Description
About Shito Ryu Karate Do and Embroidery:
• Shito Ryu Karate Do Available in calligraphy styles Kaisho (semi-formal) and Gyosho (cursive style). When you order please choose the position of the embroidery on the left chest of the jacket or on the lower lapel of the jacket above the manufacturer’s label. If you have a special requirement please call us on 818 889 3856.
• Our designs are hand-digitized by our own staff, stitch by stitch. They are then under-sewn before the design is completed using heavy-duty Japanese industrial sewing machines.
• We use only the highest quality materials from manufacturers in Japan and Germany.
• Our service is fast and accurate: we normally ship within 7–10 days of receipt of your order, often much sooner.
• Guaranteed accurate FREE Japanese and no “set up” charges saving you as much as $65 per uniform.
• We use ONLY Grade A German Dacron thread in the colors: very red, traditional Japanese gold, jet black, platinum white, gold or silver luster, blue, navy or midnight blue, & brown.
• Custom design service: please call, 1 (818) 889-3856.
• FREE UNIFORM EMBROIDERY service for ShitoRyu Karate Do up to a value of $15 per uniform. Please use the embroidery coupon when you check out. The majority of our designs cost just $15 so for purchasers of new Meijin uniforms, it’s FREE
Kenwa Mabuni and Shito Ryu Karate Do
In 1924 (Taishō 13) Mabuni accepted several teaching positions and taught Karate inter-alia at the ‘Okinawan prefectual Teachers-College’ (Okinawa-ken Shihan Gakkō), the ‘Fisheries-College’ (Kenritsu Suisan Gakkō) and the ‘Police-Academy’ (Kaisatsu Gakkō). A year later Mabuni opened his first Dōjō in the backyard of his house and founded the ‘Chinese Hand Research Club‘(Karate Kenkyū Kurabu). Following that, he closed the now needless ’Karate Kenkyūkai’. We can guess that the members of the ‘Karate Kenkyū Kurabu’ also taught regularly in Mabuni’s Dōjō and thus that they had an agile technical and philosophical exchange. “Everybody knew that the Mabuni house was a mecca for Karate-Dō men” remembered his son Kenei. “Really, the elite of modern Karate” gathered there.
In January 1927 (Shōwa 2) Dr. Kanō Jigorō (1860-1938), the founder of Jūdō, and his student Nagaoka Hidekazu (1876-1952) visited the ‘Karate Kenkyū Kurabu’. At this opportunity, Mabuni Kenwa and his friend Miyagi Chōjun performed various Kata of Karate. Kanō was quite impressed by this performance and encouraged them to spread their art on the Japanese mainland. Kanō characterized Karate as an “universal martial art, suitable for attack and defense” and had the opinion that “such an ideal Budō … [needed] to be spread all over the country.” Kanō said to Mabuni: “According to your ability, you should be awarded fourth Dan in Jūdō right on the spot.”
This conversation most likely acted as the catalyst for Mabuni to relocate to Tōkyō in 1928 (Shōwa 3). For the following ten months, Mabuni lived at the home of Konishi Yasuhiro Tenshin (1893-1983), a student of Funakoshi Gichin. Konishi was an accounted expert of the Japanese martial arts and at that time already skilled in Kendō, Musō-Ryū Jūjutsu and Takenouchi-Ryū Jūjutsu. He had also trained Karate with Funakoshi Gichin and should later on become one of the most important figures in the development and spread of Karate on the Japanese mainland. Mabuni and Konishi shared a great passion for the martial arts and must have liked each other right from the start. Mabuni taught Konishi evidently various Kata in those days. Although not proven yet, we can assume that Konishi then introduced Mabuni to the basic techniques of Musō– or Takenouchi-Ryū in return. Konishi also frequently joined Mabuni to Karate-demonstrations and even travelled with him to Wakayama-Prefecture to train with Uechi Kanbun (1877-1948), the founder of Uechi-Ryū. Under the impression of this experience, Mabuni and Konishi developed the Kata ‘Shinpa’ which encompassed the defensive principles learned from Uechi.
