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Karate-dô by the Kokusai Budôin (International Martial Arts Federation).

Ôtsuka Jirô, Hironori’s second son, assumed the leadership of the Wadô-

ryû after his father’s death.

Mabuni Kenwa (1889–1952) studied Shuri-di under Ankô Itosu (Ya-

sutsune). After studying Shuri-di for some time, Itosu suggested that

Mabuni train at the same time with Higashionna (Higaonna) Kanryô in the

Naha-di system. Mabuni trained with both Itosu and Higashionna until

their deaths in 1915. Mabuni also studied martial arts with Arakaki Seisho

and the White Crane instructor Gô Kenki (Okinawan; pinyin Wu Xiangui).

In the 1920s, Mabuni traveled to Japan several times, where he partici-

pated in public demonstrations of karate. Mabuni taught for a time in

Tokyo at the Ryôbukan of Konishi Yasuhiro, a ranking member of the Bu-

tokukai, and eventually moved his family to Ôsaka, where he established a

dôjô (training hall) in 1929. In 1933, Mabuni’s system was registered with

the Dainippon Butokukai as Shitô-ryû. Shitô is a contraction of the names

of Mabuni’s primary karate instructors, Itosu and Higashionna. Rendered

into the Chinese on-yomi,Itô-Higa is read as Shi-Tô. Mabuni Kenwa struc-

tured an official curriculum for the Shitô-ryû that included standardized

Karate, Japanese 237

Left: Practitioners of Japanese karate utilize hard and fast infighting techniques in jiyû-kumite.
Right: Ippon kumite is practiced as a part of the basic curriculum of Japanese karate. (Courtesy of Ron Mottern)