shito ryu karate

[ShadowGoomba]

is this a good self defense martial art? I have found a little info online but not to much. Has Anyone seen it before? thanx in advance.

[harleyt26]

Hello I have studied Shito Ryu for over fifteen years and it is a most excellent style.It was founded by Mabuni Kenwa,he was a kata collector the style uses kata from all the Okinawan systems.It has as many kata or more than most systems.There are several branches of Shito Ryu I probably do not know them all but the ones I am aware of are Itosukai Shito Ryu,Hyashiha Shito Ryu,Seito Shito Ryu and Motobuha Shito Ryu.I am not familiar with what organizations are in your area.You should screen the instructors carefully there are some very good Shito Ryu dojo out there but there are some very unothodox schools also.It is very easy for someone to throw a bunch of stuff together and call it Shito Ryu,most of the Japanese systems use kata similar to what Shito Ryu uses.So if someone had studied a variety of systems and then decided to start there own school the easiest thing to do is to call their style Shito Ryu.Check the lineage of the style then go on line and research the claims the instructor has made.I was very gullable and did not research my own instructors claim for a very long time.When I did I was very surprised to find there was no truth to the claims of my instructor.Please do not get me wrong it was not a waste of time I was still able to learn the basics and some advanced technique that has made it possible to quickly adapt to a true system.I had to break some bad habits but it was much easier to progress with the basics,stances and the large kata base the Shito Ryu system had instilled in me.Let us know what you find out.A couple of good scources of info on Shito Ryu I used were Rudy Croswell and Lewis Estes,I do not have access to there e-mail addresses but they are easily obtained in a web search.

[ShadowGoomba]

Hmmm....not a big fan of katas, but I can live with them. How about self defense work?

[harleyt26]

I cannot speak for the rest of the lineages but I trained in Motobuha Shito Ryu. Shogo Kuniba, the founder of the system studied in many authentic styles but the main inputs to his system were Motobu Ryu directly from Choki Motobu which was Shogos fathers style of choice,Kenwa Mabuni and for weapons he studied with again Mabuni and Taira Shinken.There is not much better out there as far as self defence techniques than what Motobu Ryu could have offered.It is a system based basically on offensive moves,Choki Motobu did not beleive in defensive stances such as cat stance his thought was that if your opponent put you in a defensive stance you were losing.I would definetly check out your local Shito Ryu dojo,It is a very well rounded style and a complete system.At this point I am trying to go to Kunibas roots and study the styles that he studied to develope his system.To do that one must study the authentic Okinawan styles, the basics are almost identical to Shito Ryu, but I am getting the opportunity to see what Kuniba used and what he thought would not work for him then I can make my own decisions on what works for myself.Do not exclude kata from your training all you need is a knowlegeable instructor to show the proper application in the kata.Kata is intended to show the one training in it how to do the self defence applications from different stances and off of different attacks.Kata is nithing but self defence when taught properly.Self defence is not how I prefer to think of it though,most styles of budo were originated to use in combat situations.

[sansoouser]

http://www.shitoryu.org/main_frm.htm

 

http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/9432/shitopr.html

 

http://www.all-karate.com/how_to_learn_karate.php

 

http://www.kenyukai.net/shitoryu.html

 

http://www.shitokai.com/shitoryu3.html

 

http://www.geocities.com/shitoryu_in/

 

Some good links I've gathered on the style. I was taught by Del Saito for awhile http://www.tkomartialarts.com/index.php?cid=17

[ShadowGoomba]

Thanks for the info. I will be checking out the dojo in a couple of days.

[Coco]

I train in a shito ryu dojo, and its awsome. As far as kata goes, they have mostly different variations of shotokan/goju ryu katas, and they add up to be about 40+ katas in total. As for self defence, I like it alot, because every sigle move has an explanation, and we are tought how to use it, for example on Heian Yondan, on the first bunkai you get to hit the opponent on the nerves on the side of the neck then drop him to the ground and from there, you can finish him off however you want.(Thats how its like on my dojo) I would definately check it out.

[Sasori_Te]

I had an aquaintence from a former job that was a Godan in Hayashiha Shito Ryu under Rudy Croswell. He had to know 160 plus katas (including weapons forms) by the time he was a 3rd Dan. I thought that this was a bit extreme. He seemed to love it though. I don't understand the opint of superficially knowing that many kata. He claimed that he knew them all at an in depth level. I had also heard some things about Sensei Croswell that were a bit disturbing. My friend knew about these things and confirmed them. He said that Sensei Croswell was young when they happened and he was the best instructor that he had ever seen. I think he was a little biased*L*.

[Ronnryu]

I also study Shito ryu a branch of the motobu ha style. I am also familar with Mr. Croswell. He is very big on letting you know right up front who he has trained with. Not deniing that He has studied under some great people . However he has not stayed under there orginazation. I believe he was a part of the Seito Shito ryu which is run by Soke Kenzo Mabuni who is the son of the founder Kenwa Mabuni. I also run many kata but there is no way anyone could keep up with 100 kata at a 3rd dan level.

 

There are many styles that will run slightly different versions of the same kata. Alot of people do this jsut so they can say they know 1000 kata.I have been studing Shito ryu for over 20 years now and find myself droping alot of the repeat kata. I mean how many versions of Bassai do you need.

 

Also many of the Shotokan kata come from the Shito ryu style . Funakoshi sent many of his top studnets including his som Gigo to study kata From Mabuni and bring back kata to the Shotokan style. kata like unsu comes from unshu as well as nijushiho comes from niseishi and so on.

 

just my 2 cents

[mArTiAl_GiRl]

I study Shitoryu too, Motobu-ha Kunibakai Shito-ryu, to be exact.

 

I've studied Shito-ryu for 3 years, and one year Wado-ryu.

 

And thank god I didn't choose Wado-ryu, because I find Shito-ryu much more effective. It has so many katas, so I never have a problem with choosing a kata to perform when I'm competeing.

 

Actually, this style reminds me a bit of Kung-Fu, which is really cool.