..............................................................................By Victor Smith............................................................................
On January 15, 1956, Tatsuo Shimabuku founded Isshinryu Karate. Shortly after that time, Tatsuo Shimabuku began teaching his karate to the U.S. Marines stationed on Okinawa. While the income he received from the Marine Corps was a financial windfall to him, his efforts caused the Isshinryu system to be spread across the United States and the world in the 50's and 60's. This was one of the pioneering efforts spreading karate to a larger world.
Tatsuo Shimabuku began his own studies in Okinawa about 1916 at the age of eight, and they continued with such noted Okinawan instructors as Chotoku Kyan (one of the major instructors of Shorin-ryu), Chojun Miyagi (the founder of Goju Ryu karate), Chokoi Motobu (another major Okinawan instructor in the Shorin tradition) and Taira Shinken (a major instructor of kobudo - Okinawan Weapons).
The Isshinryu system, as created by Tatsuo Shimabuku , drew on all of these sources. Unfortunately the story of the experiences Shimabuku Sensei gained with his instructors has not been saved.
As I've pursued a long-term interest in all of Okinawan Karate, my review of historical information about these men slowly revealed a view of those earlier years. From this research I've created four studies on Tatsuo Shimabuku's instructors.
I believe this creates a fuller history of those instructors and their likely contributions to Shimabuku. This history of several of Okinawa's major instructors in the 1900's also highlights some of the trends, which developed in Okinawa. I believe all contemporary martial artists need to consider the transmission of these arts from those days. Their impact reverberates with us still.
Part One: The Kyan Influence
For some time as I read much written
about Isshinryu and Tatsuo Shimabuku, I
haven't felt we've been looking at the
entire man. Instead it seems as if Shimabuku
Tatsuo sprang forth and gave us Isshinryu.
His instructors are mentioned but I don't
feel we've looked closely enough at the
impact of the environment which fostered the
founder of Isshinryu.
Let me draw an analogy. Each martial
artist does represent himself, his
capabilities, the work he's done, and his
own intentions. At the same time you can
view the group of students of an instructor
and find a commonalty, too. Many times I've
seen an instructor at a tournament who has a
distinctive style to his technique, and
later through the day, see his students
perform and immediately identify their
instructor from the commonalty they share.
Every instructor is and always has been a
product of his own instructor(s), his
contemporaries and his environment. Recently
I've been trying to understand the
environment surrounding Tatsuo Shimabuku.
I
believe the most important place to start is
his relationship with Chotoku Kyan. It was
with Kyan that Tatsuo Shimabuku spent the
most time. A great deal of the Kata of
Isshinryu originated with his training with
Kyan, and in the late 1940's to early
1950's, he called his system Chan Migwha Te
- using the nickname that had been given to
Kyan Sensei. As a starting point I refer to
John Sells text "Unante - - The Secrets
of Karate." On page 184, we begin to
get a vision of the background of Kyan.
"One old karateka who can be
credited with preserving some of the kata of
Tomari was Chotoku Kyan. This student of so
many great masters disseminated in his time
the tomari-chonto, wansu and several
versions of the tomari passai. Kyan
introduced ananku kata into Okinawan Karate.
He also taught seisan, gojushiho and seisan
as learned from Matsumura, as well as Yara's
kusanku kata. Of course each form has Kyan's
own innovative stamp. This brings to light
the fact that most of the old masters taught
kata differently at different times in their
lives. They also sometimes taught dissimilar
versions to different students. Because of
this factor we now have a plethora of
variations of all the above kata. While this
"kata customization" is often
associated with Kyan, the same could be said
of Matsumura himself and certainly too, of
Kyan's contemporary, Funakoshi."
Remember what a small place Okinawa was.
Without doubt Kyan's students saw their
instructor's forms were differing from
others who had trained under Kyan's
instructors. So issues about Tatsuo
Shimabuku changing the nature of his kata
and technique at different times was most
likely the a continuation of Karate training
as he and the others in Okinawa experienced
with Kyan.
Of course this was noted in Okinawa. The
great karate master and founder of goju ryu
karate, Chojun Miyagi(McCarthy "Ancient
Okinawan Martial Arts-2," page 67 on
The 1936 Meeting of the Okinawan Karate
Masters), is quoted as saying,
"Shorin-ryu's fundamental training
[kihon] and open-handed techniques [kaishu]
are not taught in any clearly defined way.
However the Shorei-ryu's kaishu and kihon
are taught according to a clearly
established method. My teacher taught us
according to the Shorei-ryu method."
While I can interpret his words as a
commentary on the Shorin teaching methods,
it's also interesting to see 'sniping' from
1936 too. We have no lock on the flame wars
today!
I find it interesting that this was the
template against which Tatuso Shimabuku was
taught. Whether those changes occurred while
he was training with Kyan Sensei, or he
whether he observed them as he saw others on
occasion who trained with Kyan Sensei, the
fact of the existence of change could not
have been ignored.
Just the other day I was reviewing tapes
from a number of Kyan derivative forms.
