The world of Karate sees so many
casms and splits in systems and clubs that sometimes its hard to keep up with
the changing club status….is a club ISKF?
JKA? ITKF? Sometimes it all
depends on the chief instructor of the club and who they are not fighting with
currently. Well, that’s just on a
Shotokan level! By definition (mine) a
system or style of Karate exists on its own when it makes major changes to the
syllabus and adds or removes training protocols, Kata or other major aspects,
not just when it shifts from one organization to another in a style of Karate…as
I suggested above.
In a brief look at the Karate
systems online you can find at first, quick and dirty glance at least five
styles of Karate….but that does NOT tell the whole story of the number of
systems that exist in Karate. I counted 80 plus school/systems/styles in less
than an hour…and that does not include the off shoot schools like the ISKF and
ITKF that exist and just keep training in the root system while naming a new
leadership group.
To
be frank the founding roots, as you can see in my book “a honest history of
Shotokan Karate” are those of some Kung fu systems like White Crane Kung fu
from Fujian and other Quanfa systems, some better known than others. However, the Okinawan Roots, if you will,
come from three kinds of village systems that were developed by different
groups of “elder” practitioner. Shuri Te was a “Castle” or noble system created
by masters like Kanga Sakugawa and Sokon Matsumura, both of which were Castle
guards or military diplomats. The focus of the system was quick defensive
movements followed by rapid counter attacks. They trained in weapons (Kobudo)
and it was known for its rapid attacks to vital points as the system was meant
to defend nobility and be deadly to attackers. It by no means was the only
system or even, at the time, the most popular.
Naha Te or Naafa Dii in
Okinawan, was a system that grew out of the fishing village area of Naha in
Okinawa. A much Harder and more focused system it used stable stances and solid
body conditioning to improve the ability of its students to take strikes and
also provide circular blocks and very powerful counters. The system came out of
the Chinese Chunfa systems of Southern China and holds its corner stone of
training in the Kata Sanchin, a kata used to develop a strong body and focused
breathing. Much more circular than the shuri system its was more about
tempering the body than quick defense and counters. Naha te however was very
popular with the commercial rich in Okinawa and was very influential in
development of many more modern systems of Karate.
The Third system, Tumai-dii or
Tomari Te was much less visible and yet still influenced many of the modern
systems as well. Tomari was very much like Shuri Te, with the exception of some
of the Kata being different and it being distilled down by different masters,
obviously leading to both important differences and lots of similarities. The massive
difference however is that the Tomari system seemes to have incorporated into
the systems that came from its roots or influenced a system then evaporated in
name, while both Shuri and Naha tend to stay front and center after new sub systems
were formed.
More modern systems were formed
out of these three, and some Quanfa (kung fu) systems to form what I will call
second generation systems that eventually split, were changed and became new
third and even fourth generation systems.
I will try and break these down as much as I can and give brief reasons
for splits but mostly I will just describe the root system and then point out
the next generations as well. Im not going to be digging deep on the vast
number of instructors in each system, im just going to focus on the systems
themselves, but will mention founders when appropriate.
Most of us are familiar with the
Shotokan/Shotokai split so I wont go over it again in-depth. But even with in
our own system we have major shifts in style.
The JKA system is the traditional stylised system created and codified
by Nakayama Sensei, but after he passed you saw Asai Ryu systems pop up as well
as the Fudokan system, both of which created Kata to work on different aspects
of training and at least the Asai Ryu system created Kata to show a more
Chinese influence in some cases. Granted that’s very underexplained but essentially,
we have several off shoot schools and systems from Shotokan, but our two main “next
Gen” Schools pale in comparison to the vast expanse of splits other systems
have had. We tend to split and just create
new organizations that all teach what Nakayama taught….mostly to a tee and no new
Kata ext. One exception would be Chidokan Karate. Chidokan was formed by two of Funakoshi
Sensei’s original students, both of whom are named Sasaki.
