HISTORY OF ISSHINRYU KARATE

"A  Brief History Of Karate"  

• Through the ages, Karate has been very mysterious. Very few records have been kept and it is rather difficult to prove any historical data concerning the birth and growth of Karate. Since its creation. 
• Most of the instruction was performed in secrecy and was handed down from father to son and immediate family members.   
• Legend has it that the first version of  Karate was developed over 5000 years ago.    
• A young Prince who lived in India, watched the movements of animals and birds and studied their ways of attack and defense, and  developed these movements into techniques of his fighting style. 
• The Prince  experimented on slaves, directing blows and punches to the weak points of their bodies. He found   that many of the techniques could be successfully employed.      
• The next figure of importance in the history of karate is the Indian Zen Master Bodhidharma. He traveled from India to China to teach  at the Sholoin-sze (Shorin-ji) temple in the Hunan Province. There Bodhidharma found the monks in poor physical condition and unable to grasp the complicated esthetic Indian style of Buddhism.   
• He then instituted the natural, more easily understood Zen Buddhism, along with a system of mental discipline and self defense exercises that eventually conditioned them physically and mentally. Shortly thereafter, the monks at Shaolin-sze became recognized as the best fighters in China. 
• The exercises and discipline that Bodhidharma introduced were passed down in their original form and eventually shaped the Chinese style of (Kempo). Chinese and Okinawan Karate were unified through commercial contact during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
• Open hand techniques (Considered of Chinese Background) and the closed hand techniques (Considered of Okinawan Origin) were incorporated into one system, which included the hardening of the hands and feet to the point where bricks  and boards could be broken with them.   
• However, hand and feet conditioning is an asset and not a necessity. The breaking of bricks and boards is only a means of demonstrating the  power with which Karate blows can be delivered.     
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The Meaning Of “Karate”   

• Karate was developed in the Orient as a Martial Art. It is an extremely deadly and effective method of self defense.  Although the word Karate means “Empty Hands”, Karate techniques employ the use of both    hands and feet. Karate blows are damaging when thrown to any part of the body. 
• However the practitioner is taught to  deliver his blows with control and focus to the vital nerve centers of the body. 

"Isshinryu Beginnings"   

• The story of all Okinawan styles of   karate begins sometime in the nineteenth century. According to one legend, a shipwrecked Chinese sailor, named Chinto, washed ashore on the  islands. He was naked, and afraid, and  without supplies in a strange land. He hid in some caves and at night went exploring. 
• Finding villages, he stole the food he  needed to survive. The villagers were frightened by Chinto and went to their King for a solution. The King sent his best Samurai, Matsumura, to take care of the problem. 
• When Matsumura  found Chinto he tried to subdue him with  force, but the sailor blocked everything that was thrown at him. Chinto escaped and hid in a nearby cemetery.    
• Matsumura returned to the King and told him everything had been taken care of, and then he went back to the cemetery and befriended Chinto. He agreed to help the sailor if Chinto would return the favor by teaching him his Martial Art. In such a way, all the weaponless fighting systems are all supposed to have   been derived, directly from Chinto’s method.      
• In the Isshinryu style there is one Kata that is named after this famous sailor. It is said to have been taught to Matsumura by Chinto himself. Chinto Kata was originally incorporated into the Shorin-ryu system by Chotoku Kiyan.    
• Kyan was Shimabuku’s first official teacher. In this sense , all forms of Karate trace their origins back to Chinto.       
• Master Tatsuo Shimabuku  Shinkichi Shimabuku was born in (Chun Village Okinawa), on (September 19th 1906).    
• He was one of ten children born into a farming family. By the age of eight, he had a strong desire to study the Martial Arts. He walked several miles to the home of his Uncle,  Urshu Matsumura (Kamasu Chan), who was a Shuri-te instructor, only to be   turned away.  This did not discourage the young Shimabuku however, as he made the trek everyday until  his Uncle relented and accepted him as a student. 
• At first Matsumura would only give him  menial chores to perform around the Dojo, but after a few weeks he saw his nephews true desire to learn and began his training. He studied informally with his uncle for several years.       
• By the time Shimabuku was a teenager, he had attained the physical level of a person  six years his senior. His physical condition was due to his Karate training as well as his  work around the family farm. He excelled in athletic events on the island. By the time he was seventeen he was constantly winning in his two favorite events, the  Javelin Throw and the High Jump.    
• Around the age of twenty three, Shimabuku desired to further his knowledge and began  to study under the legendary Shuri-te (Shorin-Ryu) Master, Chotoku Kyan in the village of  Kadena. 
• He began his training with Master Kyan in 1929 while attending the Okinawa  Prefectural Agricultural School. Within a short time, he became Master Kyans best student and under Kyans instruction, learned the Katas: (Sei-san, Nai-hanchin, Wansu,   Ku-sanku, and Tokumine-no-kin-bo).    
• He also began his study of (Ki) for which Master Kyan was most noted. Shimabuku studied with Master Kyan until his death in 1945. He always considered Master Kyan his first formal Sensei and was very loyal to him.   
• While continuing his studies with Master Kyan, Shimabuku sought out another famous Shorin-Ryu instructor, Master Choki Motobu, during the early 1930s. Master Motobu was known throughout the    island for his fighting prowess, and as  his student, Shimabuku quickly developed his fighting skills into a precise art. 
• Shimabuku had always been fascinated by Naha-tae (Gojo-Ryu) and sought out Master Chojun Miyagi, the founder of Goju-Ryu, after Master Kyans death, learned the Sei-ucin Kata and the all important San-chin Kata.    
• Shimabuku studied with Master Miyigi until his death in 1953. After his apprenticeship under these three masters, Shimabuku entered a special Martial Arts festival on Okinawa during the mid 1930s. His performance of both Shorin-Ryu and Goju-Ryu Katas so impressed the spectators, that by 1940 he was recognized throughout the Ryu-kyu islands as the foremost proponent of Shorin-Ryu and Goju-Ryu   karate.    
• He was the first person to ever master both systems. During World War Two, Master Shimabukus reputation as an expert was such that Japanese officers stationed on Okinawa kept him from military conscription in exchange for karate lessons. After the war, he resumed farming and taught Karate to a handful of students.  However, due to his reputation it was only a short time before U.S. Military personnel began to seek him out for instruction.     
• Once at a demonstration, he missed a nail that he was driving into a board with a Shuto hand and cut the back of his hand. He put a handful of dirt on his hand and finished the demonstration.  Master Shimabuku continued to study and develop his skills in both styles, but he was not  satisfied that either style was the   ultimate fighting style. His interest in ancient weapons (Ko-budo) continued to grow and he sought out the best weapons instructors on the island. His first weapons instructor was Master Moden Yabiku.     
• In a short time, he became a Master in such weapons as the Bo and the Sai. During the late 50s and early 60s he continued his study of Ko-budo with master Yabikus top student, Shin-ken Tiara. This training took place in Master Shimabukus Dojo in Agena. It was during the 1940s that Master Shimabuku began experimenting with different basic techniques and kata from both Shorin-Ryu and Goju-Ryu systems as well as Ko-budo.    
• He also experimented with many of his own ideas. He called this style Chan migwha-te which means  (small-eyed), and Chan is the Okinawan pronunciation of  Kyan. Chan migwha-te was the style to us military personnel in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.