Shitoryu Karate

Shitoryu Karate was originated by an Okinawan karate master by the name of Kenwa Mabuni (1888-1952).   Sensei Mabuni had studied from an early age with several experts in Okinawa.   His primary teachers were Itosu Anko, Higashiona Kanryo, Aragaki Seisho and Gokenki.  These teachers represented the techniques of Shurite, Nahate, Southern White Crane and other Chinese Kungfu styles.

Kenwa Mabuni named his style Shitoryu.  The name was derived from alternative renderings of the first characters of Itosu's (Shishu) and Higashiona's (To'onnna) names.  He permanently settled in Osaka, Japan in 1929 after having traveled and taught there a number of times prior to that date.

Sensei Mabuni went on to teach and develop his style in the Osaka and Kyoto areas and to build a sizeable following.   He also greatly influenced the development of Karate in general in Japan through the regular interactions with such notable masters as Funakoshi Gichin, Konishi Yasuhiro, Miyagi Chojun and Taira Shinken to name a few.

Today Shitoryu has become one of the four major Japanese styles of karate and the only one to include techniques from several different sources.  The style is a well balanced system of half hands and half feet and also incorporates numerous grappling, toide, jutsu, aiki-jutsu  type waza (i.e., pressure points, wrist locks, arm bars, etc.)  as part of the application beyond punching, striking and kicking.

Kenwa Mabuni

Lineage

Kenwa Mabuni, the originator of Shitoryu karate, had several protégés that became his successors to spread the style after his passing in 1952.   The most prolific and active of these instructors included his two sons Kenei and Kenzo, Ryusho Sakagami, Chojiro Tani, Manzo Iwata and Kosei Kuniba (Kokuba).  These sensei all taught and promoted their own interpretation of Shitoryu through their developing organizations.  

Kenei Mabuni and Manzo Iwata joined forces and established the Shito-Kai.  They had three or four instructors that became leaders, one of which was Yuichi Negishi.  Negishi became the national coach for the FAJKDO kumite team and taught at Toyo University.  Later he became the Chief Instructor for the Shito-Kai in South America, where he still lives and teaches.

Kosei Kuniba, who originally trained with Choki Motobu in Okinawa in 1915 moved to Tokyo, Japan in 1924, and then to Osaka in 1940.  Motobu and Kenwa Mabuni often stayed at Kuniba’s house in exchange for lessons.

Shyogo Kuniba carried on teaching Motubu Ha Shitoryu after his father’s death in 1958.  He also studied with another of Kenwa Mabuni’s seniors, Tomoyori of Kenryu-ryu and with Kenwa himself who promoted Shyogo to Shodan at 12 years of age.  Shyogo spent some time in Okinawa in 1955 and 56 before his father passed away.  There he trained with Shoshin Nagamine of Matsubayashi Shorinryu and with Kenko Nakaima of Ryueiryu.

Within Kuniba’s Seishin Kai Motobu Ha Shitoryu, the head administrator just after the elder Kuniba’s death was Teruo Hayashi.  A dedicated student of Kenwa and Kosei, he also traveled to Okinawa where he trained with Hohan Soken of Matsumura Shorinryu, Shoshin Nagamine of Matsubayashi Shorinryu and Kenko Nakima of Ryuei ryu.  Hayashi broke from the Seishin Kai in 1970 and formed his own Hayashi Ha Shito-ryu.

Today most instructors of Shitoryu derive their source information from one or maybe two sensei that in turn had studied with Kenwa Mabuni or one of his protégés.  However, in the case of Shihan Rudy Crosswell, his sources of information come from no less than four senior instructors whom he has studied with over the last three plus decades.  He came to Shitoryu with seven years of previous training and a Shodan blackbelt in Gojuryu karate.  In February, 1968, he began a three-year stay in Japan where he was a direct student of Shyogo Kuniba.  During this time he also interacted with Teruo Hayashi who was Kaicho or president of Seishin Kai at the time.  In 1975, Shihan Crosswell became a direct student of Soke Hayashi and remained so through 1987.  Shihan Crosswell sponsored Soke Hayashi to teach in the U.S. annually and also traveled to Japan numerous times  for special training within that twelve-year period.  He also interacted with Sensei Yuichi Negishi, of the Shito Kai, first earlier in Japan and later also in the US.  Negishi was a friend of Shyogo Kuniba who had introduced the two instructors to each other.  

                        (left photo) Rudy Crosswell between Teruo Hayashi (left in suit) &  Shyogo Kuniba (right in suit) in 1970                   

                       (right photo)  Rudy Crosswell with Kenzo Mabuni in 1994.

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In 1992, Shihan Crosswell established a relationship with Soke Kenzo Mabuni of the Seito Shitoryu, the 2^nd son of Kenwa.  Crosswell continued to study with him through 1996. 

Shihan Crosswell’s experience from training with four different senior instructors over an extended period of decades gives him a unique and very comprehensive understanding of Shitoryu Karate.  Therefore, in our dojo and in our organization, the International Shitoryu Karate Federation, we teach a broad syllabus that includes information taken from all of these sources.  The obvious benefactors of all this information and experience are our students.  

Please contact us to find out more about the International Karate Association.

Send mail to info@azbudokan.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: August 2, 2004