Styles of Karate– by Kanken Toyama

Today I thought I would share one of my absolute favourite articles ever written on
Karate.

It’s about the different “styles” that seem to exist in Karate, and it is written by a gentleman
named Kanken Toyama (1888-1966).

Kanken Toyama was - apart from being a schoolteacher - a master of Karate. He began his
Karate training at 9 years old under “the father of modern Karate”, Itosu Anko, but later
moves to Taiwan and studied the Chinese styles. Given his diverse martial arts background,
the Japanese government soon recognized Toyama, and awarded him the title of master
instructor.

In 1946, Toyama founded the All Japan Karate-Do Federation (AJKF) with the intention of
unifying the various forms of Karate of Japan and Okinawa under one governing
organization. I can’t really say he succeeded…

Anyway, here is a picture of the man in his younger years:

I think I even visited his grave last year, but I can’t seem to find the right picture… Well,
enough with the introduction, here is part one of his article/essay about styles in Karate.

Enjoy!

How many styles does Karate have? I have been asked this question numerous times but
usually by those that really do not understand the essential elements of a martial art.
If one seriously thinks about these essential elements that make up a martial art, one then
can easily understand the reasoning that Karate does not have any one style. Karate molds
an individual to be the only object of defense or offense and, through this, it teaches the
basic concept of self-protection.

The exquisite skill of Karate that is based on self-protection does not need to contain
several different “styles,” but a combination of what works or is effective. In other words,
Sumo wrestlers, boxers and airplane pilots do not have any one special style and neither
does Karate. The methods of training, techniques and successes can only be achieved
through sheer ability!

The orthodox Karate has, in reality, only one style but what does the word “style” mean?
Your methods of etiquette and formality or the various methods of flower arrangement
have several different “styles” but they are reasonably the same. People set forth a criteria
on how to create a beautiful flower arrangement using the same material or how to show
respect to one another as a method of etiquette.

It is understandable that people in Japan show respect by bowing and people of Europe and
America show the same respect by shaking hands or saluting. As far as etiquette and
formality goes, there are several styles from different points of view, ideology and social
standing but they accomplish the same purpose.

So, one can now understand that although there maybe a number of ways of doing things,
they all accomplish the same end and purpose.

And that is what counts.

Now, let us discuss Karate styles. One of the major styles that come to our attention is
Shorin-ryu (ryu meaning a way or style that was created from an individual’s point of view,
belief or ideology). Shorei-ryu, Goju-ryu and Shito-ryu are other styles that are very closely
related and this will be discussed.

They say that Shorin-ryu came from the Shorin-ji Kenpo system and Shorei-ryu came
from the Shorei-ji Kenpo system. These ancient styles of Shorin-ji Kenpo and Shorei-ji
Kenpo are usually described as if they were still in existence, but there is no firm fact or
evidence to substantiate this.

They say that Dharma [Daruma/Bodhidharma] built the foundation of the Shorin-ji [more
commonly known as the Shaolin] temple about one thousand years ago when Buddhism
was introduced into China and a number of Buddhist scriptures were written describing
their martial art. There is also a Shorei-ji temple but the location and history of the temple
is presently unknown.
The above mentioned traditions [Shorin-ji ryu and Shorei-ji ryu] have no relation in the
present day in either form or substance. Further, the result of study and analysis
concerning the fistic and kicking techniques revealed that the above methods were basically
the same! There is very little difference in the position of the open hand or fist in the above
mentioned methods. This difference can also be considered natural, based on the methods
of training and of the steady progress one makes during training. In brief, all Kenpo
[methods of the fist] have almost the same “form” and purpose as does modern day
Karate.

The next styles that we will discuss will be the Goju-ryu and Shito-ryu, but they are
almost the same. In the strictest classification of these styles, Goju-ryu is included in Shito-
ryu. It can also be said that the name Shito-ryu was devised by using the combination of the
initials of Anko Itosu and Kanryo Higaonna who were Shuri-te and Naha-te experts,
respectively, and are considered as the ones who brought Karate out of its veil of secrecy
and into the modern light.

(I, the author, must state that both Shishu Sensei [Itosu] and Toona Sensei [Higaonna]
were my master teachers). Goju-ryu came from the combination of Go-jutsu (using the
[hard] techniques of thrusting, piercing, chopping and kicking) and Ju-jutsu (using the
[soft] techniques of knocking down, pushing, twisting and arresting).

About ten years ago, I spoke with Mr. Kenwa Mabuni [founder of Shito-ryu] who
identified his Karate-style as Shito-ryu. I then asked him about his ideology concerning the
meaning of Shito-ryu. His answer was very simple and he stated two reasons. He stated
that:

 People need and want the feeling of belonging or identifying with

Mr. Mabuni further identified his style as a mixture of Shuri-te and Naha-te and is almost
the same as mine. My method of karate is the consolidation of the following experts’ karate
styles: Sokon Matsumura the Bushi [warrior], Ankoh Itosu and Kanryo Higaonna. In other
words, it is the real, orthodox Karate of Okinawa.

In conclusion, let me explain about Goju-ryu. My good friend, Mr. Chojun Miyagi
[founder of Goju-ryu] is the same age as I am. He is a real man of character and his martial
art is excellent. He was cut out to be a Karate-man. He was an outstanding trainee of Mr.
Kanryo Higaonna and mastered the Naha-te style of Karate. I asked him about his ideology
concerning the meaning of Goju-ryu when I spoke with him at the Naha Commercial
School in October of 1936. He explained to me that he wanted to express the whole nature
of Karate in as simple terms as possible for those people who had no true knowledge or
understanding of karate.

Mr. Miyagi stated that all techniques of karate consisted of two methods such as Go-jutsu
and Ju-jutsu (explained in the preceding paragraphs). Boxing is a kind of Go-jutsu and
Judo is a kind of Ju-jutsu. Some people think that Karate consists of only Go-jutsu
techniques but this way of thinking is incorrect. The name Goju-ryu of Mr. Chojun Miyagi
tells its own story.

You may state with a real understanding that there is no “ryu” [styles] in Karate but that
everything can be united into the orthodox Karate (orthodox Karate is the Karate based on
self-perfection while traditional Karate is based on self-protection).

Recently, some Karate-men have used funny and strange sounding names for their own
styles of Karate. A Karate-man of this kind does not have a real understanding or
knowledge of the orthodox Karate, or he has no confidence in his ability as a Karate-man.
He uses these funny sounding names for his own style of Karate as an evasive answer when
he has a hard time demonstrating a very difficult technique or even an incomplete one.

I (Kanken Toyama, the author of this article) have been teaching all the “styles” of the
orthodox Karate which has already been explained in the preceding paragraphs. I have also
been teaching Ubo-kenpo and Ruda-kenpo from Taiwan and China, techniques of Self-
Defense for females, Bo-jutsu, Sai-jutsu, Nunchaku-jutsu and Tuifa-jutsu at my Shudokan
training hall. In other words, I have been teaching all the techniques of the orthodox
Karate of Okinawa.