Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

Left: Practitioners of Japanese karate utilize hard and fast infighting techniques in jiyû-kumite.
Right: Ippon kumite is practiced as a part of the basic curriculum of Japanese karate. (Courtesy of Ron Mottern)
Karate-dô by the Kokusai Budôin (International Martial Arts Federation).
Ôtsuka Jirô, Hironori’s second son, assumed the leadership of the Wadôryû
after his father’s death.
Mabuni Kenwa (1889–1952) studied Shuri-di under Ankô Itosu (Yasutsune).
After studying Shuri-di for some time, Itosu suggested that
Mabuni train at the same time with Higashionna (Higaonna) Kanryô in the
Naha-di system. Mabuni trained with both Itosu and Higashionna until
their deaths in 1915. Mabuni also studied martial arts with Arakaki Seisho
and the White Crane instructor Gô Kenki (Okinawan; pinyin Wu Xiangui).
In the 1920s, Mabuni traveled to Japan several times, where he participated
in public demonstrations of karate. Mabuni taught for a time in
Tokyo at the Ryôbukan of Konishi Yasuhiro, a ranking member of the Butokukai,
and eventually moved his family to Ôsaka, where he established a
dôjô (training hall) in 1929. In 1933, Mabuni’s system was registered with
the Dainippon Butokukai as Shitô-ryû. Shitô is a contraction of the names
of Mabuni’s primary karate instructors, Itosu and Higashionna. Rendered
into the Chinese on-yomi, Itô-Higa is read as Shi-Tô. Mabuni Kenwa structured
an official curriculum for the Shitô-ryû that included standardized
Karate, Japanese 237