SHORIN RYU KARATE
Shorin Ryu is one of the four original Okinawan styles of karate.
Shorin Ryu makes use of hand techniques more than foot techniques and
uses predominately high stances. Traditional weapons are also practiced
in this martial art.
Shorin-Ryu kata was developed as a system of communication and
defense. Since the Japanese occupiers of Okinawa forbid the Okinawans
from meeting in groups, the Okinawans developed kata. An Okinawan could
meet another on the road, teach him a kata and be gone. At that time,
traditional weapons such as swords were outlawed, and farming tool
derivatives, such as the Nunchaku, Sai and Kama were included in many
martial arts systems of Okinawan origin, including Shorin-Ryu.
Origin of Shorin Ryu: Okinawa
Founder of Shorin Ryu: Sokon Matsumura, also known as “Miyamoto Musashi of Okinawa”.
Modern day Shorin-Ryu is comprised of four major branches: Kobayashi, Matsubayashi, Matsumura Seito (or Orthodox) and Shobayashi. As with the evolution of all things, there's have many divisions since, but to understand the branches themselves, please read the following:
SHORIN-RYU Branch Lineage
The Shorin Ryu style has its origins in the mid 1700's when Tode
Sakagawa, an Okinawan, met Kusanku, a Chinese diplomat. In the early
twentieth century the style split into the four modern branches.
| Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu |
the "family" or "orthodox" style |
| Shobayashi Shorin Ryu |
the "small forest" style |
| Kobayashi Shorin Ryu |
the "young forest" style |
| Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu |
the "pine forest" style |
The following lists give the primary line of descent for the four
Shorin Ryu styles. The founders or first people to use the current name
are listed in bold.
CHIBANA SHORIN-RYU also known as KOBAYASHI
"... now the Japanese call it 'kobayashi style' but that is incorrect -
but that is all right because only people who do not know Okinawan
karate will call it by that name. Since they do not know you must gently
remind them or the Okinawan people will laugh at their ignorance. After
all, it is funny, many foreign people call it kobayashi shorin-ryu - that is just like saying shorin shorin-ryu. It doesn't make
much sense ..."
Miyahira Katsuya hanshi
Okinawa Shorin-Ryu Karate 10th dan
KOBAYASHI Shorin-Ryu, as founded by Chōshin Chibana.
The style is properly called Shorin-Ryu. The kanji are never written as (kobayashi shorin-ryu) but always as (shorin-ryu). The term
Kobayashi Shorin-ryu is only used in the west and only by certain
branches of Shorin-ryu. The Japanese reader of the kanji
automatically knows it is not Matsubayahsi-ryu because the kanji are
different.
After the death of Anko Itosu in 1915, one of Itosu's most senior students, Choshin Chibana, wanted to continue to teach the Shorin-ryū
style of karate he learned from his instructor. Chibana named his
system Shorin-ryū, but using the Chinese characters for "small" and "forest" .
Chibana lineage schools are commonly referred to as "kobayashi," but
this is technically incorrect, as Chibana never used this term to refer
to his karate. It was meant to be “Shorin” as tribute to the Shaolin Temple. (Shorin is the Japanese and Okinawan pronunciation of Shaolin).
However, he believed strongly that Shorin-ryu was largely Okinawan and
purposely modified the first character from the Chinese "Shao/Sho" so it
would retain its originality. As other schools later adopted the name
"Shorin-ryū," the term "kobayashi" was probably added to describe
which exact characters were used to write the term "Shorin," but was
never meant to be the official name of the style.
In 1920, Chibana opened his first dojo in the Torihori
district of Shuri. Spellings such as "Tottoribori" or "Tottori-cho" are
erroneous and incorrect. The old name of Torihori was Tunjumui, so it
is unknown where these erroneous names came from. He later taught in
other parts of Shuri such as Gibo and Yamakawa, and in Naha at Kumoji and Asato, with the main Chibana dojo being in Yamakawa.[3][4]
Chibana taught this style of Shorin-ryū until his death in 1969. Each
of his top students went on to create his own branch of Shorin-ryū:
Nakama Chozo created Shubokan, Yuchoku Higa created Kyudokan, Katsuya Miyahira created Shidō-kan, and Shūgorō Nakazato created Shorinkan.[5]
MATSUBAYASHI Shorin-Ryu, as founded by Nagamine Shoshin, is
often referred to as just “Shorin Ryu”. Nagamine named his school in
honor of two masters of Shorin-ryu, Sokon Matsumura and Kosaku
Matsumora. The Japanese kanji characters that make up the name can be
prounounced either as “Matsubayashi” or as “Shorin”. This led to a whole
range of names for one and the same thing, namely “Shorin Ryu,
“Matsubayashi Ryu”, and “Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu”.
MATSUMURA SHORIN-RYU also known as MATSUMURA SEITO
NABE
MATSUMURA brought the old Shorin-ryu secrets into the
modern age. His name does not appear in many karate lineage
charts According to Hohan Soken (1889-1982), the purest
teaching of Matsumura's Shorin Ryu was carried on by
Matsumura Nabi (c.1860-1930). He received training in the
family style of Matsumura Shorin Ryu which also included the
secret techniques of the white crane. The white crane system
was reputed to be a secret family style that was only taught
to immediate family members. In his later years, Nabe
Matsumura was referred to as Nabe Tanme or "old man" Nabe.
