|
|
History of Shidokan Shorin-Ryu
In 1392, 36 families immigrated from china
(Fukien
province) to
Okinawa. In 1429, Okinawa was united under one king, Shohanshi, who
confiscated all weapons from all people except his army. This was the
initial boost to Okinawan karate and kobudo. In 1609 the Japanese
Shimuzu invaded and conquered Okinawa with the permission of the
Japanese Shogun. At that time all weapons were taken from the Okinawa
ruling party, and all Okinawan people. The king was left in power to
rule without weapons to enforce his rule and collect taxes to be paid
to the Japanese. It was in this atmosphere that the art of karate and
kobudo developed into the martial arts known today. Okinawa continued
to pay tribute to China under the Shimuza, maintaining cultural
transfers between china and Okinawa at a time when the Japanese shogun
prohibited all foreign contact for Japanese. Under the Japanese,
all
martial arts were illegal and karate was taught in secret. With the
fall of the Shogun, Bushi Matsumura, who was the king's body guard, was
the strongest and most respected karate man in Okinawa.
It was Bushi Matsumura's
student, Sensei Anko Itosu whom first introduced karate to the Okinawan
school system around 1900. Soon after that a Japanese doctor doing
physical exams of Okinawa military draftees noticed that many of the
Okinawan draftees were in superb physical condition and did an
investigation. This was the first time the Japanese government learned
about karate. Soon karate spread to Japan and around the world. A
number of Anko Itosu's students went to Japan and taught karate, which
eventually lead to the Japanese styles such as Shotokan, Wado-ryu, and
Shito-ryu and others. Later their students made further changes
creating styles such as Kyokushin, Ashihara, Tae Kwon Do and others.
Meanwhile, on the island of Okinawa, Sensei Choshin Chibana decided to
teach karate exactly as his teacher Sensei Anko Itosu taught and in
1933 coined the name Shorin-ryu for this style, to separate it from the
others karate teachers who choose to change karate. This style of
karate, Shorin-ryu,
has become the most popular style in Okinawa. Shidokan Shorin-ryu is
the legitimate successor to Sensei Choshin Chibana's teachings.
Sensei Katsuya Miyahira took over as president of the Okinawan
Shorin-ryu Karate-do Association from Sensei Choshin Chibana at his
death and remains the president today. Sensei Seikichi Iha, as
well
as
being
Sensei
Katsuya
Miyahira's
most
senior student,
studied karate under Sensei Shinpan Gusukuma and Sensei Choshin
Chibana . In 1967, Sensei Seikichi Iha was sent to the United
States to teach karate.
For more information about Okinawas karate visit Okinawa's webpage
http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/023/eng/
Contact Information:
Contact us at:
(248) 360 3996
|
|
