Tatsuo Shimabuku

Quick Facts

Date of Birth9/19/1908

Date of Death5/30/1975

Country of OriginJapan

Also known asShimabukuro Tatsuo

Biography

Tatsuo Shimabuku was an Okinawan karate master and founder of the Isshin-ryu style, which after the Second World War spread mainly among American soldiers. He was born on 19 September 1908 as Shinkichi in the village of Chan in Gushikawa and died on 30 May 1975 aged 66.

According to his student A. J. Advincula, his maternal uncle taught him martial arts. He trained with Chotoku Kyan, according to Wikipedia and Black Belt magazine, from 1927, while Advincula gives four years from age 23 or 24. He also studied with Chojun Miyagi and for about a year with Choki Motobu, and the year differs between 1938 and 1942. At the turn of the nineteen-fifties and nineteen-sixties he learned kobudo with Shinken Taira.

He first called his style Chan-migwa-te and later Sun nu Su-te. He announced the name Isshin-ryu on 15 January 1956 at home in Chan before some twenty people. According to Advincula, he was inspired by a dream of the goddess Ryuzu Kannon on a dragon, Wikipedia speaks of the goddess Isshinryu no Megami. He introduced to the style the punch with the thumb up and no rotation, and combined the kata Naihanchi from Shorin-ryu and Sanchin from Goju-ryu. Kata Sunsu is unique to Isshin-ryu.

In 1957 his student Don Nagle opened the first Isshin-ryu dojo in the USA. Shimabuku visited the USA in 1964 and 1966, and in 1972 he passed leadership to his eldest son Kichiro.

Early life

Tatsuo Shimabuku was born on 19 September 1908 as Shinkichi in the village of Chan, today Kinaka, in Gushikawa. According to Wikipedia he was the eldest of ten children in a farming family. His student A. J. Advincula states that his maternal uncle Ganeku taught him martial arts as well as divination, and Wikipedia places the beginning at the age of thirteen. Before the war he worked as a farmer, tax collector and bodyguard.

Training and teachers

He trained with Chotoku Kyan, according to Wikipedia and Black Belt magazine, from 1927 to 1939, while Advincula gives four years from the age of 23 or 24. With Chojun Miyagi he studied, according to Advincula, for three years from about 1936, and Black Belt mentions brief study in 1947. With Choki Motobu he trained for about a year, Advincula gives 1938, Black Belt 1941 and Wikipedia 1942. Black Belt also mentions training with Choyu Motobu around 1924.

From 1939 to 1941 he lived, according to Advincula, in the Philippines and then in Osaka. He learned kobudo from Shinken Taira, according to Black Belt in 1958 to 1960, according to Advincula in 1959 to 1961.

Contribution and innovations

He first called his style Chan-migwa-te, and around 1947 he began teaching in several places. According to Advincula, the name Sun nu Su-te was given to him by the mayor of Chan around 1951, while Wikipedia gives 1947. He announced the name Isshin-ryu on 15 January 1956 at home in Chan before about twenty people.

His innovations include the vertical punch without rotation with the thumb up and blocks with the forearm onto the muscle. According to Advincula, he included in the system the kata Naihanchi from Shorin-ryu and Sanchin from Goju-ryu. The kata Sunsu is, according to Wikipedia, unique to Isshin-ryu, and the sai kata Kyan Chotoku nu Sai replaced Kusanku Sai by 1960.

Philosophy and principles

Asked why he named the style Isshin-ryu, he answered, according to a recollection of Eiko Kaneshi recorded by Advincula, that all things begin with one. According to Advincula, he reminded students that no bottle is the best one. The source does not explain what he meant by it.

Legends and documented facts

The story of the dream that led to the name Isshin-ryu is told in two versions: Advincula writes about the goddess Ryuzu Kannon on a dragon, Wikipedia about the goddess Isshinryu no Megami. No source names a witness to the dream. According to his second son Shinsho and Shimabuku himself, the style developed over years, and 15 January 1956 is the day the name was announced, not the day the style came into being.

Victor Smith writes on the Fightingarts website that many Isshin-ryu kata come from Kyan's training and that Shimabuku need not be portrayed as self-taught. The sources also differ on the years of his training with Kyan, Miyagi and Motobu.

Legacy

In 1957 his student Don Nagle opened the first Isshin-ryu dojo in the USA near Camp Lejeune, and at the end of 1958 Harold Long opened one in Twenty-Nine Palms. Shimabuku visited the USA in 1964 and 1966. In 1972, according to Black Belt magazine, he retired and named his eldest son Kichiro his successor, while Advincula gives 1971.

He died on 30 May 1975 as a result of a stroke. In 1980, according to Wikipedia, he was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame of the International Isshin-ryu Association. According to sensei Andy Sloane, quoted in Black Belt in 2026, only two Isshin-ryu dojo remain on Okinawa.

Teachers, students and family

Associated Martial Arts

Kata and forms

Quotes