiro was also a Shuri-te expert and Kiyoda came from the same naha-te background as Miyagi. Known as the Ryukyu Tode Kenkyu-kai (Okinawa Karate Research Club), this dojo (training hall) was one of history's crowning jewels. Experts from diverse backgrounds trained and taught at the club. It was at the club that Mabuni learned Fukien white crane kung fu from the renowned Woo Yin Gue, a Chinese tea merchant who lived in Okinawa.
Around this time, Mabuni had become a highly esteemed police officer. He made several trips to Japan after Gichin Funakoshi brought karate there in 1922. Mabuni spent most of his early traveling years with Koyu Konishi, a friend and sometimes student. Konishi later later founded Shindo-jinen-ryu karate. In 1925, Mabuni and Konishi paid a visit to Japan's Wakayama prefecture where Uechi-ryu founder Kanbum Uechi was teaching. After training under Uechi, Mabuni invented a kata called "shinpa." Mabuni spent most of his days living in Osaka. He moved permanently to Osaka in 1929. There he taught at various dojos, including the Seishinkai, the school of Kosei Kokuba, who later formed Motobu-ha (Motobu faction) Shito-ryu. Choki Motobu was also an instructor at Kokuba's dojo. Shortly after Mabuni moved to Osaka, the Butokukai, the sanctioning body of Japanese martial arts, began exerting pressure on all karate schools to register by style name. Initially, Mabuni called his style Hanko-ryu (half-hard style). However, Shito-ryu became his style's official name by the beginning of the 1930s. Mabuni derived the name Shito-ryu from alternative renderings of the names of his two foremost teachers, Maters Itosu and Higashionna. Not all agreed with the Butokukai and breaking Okinawan karate into factions by using style names. Shudokan headmaster Toyama even questioned the decision by Mabuni and others to use what he thought were "funny-sounding names." Mabuni's response was that giving a name to a style did not only appeased the Butokukai but also gave people something with which they could identify.
Kanei Uechi, who is not to be confused with Kambum Uechi's son who had the same name, was one of Mabuni's students. By 1935, Uechi was teaching in Osaka. In 1950, Uechi went back to Okinawa and established the Shito-ryu Kempo Karate-do Kai. In Okinawa, Uechi is regarded as the true heir to Mabuni's art. However, in the international circles, Mabuni's eldest son also named Kanei is considered as the head of Shito-ryu and oversees the running of the Shito-kai. Kanei Mabuni and his younger brother Kenzo also lead the karate programs at several universities. Mabuni's other students went on to establish their own distinct organizations and followings. For instance, Ryusho Sakagami, Kanei Mabuni's contemporary, founded the Itosu-kai right after the death of Mabuni. His son, Sadaaki, currently runs the Itosu-kai from the Yokohama area. In 1948, another Mabuni student, Chojiro Tani, organized the Shuko-kai, where he taught Tani-ha Shito-ryu. Under the current leadership of Shigeru Kimura in the United States, Shuko-kai has its own distinctive technique that is different from the other Shito-ryu groups.
Many other Shito-ryu factions have formed since the 1970s. The most prominent among these factions is the Hayashi-ha shito-ryu under Teruo Hayashi. Hayashi, aside from having been Kosei Kokuba's protégé, trained directly under Mabuni. Some time after Kokuba died, Hayashi became president of the Seishin-kai. For short while, Hayashi led that organization together with Shogo Kuniba, head of the Motobu-ryu style. Through their joint leadership, they incorporated the Tamari-bassai kata into their systems. Hayashi also studied in Okinawa under Kenko Nakaima, who was head of the longtime clandestine family art of Ryuei-ryu. Ryuei-ryu came from the same Chinese teacher, Liu Liu Kung, who taught Kanryu Higashionna, Mabuni's teacher. Chuzo Kotaka, a younger member of the Motobu-ha group, founded Kotaka-ha Shito-ryu in Hawaii. Kotaka modified all the kata and came up with several new ones, which he taught to his American students. In Europe, Tani-hashito-ryu student Yoshiano Nambu went on his own and founded the Sanku-kai first and the Nambudo later. Perhaps the most popular Shito-ryu proponent in the world is Fumio Demura. Demura, a former sparring champion, has taught Itosu-kai shito-ryu in southern California since 1965.
Speed is the emphasis or focus of the Shito-ryu. Fighting is generally launched from a more elevated, more erect stance than what Shotokan uses. However, Shito-ryu has numerous kata. This means that Shito-ryu students and practitioners devote much of their time perfecting its 40 to 60 forms.
When it comes to kobujutsu (weapons arts), Shito-ryu has never deserted its Okinawan roots. Mabuni trained under weapons masters like Arakaki but many of the contemporary Shito-ryu teachers learned most of their kobujutsu from Shinken Taira, the man responsible for making kobujutsu popular during a time when interest in this Okinawan art was at its lowest. It appears that Shito-ryu schools had been the most interested in and receptive to Taira's art. The younger and elder Sakagami, Demura, Hayashi, Kuniba and Kanei Mabuni all studied kobujutsu under Taira.
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