Shorin-ryu is one of the major modern Okinawan martial arts. Said to have
been founded by Sokon Matsumura during the 1800s, Shorin-ryu combines elements
of the traditional Okinawan fighting styles Shuri-te and Tomari-te. Shorin-ryu
is widely considered to be one of the two major modern styles of Okinawan
karate, along with Goju-ryu, which is rooted in the other traditional Okinawan
style, Naha-te.
Sokon Matsumura was a renowned warrior of his time; he has been called
the Miyamoto Musashi of Okinawa. However, while he is often referred to as
the "founder" of Shorin-ryu, he did not invent all the components the style,
and perhaps didn't ever call it "Shorin-ryu" himself. It is quite possible
that he synthesized his knowledge of Okinawan arts with Chinese fighting
styles that he learned on his travels and taught it as a coherent system to
some eager students, who subsequently refined it, labeled it, and passed it
on. (Highlighting Shorin-ryu's Chinese heritage is the fact that "Shorin" is
the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese 少林, "Shaolin"; "ryu" means
"school", or "style".)
Along with being a style on its own, Shorin-ryu is also perhaps the most
influential single ancestor of modern Japanese karate. One of Matsumura's
best-known students, Anko (or "Ankoh") Itosu became a great practitioner and
teacher of Okinawan karate and developed the five Pinan kata, which are now
taught not only in Shorin-ryu, but also in a wide variety of Okinawan,
Japanese and derived martial arts. It is also believed by some that the
first two Pinan katas were actually developed by Matsumura and the last
three by Itosu. In addition, Itosu and another student of Matsumura's named
Anko Azato were among the primary influences on a fellow Okinawan named
Gichin Funakoshi. Funakoshi introduced his Okinawan martial arts to mainland
Japan in 1922, and in subsequent decades was instrumental in developing what
he termed simply "karate" or "karate-do" as a popular Japanese sport and
art. (The style Funakoshi taught on mainland Japan is now called Shotokan
karate.)
Shorin-ryu is generally characterized by natural breathing, natural
(narrow, high) stances, and direct -- rather than circular -- movements.
Shorin-ryu practitioners will say that deep stances are not important for
powerful moves, and that only correct motion matters. In fact, Okinawan
traditionalists often claim that deep, wide stances are a development of
Japanese-styled karate, and useful only for show.
There is not now, and perhaps has never been, a single unified school of
"Shorin-ryu," although many dojos use the term for simplicity's sake. Some
of the best known schools of Shorin-ryu include Shobayashi, Matsumura
Orthodox Shorin-ryu, Kobayashi Shorin-ryu (Shorinkan), and Matsubayashi-ryu,
but there are many others, most with long and distinguished histories that
trace back to Matsumura and his students.
A - C
Okinawa