Shotokan itself influenced many
different systems of Karate, like Wado ryu, Chito Ryu, Shindo Jinen ryu,
Kyokushin, Yoseikan and even other systems of martial arts like Soo Bahk Do and
Tae Kwon do. The influence of Shotokan and its instructors can be found far and
wide really. But with this also comes many splits and internal issues that
cause Chasms that show in the organizations formed out of them. Other styles
also came out of Shotokan like Tenshinkan, which was formed by Mamoru Miwa with
a focus on Shotokan and mixing in Aikido techniques or Budokan was formed by
Chew Choo Soot a Malaysian martial artist who merged Shotokan with Goju ryu, quanfa,
judo, jujitsu and wrestling. Of all the systems that Shotokan has influenced,
Kyokushin has grown the most however and while Shotokan has been used by more
systems to create sub systems, its again, perhaps not the one you think of when
you think of school splitting into new sub groups….at least not as much as
Shito or Goju has. Other than Shotokan off shoots there are a myriad of
different root systems that have grown into new styles.
I am going to start with Goju
Ryu Karate. Goju ryu was formed when Chojun Miyagi systematically created a
syllabus from his teacher, Kanryo Higaonna’s teachings. Higoanna himself taught
a style that was based on Baeihe quan kung fu and some Shuri te that was later
called Shorei ryu and often referred to simply as Naha te . Higoanna introduced
Miyagi to several Kata, but Miyagi codified them and then created the remaining
Kata that make up the 12 Goju Ryu root Kata. Goju ryu has gone on to influence
and or split from many schools of Karate, all of whom added training Kata,
removed or dropped Kata and codified their own systems. Some of the systems proport to be the
Traditional Goju ryu and stay as close to the original as possible, but others
mearly say the core is Goju ryu, but their school has just tweaked or added to
it. Systems like Seiwakai Goju ryu, IOGF
Goju, The Japanese Goju Kai, Jundokan, Meibukan, Shurei Goju Ryu and several
other smaller systems of Goju based systems, including a few hybrids that I
will get to eventually.
While Goju flourished, split and
continued to develop, most of its schools remained very small and some were only
found in one or two countries outside of Japan and only a few main clubs inside
Japan or Okinawa. At around the same time as Goju Ryu developing and codifying
a small system called To’on Ryu was created by a student of Higaonnas named Juhatsu Kyoda. Kyoda studied
Naha te from his instructor and also trained under Shito ryu founder Kenwa
Mabuni and Miyagi but opted to stay pure and keep the original system intact. To’on Ryu is often mistaken for Goju and is a
very small system unto itself, but its practitioners focus on keeping the
training and teaching as traditional as possible, which means keeping the over
all class size very intimate and small.
Along with the Goju based
systems come the Shorin Ryu systems. These systems come from the teachings of Choshin
Chibana, an Okinawan who studied under Anko Itosu. Chibana was known as a tough
teacher who codified his system, based on Shuri ryu purely and build a somewhat
pure form of the Shuri system. From Chibanas Shorin ryu however came many
schools of Shorin ryu; these include Jyoshinmon, Kyudokan, Matsubayashi ryu,
Reihokan, Ryukyukan, Shiidokan, Shobayashi, Shorinkan, Yoshudokai and
Kenkokan. The sub system of Kenkokan
itself split into Shorinjiryu Kenyukai Watanabi-Ha, Genbukan, Kenryukan,
Kentokukan and Koshinkai. Most of the Shorin systems maintain the core Kata and
some add Kihon kata and different training items into their syllabus, and
honestly some are just split due to schools splitting over politics. If you
focus on the root system of Shorin ryu however you will see a large influence
from Shuri Te, but Itosu was also a student of a Tomari te teacher. Its also
suggested that Chibana learned some of his martial arts skills from training with
Chinese Quanfa masters as well.
