THE HISTORY OF SHURI-TE

Karate, the weaponless techniques of fighting and self-defense had its early beginnings in Okinawa. Okinawa being the main land of the Ryukyu Islands chain stretching from Japan to Taiwan, (about 300 miles south of Japan). There is evidence of recorded Okinawa history dating back over 1,000 years, although no records exist that serve to give a definitive history of karate. Most information gathered by students, have come from oral tradition and historical documents.

According to Master Shoshin Nagamine, the development of the art of “Te” pre-dates that of karate. “Te” grew during the era of King Shohashi in the 15th century. “Te” then accelerated with the subjugation of the Ryukyu Islands in 1609 by the Satsuma clan of Japan. Although the practice of the art was banned for over 300 years, the art was not completely lost. Training was conducted in secret and the art was passed down from father to son among the samurai class in Okinawa. The art of karate took shape in the late 17th and early 18th century when “Te” merged with the Chinese styles of self-defense to form the present day kata of karate.

In Master Nagamine’s book, “The Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do”, a Chinese envoy whose name later became known as Kusanku (also Ku Shanku or Koso Kun) demonstrated his self-defense skills and out of his performance came the Kusanku kata used in Matsubayashi-Ryu, a style of the Shuri-Te method of karate.

History shows that an Okinawa karate man named Sakugawa, who lived in Shuri over 200 years ago, learned the martial art of To-Te in China. Upon returning to Okinawa he then taught his brand of karate.

During the 18th century “Te” continued to be practiced in secrecy in three different villages; Naha, Shuri and Tomari. Subsequently the styles were named Naha-Te, Shuri-Te and Tomari-Te respectively. Eventually karate was divided into two main types, Shorin-Ryu or Shuri-Te and Shorei-Ryu or Naha-Te. Shorin-Ryu developed around Shuri and Tomari, while Shorei-Ryu came out of Naha.

With the modernization of the world and karate, Shuri-Te / Shorin-Ryu further developed into three basic but similar styles, that being Kobayashi-Ryu, Matsubayashi-Ryu and Shobayashi-Ryu. Naha-Te / Shorei-Ryu was divided into two main styles, they are Goju-Ryu and Uechi-Ryu.

Shuri-Te is therefore generally referred to as Shorin-Ryu, which I believe is a mixture of Tomari-Te and Shuri-Te. It appears to that in Okinawa, the styles representing the Shuri-Te lineage are more widely practiced.

The following is a list of the more recognizable successor styles to Shuri-Te that were developed in Okinawa: Shorin-Ryu, Kobayashi-Ryu, Matsubayashi-Ryu, Shobayashi-Ryu (Sukanahashi-Ryu), Matsumura Orthodox Shorin-Ryu, Shorinji-Ryu, Motobu-Ryu, Ishimine-Ryu, Shaolin Shorin-Ryu, Ryukyu Shorin-Ryu, Tozan-Ryu, Isshin-Ryu, Chubu-Ryu, Kushin-Ryu and Okinawa Kenpo. Of course there are also several popular styles that also derived from Shuri-Te that were developed in Japan, namely; Shotokan, Wado-Ryu, Shito-Ryu, Shito-Ryu and Shindo Jinen-Ryu.

Cleveland Baxter
Kyoshi 7th Dan