Shimabuku Tatsuo was born on the 19th of September in the year 1908. Many begin with this date and then go on to provide all the credentials of the system's creator. I don't plan on doing the same for that data can be found elsewhere in the Internet.

When he began to allow military persons to train in his dojo, which was his yard, he did not require all the dojo customs you find in today's American training facilities. It was simple and open when the military began around the year 1956.

Those who chose to learn karate from him traveled down to his place where the only custom was the one expressed by Okinawans as common courtesy, i.e. you bowed before entering his yard/dojo then in a way that basically meant to the Americans, "Hi Papa-san!" you bowed to him as he sat on his front porch. You then began to practice the fundamentals/basic hand and foot techniques if you were a beginner or you trained/practiced under the guidance of a senior student, Marine or Cisco (Tatsuo's second son) in kata or kumite.

Karate belts were nonexistent and so were the karate uniforms. It was, believed by me, believed that both the belts, ranking system, and uniforms were brought to the dojo by those same military. One of them provided Tatsuo a belt once along with a uniform from either that person or someone else. Tatsuo gave part of the uniform to someone else.

There was "makiwara" training. Some did that on "makiwara boards" which were 4x4's set into the ground to keep local brigands from breaking them off, etc. Some did a type of makiwara training on a brick wall where a tatami mat was hung so they could kick it and the wall to develop kicking power, etc.

At some time because of Tatsuo's popularity they opened another dojo across from the honbu or main dojo calling it the black belt dojo. Uezu, Tatsuo's son in law, was living in the house attached to this new "L" shaped training hall or facility.

Note: As I may have mentioned before this site does not provide specifics or date lines, etc. so if you want to know "exactly" when, where, who, how, and why with specific dates, etc. go to the other Isshinryu sites or join the yahoo group, "Isshinkai."

It is my belief that Tatsuo ran his training syllabus to compensate for the length of time military persons remained on the island. Along with the introduction of the belt systems along with a strong desire by the participants to achieve the black belt along with learning to kumite quickly for competitive ability he adjusted his teachings to accommodate.

You have to understand that after the war things were difficult and like other natives Tatsuo needed to provide for his family so getting the "Military Special Services" contracts to train Americans was important. I firmly believe he made the adjustments so the goals could be achieved making the participants and the military institutions happy with out lessening the art of karate. Tatsuo was smart and clever so he kept his practice in a manner that would achieve both goals of training true karate and allowing participants with short time spans on the island to achieve the black belt and proficiency in kumite, etc. A win-win situation for all involved.

Tatsuo stressed to a few of his American practitioners his desire that they continue to learn and practice. He also mentioned that they should seek out more on the customs and such of the Okinawan people and also wanted us to accept the "kenpo gokui" he usually provided to those leaving when he promoted them to black belt so they could find more in their practice then the mere physical they achieved in such a short time span.

He provided a "silk certificate" of the kenpo gokui in the hopes that they would study it and come to understand its meaning as he provided in the symbols within the Isshinryu system. I believe he also meant it as a "key" to open the mind to what is possible when practicing karate-do. It was the type of thing one could achieve regardless of it being the singular practice of karate or some other endeavor such as calligraphy, flower arranging, tea ceremony, etc.

Tatsuo practiced much like his teachers which was not a regimented format but loosely and as custom he took what he was taught by others and made them his own. Like old masters of "Ti or hand" they trained and then adjusted their practice to achieve a unique form that worked specifically for them. Tatsuo created/named his own style after the island started creating them, i.e. naha, shuri, and tomari didn't come from the ancient masters but are names used in the 1900's by who knows who and then those who trained in the forties, fifties, etc. created their own versions, named them and called them styles, and then created the kata, etc. to fit the new and current forms being introduced by influences of the Japanese.

Tatsuo was known to perform the kata different at each performance. Sometimes he would do them identically for two or three times and then on the fourth do it different. I can only "guess" that it is possible that he discovered something in the first two or three and then put it into the fourth time to see where it would lead.

A lot of what Tatsuo believed and wanted was left up to the individual to find. He was often cryptic or non-responsive and to understand what his intent was you really needed to understand the mind of the Asian, Okinawan.

In reality a lot is subjective as nothing was written down by the early practitioners much like not much if anything was recorded about karate history on Okinawa. Documentation didn't really begin until the sixties and beyond. Subjective.

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