One of the more prolific systems
of Karate is the Shito ryu system. This
style was created by Kenwa Mabuni, a student of Itosu, Higoana and Seisho
Arakaki, Tawada Shimoku,and Wu Xiangui (Go-kenki) a Chinese quanfa
specialist. Mabuni formed the system in
1934 upon moving to Japan when he retired from being a police officer in
Okinawa. He taught his system with
upwards of 45 Kata and each system that is attached to the Shito schools adds
or removes Kata, similar to The Goju ryu system schools. The Shito system split
into many different groups before and after the founders death, some for very
very political and heated reasons and others for technical differences. The
system ahs created Hyashi ha, bushido shito ryu, Itosu ryu, Jikishinkai Karate,
Kenshukai Karate, Kuniba Ha, Korobayashi Ha, Kurokawa Ha, Myazato Ha, Mokoken,
Nihon Shito ryu, Renshikan, Seito shito ryu, Seizen Budokai Renmei, Shitokai,
Shukokai/Tani Ha, Yushikan and Zuxuki Ha shito ryu.
Some systems were formed by
charismatic leaders who studied under different base systems and went on to
beget their own systemic prodginy.
Kyokushin or Kyokushinkai comes to mind.
Mas Oyama was a big, burly Korean student who was in Japan studying at
the Imperial Japanese army’s Yamanashi Aviation school. Changing his name from Choi Young-Eui to Masatoshi
Oyama he found and trained in Shogokan Karate and Goju ryu Karate. He earned
the rank of 1st dan in Shotokan as well as a questionable 6th
Dan in Goju. He also studied with Kanken Toyama (Founder of the Kanbukan) as
well as others. With 33 Kata the Kyokushin system takes a bit from the Shotokan
root system and a bit from Goju ryu system.
Kyokushins’ splits are very interesting.
Most of the splits come from the core values that Kyokushin has put into play
that don’t actually jive with the ideals that they expound to. The Kyokushin
way is one of tough training, pounding the body and doing things like the 100
man Kumite challenge. The splits came when different groups did things like
dropping doing Kata and focusing on Kumite and conditioning. Systems like
Ashihara and Enshin came out of this system. So did Kanbukan (Bogutsuki Karate)
Kudo, Seidokaikan, Shindenkai, Seido Juku and Shindokan. Groups like Shidokan also claim the influence
of styles like Judo and Thai boxing, but honestly Kyokushin is the main source
of their system.
Hybridized groups who take
influence from other root systems seem to be the rule in Karate. No pure systems really exist beyond a handful
of notable exceptions. And some of the hybrids take from a very shallow
training experience in root systems and then create their systems to meet their
own goals. By this, in plane English, I
meant that the founders did not study very long in a system and then went on to
fund their own system and pumped up their own ranks to look like founders. Go Kan Ryu comes to mind when talking about “Hybrids”
with lofty claims and little to nothing to back them up. Go Kan Ryu was formed
when a low level Shotokan Karate instructor partnered up with a low level Goju
instructor and created a marketing based martial arts system. Its weird, its
different and honestly…its kinda scary how many people fall for this systems
garbage. But they are not alone. Shuri ryu
was created by Robert Trais, a sailor prior to WWII and he supposedly picked up
Quanfa systems and Karate systems…but lots of facts are missing from his story
and holes that are very wide exist. The system is very different and houses
Kata not seen in any of the traditional root systems. Most people who study traditional
Karate history consider this one to be fodder for the McDojo pile.
Now just because Go Kan Ryu and Shuri
Ryu are fraudulent and really just made up systems or marketing based systems
does NOT mean that Hybrids are bad or not legit. In fact, as you can see…all of the Karate styles
are hybrids really. But more notable ones include Chito Ryu amongst others.
