is a style of

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

and is one of the two oldest karate styles, alongside

Shōrin-ryū Shōrin-ryū (少林流) is one of the major modern Okinawan martial arts and is one of the oldest styles of karate. It was named by Choshin Chibana in 1933, but the system itself is much older. The characters 少林, meaning "sparse" or "scan ...

. It was developed at the end of the 19th century by

Higaonna Kanryō , and sometimes known as Higashionna West to distinguish him from his cousin, was a Ryukyuan martial artist who founded a fighting style known at the time as Naha-te. He is recognized as one of the first students of Fujian White Crane Kung Fu ...

Naha, Okinawa is the Cities of Japan, capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 people per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). ...

, Japan.

Etymology

''Shōrei-ryū'' means "the style of inspiration" and certain martial arts scholars believe that the term ''Shōrei'' is derived from the Shoreiji Temple located in either

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

or Mount Jiulian of Longnan, Jiangxi.

Origin

Little is known about the origins of Shōrei-ryū, but it was influenced in its early development by ''Shuri-te''. Kanryo Higashionna originally studied Shuri-te with

Sokon Matsumura Seres Group () (previously known as Sokon Group or Chongqing Sokon Industry Group Co., Ltd, ) is a Chinese automotive manufacturer founded in September 1986 with headquarters in Chongqing, China. Born as a manufacturer of components for househol ...

and learnt quanfa from Chinese ''Wai Xinxian'' (assistant of Xie Zhongxiang). Higaonna later traveled to China to perfect his skills, which he probably succeeded in because he learned many new kata from

, the home of Baihequan (Chinese 白鶴拳, Pinyin báihèquán) and adopted it in his style. The teachings of this temple provided the basis for the '' Naha-te'' style of Okinawan karate. Following passing of Higaonna Kanryo, the style began to take a new direction and became a purely "internal" combat style. This was due in large part to the influence of Choki Motobu. Although Motobu's sensei style is still considered Naha-te, it actually had nothing to do with Higashionna. When Motobu became the leader of Shōrei-ryū, he began to guide his development in another direction, mainly because he trained with Anko Itosu of the Shuri-te style, a disciple of the great

Features of style

The main features of Shōrei-ryū are the use of open hands, circular block techniques, and kicks to the ''gedan'' (lower-level) area. In addition, the use of short and hard techniques in close combat in combination with throwing techniques is a specialty, especially from the ''sanchin'' and ''shiko-dachi'' stances. Great importance is also attached to training on the ''makiwara''. Another peculiarity is that the handling of Kobudō weapons such as ''bo'', ''tonfa'' or ''sai'' is also very practiced.

Shōrei-ryū Kata

Shōrei-ryū originates various kata that would be used in descendant styles like ''Gōjū-ryū'' and others.

Further development

Modern descendants of Shōrei-ryū include styles such as

Gōjū-ryū , Japanese for "hard-soft style", is one of the main traditional Okinawan styles of karate, featuring a combination of hard and soft techniques. Gō, which means hard, refers to closed hand techniques or straight linear attacks; jū, which me ...

and '' Ryūei-ryū''. Gōjū-ryū is considered the direct evolution of Shōrei-ryū. The ''

Shitō-ryū is a form of karate that was founded in 1934 by . Shitō-ryū is synthesis of the Okinawan Shuri-te and Naha-te schools of karate and today is considered one of the four main styles of the art. History Kenwa Mabuni (Mabuni Kenwa 摩文� ...

'' style also contains many elements of Shōrei-ryū, since Mabuni Kenwa was a student of Higaonna, and even the '' Shōtōkan'' style contains kata from Shōrei-ryū, which, however, did not get there directly, but were passed on to Funakoshi Gichin and his students via Mabuni Kenwa. The Shōrei-ryū name (alternatively, Goju-Shorei-Ryu and later, Shorei-Goju Ryu) was also used for the style of karate brought to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by Robert Trias.Black Belt Magazine, December 1982 issue, p.36 https://books.google.com/books?id=cdIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=shorei-ryu&pg=PA36 Later, Trias used the name Shuri-ryu, although some lineages still use the Shorei Ryu name. This style should not be confused with traditional Shōrei-ryū. Trias's karate incorporated elements from Naha-te, Shuri-te, ''Tomari-te'', and others.

References

External links

Trias Karate

Vic Moore

International Shōrei Martial Arts Academy

Fourways Martial Arts Academy

Shorei Ryu Karate Studios
• https://kondonoshokai.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Shorei-Ryu Okinawan karate Traditional karate Japanese martial arts