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Tsuyoshi Chitose

千歳剛直

Okinawan karate master and physician (1898–1984), who founded the Chito-ryu style around 1948, combining Shuri-te, Tomari-te, and Naha-te.

Quick Facts

Date of Birth10/18/1898
Date of Death6/6/1984
Country of OriginJapanJapan
OccupationSoldier, Physician
Also known asChinen Gua

Biography

Tsuyoshi Chitose, whose Okinawan birth name was Chinen Gua, was a karate master, physician, and founder of the Chito-ryu style. He was born on October 18, 1898 in Naha, Okinawa, and died on June 6, 1984 in Kumamoto at the age of 85.

He learned karate from Seisho Arakaki, Kanryo Higaonna, Chotoku Kyan, Chomo Hanashiro, Choyu Motobu, and Sandy Chinen. He trained in judo under Kyuzo Mifune, and in kendo and iaido under Nakayama Hakudo. He studied medicine at Tokyo University and ran a practice in Tokyo focused mainly on gynecology. From 1932 to 1945 he served as a major in the medical corps of the Japanese Imperial Army.

In 1946 he opened his first dojo, Yoseikan, in Kikuchi, Kumamoto Prefecture. Around 1948 he founded the Chito-ryu style, combining Shuri-te, Tomari-te, and Naha-te; the name means "thousand-year Chinese style". That same year he became a co-founder of the All Japan Karate-do Federation. In 1951 he began teaching karate to the American army at Camp Wood.

At its peak, Chito-ryu had over 40 000 practitioners on four continents.

Teachers, students and family

Teacher

Associated Martial Arts

Chito-ryu KarateFounder→

Okinawan karate founded after the war in Kumamoto by the physician Tsuyoshi Chitose. The name means "a thousand years of Tang" and points to its Chinese roots.

Organisations