Kobayashi Shōrin-ryū

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shorin-ryu (小林流?)

Kobayashi Shorin-ryū founder Choshin Chibana
Also known as Kobayashi Shorin-ryu
Date founded 1915
Country of origin Flag of Japan Okinawa, Japan
Founder Choshin Chibana
Arts taught Karate
Ancestor schools Shōrin-ryū
Descendant schools Shidōkan, Shōrinkan
Practitioners Katsuya Miyahira, Shugoro Nakazato, Nakama Chozo, Yuchoku Higa

Kobayashi Shōrin-ryū (小林流) (Shōrin-ryū?) is a school of Okinawan Shorin-ryu karate founded by Choshin Chibana.

[edit] History

After the death of Anko Itosu in 1915, one of Itosu's most senior students, Choshin Chibana, wanted to continue to teach the Shorin-ryū style of karate he learned from his instructor. Chibana named his system Shorin-ryū, but using the Chinese characters for "small" and "forest" (小林流). Chibana lineage schools are commonly referred to as "kobayashi," but this is technically incorrect, as Chibana never used this term to refer to his karate. It was meant to be “Shorin” as tribute to the Shaolin Temple. (Shorin is the Japanese and Okinawan pronunciation of Shaolin). However, he believed strongly that Shorin-ryu was largely Okinawan and purposely modified the first character from the Chinese "Shao/Sho" so it would retain its originality. As other schools later adopted the name "Shorin-ryū," the term "kobayashi" was probably added to describe which exact characters were used to write the term "Shorin," but was never meant to be the official name of the style.

In 1920, Chibana opened his first dojo in Torihori. Spellings such as "Tottoribori" or "Tottori-cho" are erroneous and incorrect. The old name of Torihori was Tunjumui, so it is unknown where these erroneous names came from. He later taught in places such as Gibo, Yamakawa, Naha, Kumoji and Asato, with the main Chibana dojo being in Yamakawa.[1] [2]

Chibana taught this style of Shorin-ryū until his death in 1969. Each of his top students went on to create his own branch of Shorin-ryū: Nakama Chozo created Shubokan, Yuchoku Higa created Kyudokan, Katsuya Miyahira created Shidō-kan, and Shugoro Nakazato created Shorinkan.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Murakami Katsumi, Karate no Kokoro to Waza, 1991.
  2. ^ Nakamoto Masahiro, Okinawa Dentou Kobudo, 2006.
  3. ^ World Miyazato Dojo