HISTORY RANK REQUIREMENTS

7TH KYU

Name of Style

Shorin Ryu

Country of Origin

Okinawa, Japan

Master of Style

Eizo Shimabukuro 10th Dan

Name of Style

Shudokan

Country of Origin

Okinawa, Japan

Master of Style

Walter Todd, 8th Dan, Shibucho (deceased)

Empty hand way

Three components affected by karate training

Striving for Perfection

(symbolizing infinity)

10TH Dan Grandmaster

Five Weapons

Bo (wooden)       

Sai (metal) 

Tonfa (wooden

Nunchaku (wooden) 

Kama (wooden handle, metal blade)  

Lineage

Eizo Shimabukuro / Walter Todd

Herbert Wong

Karl Scott III / Gary Hu

Barbara Christensen

Ilene Smoger

Three Styles of Shorin Ryu

Shobayashi (small forest)

Kobayashi (young forest)

Matsubayashi (pine forest)

Other Okinawan Traditional Styles

Shobayashi Eizo Shimabukuro

Kobayashi Miyahara/Nakazato

Matsubayashi. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . Nagamine's son Takayoshi

Gojo Ryu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Miyagi / Yamaguchi

Okinawan Kempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nakamura

Isshin Ryu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .Tatsuo Shimabukuro's son, Kichiro

Uechi Ryu . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . Kanei Uechi's son Kanmei

O'Sensei Shimabukuro's Primary Instructors

Kyan

Miyagi

Motobu

Toyama was the chairman of the All Japan Karate-do League International and presented O'Sensei Shimabukuro with the tenth dan (red belt) and named him Grand Master of the Shorin Ryu Shobayashi system. Toyama also made Sensei Todd Shibucho for the United States.

There are three major Okinawan cities from which karate systems evolved: Naha, Shuri and Tomari. The systems were first named after the city with the addition of the word te (hand) suffixed, i.e., Naha-te, Shuri-te and Tomari-te. Because the three cities are only a few miles apart, the styles influenced each other and eventually became known as either Goju Ryu (Naha) or Shorin Ryu (Tomari, Shuri). Since O' Sensei Shimabukuro studied under Master Miyagi, the founder of Goju Ryu, he teaches two of the Goju Ryu kata in his system.

Karate was introduced to mainland Japan in the early 20th century by Gichin Funakoshi. He renamed some of the kata and formed Shotokan Karatedo. Today it is Japan's largest karate organization.

SHOBAYASHI RYU KATA HISTORY

SEISAN                             SOKON MATSURMURA

NAIHANCHI                     SHODAN SOKON MATSURMURA

NAIHANCHI NIDAN        SOKON MATSURMURA

NAIHANCHI SANDAN    SOKON MATSURMURA

ANAKU                             CHOTOKU KYAN

WANSHU                          CHOTOKU KYAN

PINAN SHODAN             ANKO ITOSU

PINAN NIDAN                 ANKO ITOSU

PINAN SANDAN             ANKO ITOSU

PINAN YONDAN            ANKO ITOSU

PINAN GODAN               ANKO ITOSU

GOJUSHIHO                    MATSUMURA & CHIBANA

CHINTO                           SOKON MATSURMURA

PASSAI SHO                    SOKON MATSURMURA

KUSANKU SHO              SOKON MATSURMURA

PASSAI DAI                     SOKON MATSURMURA

KUSANKU DAI               SOKON MATSURMURA

SEIUNCHIN                     CHOJUN MIYAGI

SANCHIN                        CHOJUN MIYAGI

At the time the empty hand art of karatedo was developing in Okinawa, the Ryukyu Kobujutsu, or weapon arts were also being systematized. O'Sensei Shimabukuro studied weapons through the Taira school of weaponry. As well as the five classical weapons, O'Sensei has taught the use of a 6th weapon called Noburi Gama. It has a sickle type blade attached to a handle about 5 feet long. Though today these implements have little practical use as weapons, their use is still taught in order to preserve an art and to strengthen empty-handed movements.

Okinawan Masters

This man was named a "Living Treasure" by the Japanese Government. He was the head of the Kobayashi branch of the Shorin Ryu. Though the lineage of his system is the same as the Shobayashi system, he wrote the character Ko instead of Sho. Thus, his style is referred to as Ko (small, minor) bayashi (forest) instead of Sho (little, scarce) bayashi. Shimabukuro once went to him wearing a white belt and asked to have his kata corrected so that any changes he had inadvertently made could be changed back to the original.

A principal influence of Shorin Ryu, Itosu developed the Itosu-ha system, which is little known outside of Okinawa. As a teacher in the Okinawan public schools, Itosu systematized karate and made it available to the public. He formulated the Pinan Kata.