KARATE-DO SHITO-KAI MURAYAMA U.S.A
however, must begin and end with its founder, Kenwa Mabuni. Born in Shuri on Okinawa in 1893, Mabuni Sensei was
a descendant of the famous Onigusukini Samurai family. Perhaps because of his weak constitution, he began his
instruction in his home town in the art of Shuri-Te at the age of 13, under the tutelage of the legendary Ankoh
Yasutsune Itosu (1813-1915). He trained diligently for several years, learning many Kata from this great Master. It
was Itosu who first developed the Pinan Kata, which were most probably derived from the 'Kusanku' form.
One of his close friends, Sensei Chojun
Miyagi (founder of Goju ryu) introduced Mabuni to another
great of that
period,
Sensei Kanryo Higashionna, and began to learn Naha-Te under
him as well. While both Itosu and Higashionna
taught a
'hard-soft' style of Okinawan 'Te', their methods and
emphases were quite distinct: the Itosu syllabus
included
straight
and powerful techniques as exemplified in the Naifanchi and
Bassai Kata; the Higashionna syllabus
on the other hand,
stressed circular motion and shorter fighting methods as
seen in the popular Seipai and Kururunfa
forms. These were
the
two main influences on the development of Mabuni Sensei and
what he would later call Shito
-ryu. In fact, he derived the
name for his new style from the first Kanji character in
their names, Itosu and Higashionna.
Although he remained true to the teachings
of these two great masters, Mabuni sought instruction from a
number
of masters,
including Seisho Aragaki, Tawada Shimboku, Sueyoshi Jino and
Wu Xianhui (a Chinese master known as
Go-Kenki). In fact,
Mabuni was legendary for his encyclopedic knowledge of kata
and their bunkai applications. By the
1920s, he was regarded
as
the foremost authority on Okinawan kata and their history
and was much sought after as
a teacher by his
contemporaries.
There is even some evidence that his expertise was sought
out in China, as well as
Okinawa and mainland Japan. As a
police
officer, he taught local law enforcement officers and at the
behest of his
teacher Itosu, began instruction in the
various grammar
schools in Shuri and Naha.
In an effort to popularize Karate in
mainland Japan, Mabuni made several trips to Tokyo in 1917
and 1928. Although
much that
was known as 'Te' (Chinese Fist) or Karate had been passed
down through many generations with jealous
secrecy, it was
his view
that it should be taught to anyone who sought knowledge with
honesty and integrity. In fact,
many masters of his
generation held
similar views on the future of Karate: Sensei Gichin
Funakoshi (founder of Shotokan),
another contemporary, had
moved to Tokyo
in the 1920s to promote their art on the mainland as well.
By 1929, Mabuni had moved to Osaka on the
mainland, to become a full-time Karate instructor. With the
support of
Sensei
Ryusho Sakagami (1915-1993), he opened a
number of dojo in the Osaka area, including Kansai
University and
the Japan
Karatedo Kai dojo.
To this day, the largest contingent of Shito-ryu
practitioners in Japan is centered in the
Osaka area.
In an effort to gain acceptance in the
Japanese Butoku kai, the governing body for all officially
recognized martial arts,
he and
his contemporaries decided
to call their art 'Karate' or 'Empty Hand', rather than
'Chinese Hand'. He published
a number of books
on the
subject and continued to systematize the instruction method.
In his latter years, he developed a number of formal kata,
such as
Aoyagi, for example, which was designed specifically for
women's self defense. Perhaps
more than any other Master in
the last
century, Mabuni was steeped in the traditions and history of
Karate-do, yet forward thinking enough to realize that it
could spread throughout the world.