Whether Bunei Okuhira, or Zempo Shimabukuro
(son of Shimabuku Zenryo) or Shoshin
Nagamine, there is a great deal of
similarity between them as well as many
differences. Bunei Okuhira and Shoshin
Nagamine were direct students of Kyan, as
was Tatsuo Shimabuku Sensei. Zenryo
Shimabuku was also a direct student of Kyan.
I note the more advanced their forms
(such as Chinto, Kusanku and Gojushiho), the
greater the similarity to my eye. This is
something I've noticed between various
Isshinryu groups, on occasion. The
differences between Seisan and Seiuchin kata
are greater than the differences between
Chinto and Kusanku. I've always thought this
was because the instructor spends more time
teaching the beginning forms and less time
on the advanced forms. If changes creep in,
it would be logical to assume they would
occur on those taught most frequently.
This is not a scientific move by move
comparison, but an impression/opinion
observation to my eye.
Returning to John Sells
"Unante" we find some information
regarding Kyan Sensei's course content on
page 189:
"To explore kata even further
however, Chotoku Kyan, a contemporary of
Funakoshi and Mabuni should be compared. It
was around 1930 that Kyan published a series
of forms under the heading "Seven
Original Kata of the Ancient Style."
The forms listed therein were:
Consider how much of this
became the Isshinryu curriculum, directly or
indirectly.
Wanshu (Wansu), Kusanku, Chinto and
Niafanchi from Isshinryu most likely
originated here. I would note Wanshu (Wansu)
is the most heavily modified of the Kyan
forms with knee strikes, side kicks and
front kicks not found in the other kata.
It is reported at one time Shimabuku
Sensei taught Passai amd Ueishi (Gojushiho),
and portions of those forms are included in
his SunNuSu kata.
The kata ananku isn't included in the
Isshinryu curriculum, but as I teach one
version of same (Ezio Shimabuku's ). I
suspect it was because most of the
techniques in the form are found in the
other Isshinryu forms.
Another aspect to consider is the
development by Kyan of the vertical punch.
Nagamine's book 'Tales of Okinawa's Great
Masters by Shoshin Nagamine,' on page 89 has
a nice section on the life of Kyan.
"Because of his tiny size, Sensei
spent considerable time and effort
developing his jodan-tsuki (rising punch).
Never having altered this technique, Kyan's
jodan-tsuki represented his own
interpretation of using the strike in a
practical way for a person of his size. It
can be said that his unique jodan-tsuki
exists in no other ryuha and must therefore
illustrate his own understanding of
karate-do."
Accompanying photographs show a traditional
turning punch striking a makiwara and a
vertical punch striking a makiwara. The
latter was described as "Kyan's
original punch."
I would believe it likely Tatsuo
Shimabuku may have used his instructor's
teachings as the source of his choice of the
vertical fist.
The final observation I would like to
make on the teaching of Chotoku Kyan is what
his students did with his instruction. John
Sells in 'Unante' lists the following
individuals as his students:
Kori
Hisatake
Joen
Nakazato
Zenryo
Shimabuku
Taro
Shimabuku
Tatsuo
Shimabukuro
Eizo
Shimabukuro
Tsuyoshi
Chitose
Ankichi
Arakaki
Shoshin
Nagamine
Bunei
Okuhir
At least 7 of them became
instructors in their own right and developed
their own systems.
While Chotoku Kyan taught his art, he
apparently did not try to establish a single
system. That seems right to me, as I'm
unaware of any real effort to do this in
those earlier days. I believe this is an
important aspect affecting the development
of all Okinawan karate.
And while there is a great deal of
similarity between these instructors' forms
and techniques, there are also a great many
differences at the micro level, if not the
macro level.
If
I recall correctly Patrick McCarthy has
written on the fact that the concept of
organization was imported to Okinawa by the
Japanese. Without doubt, their penchant for
organization created the first large
international karate organizations. Thus the
teaching template Shimabuku Sensei observed
most likely was that of instructing your
students so that they would go out on their
own. There does not seem to be a regulating
mechanism to pass along changes or control
the 'correct form' of the system. Does not
the same situation seem to reside in the
changing system of Shimabuku Sensei?
I believe reflection on these aspects of
the karate of Kyan shows they may well have
influenced the decisions to the developing
art of Isshinryu of Tatsuo Shimabuku. There
are many parallels between Kyan's choices to
those made by Shimabuku Sensei.
I
believe the most important place to start is
his relationship with Chotoku Kyan. It was
with Kyan that Tatsuo Shimabuku spent the
most time. A great deal of the Kata of
Isshinryu originated with his training with
Kyan, and in the late 1940's to early
1950's, he called his system Chan Migwha Te
- using the nickname that had been given to
Kyan Sensei. As a starting point I refer to
John Sells text "Unante - - The Secrets
of Karate." On page 184, we begin to
get a vision of the background of Kyan.
If
I recall correctly Patrick McCarthy has
written on the fact that the concept of
organization was imported to Okinawa by the
Japanese. Without doubt, their penchant for
organization created the first large
international karate organizations. Thus the
teaching template Shimabuku Sensei observed
most likely was that of instructing your
students so that they would go out on their
own. There does not seem to be a regulating
mechanism to pass along changes or control
the 'correct form' of the system. Does not
the same situation seem to reside in the
changing system of Shimabuku Sensei?