He was known to be a stern and disciplined teacher. He had
only one student, Hohan Soken. It is said he was one of the
top karate men of his time. He passed on his menkyo kaiden
to his nephew, SOKEN HOHAN.
SOKEN
HOHAN The next successor in the lineage of Matsumura
Shorin Ryu was Hohan Soken(1889-1982). He began training at
age thirteen under his uncle, Nabe Matsumura. Soken had to
work in the fields as a youth in spite of his Samurai
heritage. This was due to a political reorganization in the
Ryukyu Islands and all of Japan as a result of the Meiji
restoration. After ten years of basic training under Nabe
Matsumura, Soken began learning the techniques of the white
crane or Hakutsuru. This was in 1912 when he was
twenty-three years old. According to Soken, this was a
secret technique or training methodology which was confined
to the Matsumura family. Bushi Matsumura had learned the
white crane system in China. Soken's instruction in the
white crane technique emphasized balance training. One
training method that he practiced was to perform the
Hakutsuru kata on a board floating in a pond. The board was
just large enough to support his weight. The Hakutsuru kata,
which was erroneously referred to as the "White Swan"
technique in a 1967 magazine article is the advanced level
of Matsumura Shorin Ryu. The Hakutsuru technique is the main
part of the style. It manifests the Chinese concept of the
soft (defensive) fist and balance training while imitating
the delicate movements of the white crane. In fact, this
concept is inherent and woven throughout all the kata of
Matsumura Shorin Ryu. For example, Chinto uses the one
legged stance of the crane extensively, Gojushiho uses the
movements of the neck and beak of the crane in its technique
and Hakutsuru uses the wing (hane) of the crane. Master
Soken also trained for a while with Kenwa Mabuni (1889-1953)
and Gokenki, a Chinese tea merchant living in Okinawa.
Gokenki, Soken, Mabuni and several other Okinawans all
trained together as a group. Gokenki's style was Hakutsuru
Kenpo (white crane fist style) and he was from the Fukien
coast of China.
Up until the 1950's Master Soken referred to
his martial art as Matsumura Shuri-Te, then he began calling
his style Matsumura Seito(orthodox) Shorin Ryu. The empty
hand kata of the style included those passed on by Bushi
Matsumura (as previously noted). However, Master Soken later
added to his system's Rohai . Rohai means
vision of a crane and was originally a Tomari-Te kata dating
back to the 1600's
SHIMABUKURO SHORIN-RYU also known as SHOBAYASHI
SHOBAYASHI Shorin-Ryu, as founded by Chotoku Kyan and passed to
Eizo Shimabukuro.
Eizo Shimabukuro dropped the Chatan Yara no Kusanku and the Oyadamari
no Passai he learned from Chotoku Kyan and he added Kusanku Sho and Dai
and Passai Sho and Dai of Yasutsune Itosu lineage. It is said that Eizo
Shimabukuro learned these Itosu kata as well as Pinan Shodan to Godan
and Naihanchin Shodan to Sandan from Choshin Chibana. However, in his
book "Okinawa Karatedo Old Grandmaster Stories" Eizo Shimabukuro says
that Chibana was too old to teach and so Chibana referred Shimabukuro to
his senior student, Nakazato, for instruction. Eizo Shimabuku also
added two kata from his time in Goju-ryu with Chojun Miyagi. These kata
being Seiunchin and Sanchin (Eizo Shimabukuro used to call his version
of Sanchin, Sanchu).
Although Chinese martial arts began spreading to Okinawa
in the 14th century, it was not prominent until the 18th century, when
Kusanku, a Chinese military official, visited Okinawa and gave a
demonstration. In subsequent visits, he started teaching "chuan fa" (meaning "fist way") to Okinawans.
Kanga Sakukawa blended Kusanku's chuan fa with indigenous Okinawan martial arts to form the first martial art style called karate. His student Sokon Matsumura blended Sakukawa's style with Shaolin kung fu to form Shorin-ryu karate.
Matsumura was Anko Itosu's primary instructor, and both Matsumura and Itosu instructed Chotoku Kyan and Choki Motobu. Several of Kyan's students would go on to lead their own branches of karate. These are: Shoshin Nagamine (Matsubayashi-ryu), Tatsuo Shimabukuro (Isshin-ryu), Eizo Shimabukuro, Joen Nakazato (Shorinji-ryu), and Zenryo Shimabukuro (Chubu Shorin-ryu).
Eizo Shimabukuro studied under Chojun Miyagi
before taking up Shorin-Ryu under Chotoku Kyan. Although Kyan then
became his primary instructor, Shimabukuro also studied under Choki Motobu and weapons under Taira Shinken. When Kyan died in 1945, Shimabukuro was left in charge of the Shobayashi-ryu system. In 1959 at the Kodokan in Japan, Kanken Tōyama promoted Eizo Shimabukuro to 10th Dan. At the age of 34, Shimabukuro was the youngest person ever to receive such an honor.
Shimabukuro was also the instructor of Matt Larsen (who later founded the US Army Combatives School) and American kickboxer Joe Lewis and Bill Wallace.
Shimabukuro currently lives in Okinawa and actively teaches classes
on the island. He also tours around the United States upon request,
visiting dojos within his organization and performing demonstrations on proper form and technique.
To distinguish today’s Shorin Ryu from the original Shorin Ryu, many schools call themselves Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu.
