Isshinryu Karate of Okinawa

Isshinryu was created over time. There is no official birth date but many use the birth of its creator as the birth of Isshinryu. Isshinryu was officially declared and named January 15th, 1956. Shimabuku Tatsuo was born September 19th, 1908 (the year of the monkey).

The name was unique and he chose it because he believed that all things begin with one. As to what exactly that meant to him we can only guess and if we study the ken-po goku-i as well as the ancient Chinese classics, of which he was well versed in, we might come to some conclusions but never truly know for sure.

Isshin means "one heart." Ryu means style, way, etc so many refer to it as Tatsuo's one heart way/style. It might be because it is believed that the "heart" is the soul according to Japanese thought.

Isshinryu can be thought of as the offspring of two kata, Sanchin and Naihanchi. If one views the enbusen line the Sanchin is a horizontal single line while Naihanchi is a vertical single line. Sanchin symbolizing the "father" and Naihanchi symbolizing the "mother" with Isshinryu the offspring.

Sanchin was pulled from the Goju Ryu, hard, system while Naihanchi from the, soft, Shorin Ryu. Tatsuo's experience spanned many years with the last ten, before the naming, creating the Isshinryu system. He pulled a variety of kata and techniques for weapons, etc. into his new system, some from Shorin and some from Goju. He took his experience and coupled with the kata made constant changes until he was satisfied with the style. Regardless of the official naming he kept making changes to the system all the way up to his untimely death.

Tatsuo went thru a variety of names while he taught karate such as Sun-nu-su until he decided on Isshinryu. He spent a good deal of time training Marines in Isshinryu starting before the naming, i.e. 1955, etc.

Shimabuku analyzed and perfected all kata, techniques, and applications he had learned. He took what he regarded as the best and most effective out of Shorin-ryu, Goju-ryu, and Kobudo and formed that into a new system.

Shimabuku had developed a karate system with fast, direct, and powerful punches and kicks, without superfluous movement. He replaced the traditional twisted punch with the trademark of Isshinryu karate the vertical punch. A punch with a vertical fist, tate-ken, is faster and has more impact.