A Brief History of Karate

Karate is a fighting art that evolved on the Japanese islands of Okinawa. It was introduced to mainland Japan in the early 1900s and since the 1950s it has spread throughout the world.
Kara-te literally translated means “empty hand fighting”. As the name describes, when practising karate you are fighting empty-handed i.e. without any weapons.

Nowadays around the world there are many different karate organisations and so called “styles” in existence but they all have basically the same origins. These lie in the teachings of two great karate masters from Okinawa during the middle 1800s named Kanryo Higaonna and Ankoh Itosu.

Top students of these Okinawan masters travelled to mainland Japan and taught karate, mainly in universities at first, as a way of introducing this fighting art to the Japanese people. One such student was Kenwa Mabuni and it was he who developed and formed the “Shito-Ryu” system of karate that we practice and teach in our club today. This is now one of the most popular styles of karate practised in the world!

The Chief Instructor of the worldwide Shito-Ryu Shukokai Union is Soke Haruyoshi Yamada, 10th dan. Mr Yamada is one of the most senior karate masters in Japan and was a senior student of the late Chojiro Tani who founded the Shukokai association.
Mr Tani was himself a direct disciple of Master Kenwa Mabuni, the founder of Shito-Ryu karate.

Because of the direct link we have with the founder of our style, the principles and techniques that we teach within the Shito-Ryu Shukokai Union are the genuine and traditional ones that were developed in Okinawa, the birthplace of karate!

The word “Shukokai” from our title means “way for all” and it is this principle that our club and association encompass to ensure that the karate we teach is suitable for all students.

Mr Yamada, the World Chief Instructor, and Mr Kamohara the European Chief Instructor, both visit England on a regular basis to teach.
In return Sensei Chris Mileham, the club instructor in Shrewsbury, regularly visits Europe and Japan to train with these highly respected karate masters.
This regular contact ensures that a continuous flow of new information is always available to the students.