Shōgō Kuniba

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Shogo Kuniba (国場将豪, Kuniba Shōgō^?, February 5, 1935 - July 14, 1992) was a Japanese teacher of karate.^[1]^[2]^[3]

His father was Kosei Kuniba who began training him at five years old. Kuniba Soke was taught by many masters of the day including:

Kenwa Mabuni - Shito Ryu Karate
Kosei Kuniba - Motobu-Ha Karate-Do
Itoh Asakichi - Judo
Ishii Gogetsu - Mugai Ryu Iaido
Shoshin Nagamine - Shorin Ryu Karate
Kenko Nakaima - Kobudo
Kosha Shojin - Bo and nunchaku
Junko Yamaguchi - Tonfa
Shioda Gozo - Aikido
Ryusei Tomoyori - Kenyu Ryu Karate

When he was 24 years old Shogo Kuniba became the youngest karate system head (Soke) in Japan, taking over the style his father (Kosei Kuniba) inherited from Choki Motobu.

Kuniba applied his knowledge of aikido, jujutsu, judo and other arts to the bunkai of karate kata. This made for very creative variations on techniques, which became his hallmark. He created a new style, Kuniba-Ryu Goshindo (aka Goshin Budo Jujutsu), which literally means Kuniba Soke's style of self defense. Kuniba-Ryu Goshindo combines elements of karate, aikido and judo.

Soke Kuniba is known for integrating the power of karate with the sensitivity of aikido and other traditional martial arts in a style called Kuniba-Ha Shito-Ryu. It literally means Kuniba's interpretation of Shito-ryu. Kuniba-Ha Shito-Ryu is structured to adopt concepts and techniques from other styles to form a modern system replete with traditional values, but with an open minded philosophy.

When Kuniba Soke passed away on July 14, 1992 the organizations he led split over disagreement of leadership. Kunio Tatsuno became Soke of Motobu-Ha Karate-Do and Kaicho of Seishinkai. In the U.S., Kuniba Soke named William H. Price as second Soke of both Kuniba-Ha Shito-Ryu and Kuniba-Ryu Goshindo on March 16, 1992. Several American karateka under Kuniba Soke followed his named U.S. successor. Chikubu-Kai was created on September 8, 1995 to continue following his teachings. However, upon the death of Kunio Tatsuno, Kuniba-Kai was established in Japan by the Kuniba family in 1999. Many Shihan loyal to Kuniba have affiliated with Kuniba-Kai, headed by Kozo Kuniba and Kosuke Kuniba.

The style is called Kuniba-Ha Shito-Ryu in the U.S. and Motobu-Ha Shito-Ryu in Japan. Today, the Seishinkai (the Karate organization originally started by Kosei Kokuba) still exists to promote Shito Ryu (however, the term "Motobu-Ha" is no longer claimed). A new International Seishinkai Karatedo Union (ISKU) was formed by Kunio Tatsuno in 1999; in 2007, Sadatomu Harada formed the Seishinkai International Shitoryu Karatedo Union (SISKU). Neither ISKU nor SISKU claim Motobu-Ha. Kuniba-Kai has exclusive rights to that style per the Japan Karate Federation (JKF).