Chito was created by Dr. Tsuyoshi Chitose, a Japanese doctor who studied Shorei
ryu (Goju ryu) and Shorin Ryu (or Shotokan) systems and created his own system,
including Kata. The system itself kind of looks a lot like Shotokan and its
roots are very Shotokan heavy. From
Chito ryu came Yoshukai Karate. This system was created when a senior student
of Chitose broke away and created his own style. A very famous Chito instructor in Canada used
to teach both Shotokan and Chito kata and was once quoted as saying Chito Ryu
is the little brother to Shotokan and should remember this.
Another group of very
traditional and established systems that come from a Hybrid root system would
be Gosoku Ryu, Wado Ryu, Isshin Ryu and Shukokai. Gosoku ryu is the least known of these groups
and was formed when Takayuki Kubota merged his study of Shotokan and Goju ryu
to build his own system. Kubota was very enigmatic and drew in a lot of famous
students, but the system is still rather small compared to Wado ryu, which was
formed when founder Hironori Otsuka merged his Shotokan training with his old
Jujitsu training system. Like Chitose of Chito Ryu Otsuka was also a
doctor. Isshin Ryu was formed by merging
Goju ryu and shorin ryu together and implemented a great deal of Kobudo
(weapons) Training into its syllabus as well. The system was created by Tatsuo
Shimabuku, older brother to Shobayashi Shorin ryu founder Eizo
Shimabukuro. Lots has been written about
the mental state of senior Tatsuo and his seeing the deity over the ocean…lets
just say that he was kind of eccentric and leave it at that. And the last of the group is Shukokai, a
merger of Shito ryu and Goju ryu created by Chojiro Tani in the 1940’s. The system was actually not really created by
Tani as he wanted to stay in the Shito ryu umbrella but several of his students
ran with his system and made it a literal hybrid of the two systems.
Shudokan was formed by Kanken
Toyama after he merged Shuri-t and Taijiquan together to form his system. From
his system came famous systems like Kong Soo Do, Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do.
Shudokan means the hall of studying Karate, but its also developed its own
flair for Kata and training that has been used to form new subsystems like
KoeiKan, Doshinkan and Seishukan. One of the reasons for this is that Toyama
never appointed a successor and his view was that his Shudokan was mearly a
place to come and train. The three roots
that grew out of his system became distink only because of this. In 1954 Eizo
Onishi took what his instructor taught him and formed the Koei-Kan with its own
focus on different Kata and training systems. Isao Ichikawa formed the
Doshinkan in Austria after his instructor passed away and made him a founder of
his own system. Seishukan is also a product of a Toyama Sensei student and
created for the same reasons, however Nishida sensei (founder) also studied
with Toon ryu founder Kyoda Juhatsu and Kenwa Mabuni of Shito ryu lineage.
Some systems were formed by
instructors who studied in single or duel root systems (shuri te/naha te/
Tomari ti), such as the rare and small system of Kishimoto Di. Soke Kishimoto learned his style from Bushi
Matsumura and taught his style to Higa Seitoku, the founder of the Bugeikan
essentially changing the root of Kishimoto Di to bugeikan style. A family
style, Motobu ryu was a merging of Tomari te and Shuri te and fomulated by
Motobu Choki. This school influenced many of the modern systems such as Wado,
Shindo Jinen, Matsubayashi and to’on ryu. The Motubu system is popular because
of its founders influence. Motobu ryu
almost died out however as the founder kept his actual lineage small when it
came to the number of students he taught.
Some styles try and state that
they have their roots ONLY in the original three root systems but they fail to
mention that they were formed later and influenced or created by more modern
systems. This is done because they want to appear to be older or more ancient traditional
karate-ish than they are. Shindo
Jinen-ryu comes to mind. They often say they were created by merging Shurite/Naha
te and Tomari te systems together, so all three original root systems. The truth
is that it was created when founder Yashuhiro Konishi took what he learned from
Shotokan, shito ryu and Motobu ryu and mixed it with his study of the sword and
jujitsu and created his system that is run by the Japan Karate-do Ryobukai
currently.
