Martial Arts Fabio Martella

 Shitō

-

ryū

(

糸東流

?

)is a form of  karate that was founded in 1931 by Kenwa Mabuni (

摩文仁

 

賢和

 

Mabuni Kenwa

?

).

Contents

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1 History 2 Branches 3 Characteristics 4 Opening ceremony (Reishiki) 5 Kata 6 Kunshi no Ken (The Noble Discipline) 7 Heijutsu no Sanbyo 8 Techniques 

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8.1 Dachi (stances)

[15]

 

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8.2 Uke-waza (blocking techniques) 

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8.3 Uchi-waza (striking techniques) 

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8.4 Keri-waza (kicking techniques) 9 See also 10 References 

History

[edit]

 

Kenwa Mabuni (Mabuni Kenwa

摩文仁

 

賢和

) was born in Shuri, Okinawa in 1889. Mabuni was a 17thgeneration descendant of the famous warrior Oni Ufugusuku Kenyu.

[1]

 Perhaps because of his weak

 

constitution, he began his instruction in his home town in the art of  Shuri-te (

首里手

?

)at the age of 13,under the tutelage of the legendary 

 Ankō Itosu

 (

糸州

 

安恒

 

Itosu Ank ō

?

)(1831

 –

1915). He trained diligentlyfor several years, learning many 

kata

 from this great master. It was Itosu who first developedthe 

Pinan kata

, which were most probably derived from the "

Kusanku

" form.One of his close friends, 

Chōjun Miyagi

 (

宮城

 

長順

 

Miyagi Chōjun

?

)(co-founder of  

Gojū

-

ryū

 Karate)

 

introduced Mabuni to another great of that period, 

Kanryō Higaonna

 (

東恩納

 

寛量

 

Higaonna Kanryō

?

).Mabuni began to learn Naha-te (

那覇手

?

)under him. While both Itosu and Higaonna taught a "hard-soft"style of Okinawan "Te", their methods and emphases were quite distinct: the Itosu syllabus includedstraight and powerful techniques as exemplified in the Naihanchi and Bassai kata; the Higaonna syllabusstressed circular motion and shorter fighting methods as seen in the kata Seipai and Kururunfa

.Shitō

-

ryū

 

focuses on both hard and soft techniques to this day. Although he remained true to the teachings of these two great masters, Mabuni sought instruction from anumber of other teachers, including 

Seishō Arakaki

,Tawada Shimboku, Sueyoshi Jino and Wu Xianhui (aChinese master known as Go-Kenki). In fact, Mabuni was legendary for his encyclopaedic knowledge