Some systems are from single
sources not from the original root system however. Ryuei ryu was formed by wealthy Okinawan Norisato
Nakaima who went to Fuchou China and brought back his heavily Chinese
influenced system. He did only teach
this system to family members and for several generations this was the normal
form of transmition. However it has, in the last few decades, come out of the
shadows to be a more influential system and has even created descendant schools
such as Ryuhoukai. And of course the last of the “Mainland Japanese/Okinawan”
systems would be Uechi Ryu. This style was
created when Kanbun Uechi traveled to China and studied under famous Chinese masters
in Pangai Noon and Huzunquan quanfa systems. He then moved to Japan and taught
his system openly.
So far we have dealt with
systems and styles of Karate linked to Japan/Okinawa and linked directly to a
root system. However, there are a series of systems created that don’t really
have a direct link to the systems of Karate formed by root systems or their “children”
systems. Im talking about the systems known as Kempo/Kenpo. Im not talking
about systems that use the name Okinawan Kempo/Kenpo as those are more like replacement
terms for Karate. Choki Motobu is known to have referred to his style as
Okinawan Kempo/Kenpo as have others, but this was more a reference to the Chinese
ancestry as, at the time, most instructors were trying to distance themselves
from the Chinese lineage by changing the meaning of Karate from “Chinese hand”
to “empty hand”, Motobu and several other rebels used the term Kempo to connect
more to the Chinese lineage, however.
Shorinji Kepo was formed by
Doshin So sensei in 1947 and was mix of
Shaolin Kungfu and his study of Japanese Jujitsu. James (Masayoshi) Mitose was
born in Hawaii to Japanese immigrants and at the age of four was sent back to
Japan. It was in Japan that he was said to have studied a style of Karate he
said was Shorinji Kenpo, he then created
his own style of Kosho Shori Ryu Kenpo. This translates as Old Pine tree school
of the fist law”. Having said this, there are a lot of holes in his story,
regardless his system grew into other styles as well. Mitose passed on his
system to William Chow, who called his system Kara-ho Kempo. Chow taught many
instructors who went on to create American Kenpo Karate and Kajukenbo. Kajukenbo
then had off shoots as different instructors created twists or tweaks to the
system. Styles like Tum Pai that was much more Chinese in its presentation or Chu’an
Fa and Wun Hop Kuen Do which are also more Chinese in presentation from the original
Kempo based system of Kajukenbo.
The last two “Kenpo/Kempo”systems
I want to go over are Shaolin and Nippon Kenpo systems. Nippon Kenpo was
created by Muneomi Sawayama, a Judoka who had studied under Shito ryu
instructor Kenwa Mabuni and brought in systems like Goju ryu and Jujitsu
systems to round out his style. Now most of the Nippon system is sound and the
hybrid form is focused on Bogu Renshu or armor fighting so you know the system
is sound in the fighting but the fact that modern systems like
Jietaikakutojutsu (which is just a mouthful) and….wait for it….Modern Taiho
Jutsu, which is often peddled as “Ninja” fighting….makes it a system of
question. And of course there is Shaolin Kempo……
Shaolin Kempo is the system
created by Fred Villari. Villari was one of the first to jump on the “Distance
learning” bandwagon and much like other pyramid schemes he pushed the envelop
of taking advantage of peoples lack of education about martial arts. From what
I can see he had a 2nd level black belt from Nick Cerio, a student
of American kenpo founder Ed Parker. After this Good old Frank gave himself a
bit of a boost in rank. He first came
out and said he was a 10dan in Kenpo and then…after a bit and just before his
distance learning programs really rolled out…he crowned himself a 15th
Dan. Anyways I just added him to round out the numbers.
Regardless of what style or organization
you train in you will get some benefit out of training if you work hard, avoid bad
instructors and push hard in your studies. The myriad of options are out their
for you and while I would suggest avoiding some systems and instructors, most
are good intended people who just want to pass on their traditional systems.
