Shorin-ryu Shorinkan
小林流小林館The Okinawan branch of karate founded in 1975 by Nakazato Shugoro, a student of Chibana Choshin of the Kobayashi line.
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About Shorin-ryu Shorinkan
Shorin-ryu Shorinkan is an Okinawan branch of karate established in November 1975 by Nakazato Shugoro (1919-2016) after he left the Okinawan Shorin-ryu association. Nakazato was a student of Chibana Choshin, the founder of the Kobayashi Shorin-ryu line, and after Chibana's death in 1969 he was among those who carried that line on; his own organisation let him pass it on according to his own arrangement. The roots of the style run through Kobayashi Shorin-ryu back to shuri-te, the old Okinawan tradition of the town of Shuri, from which a number of today's karate schools also descend. Technically the Shorinkan is marked by a natural, more upright stance than the Japanese styles use, work along a straight line, quick transfer of weight and strikes driven by a whip of the body rather than by bracing against the floor; both defence and attack are trained at short range and without long preparation. Alongside the unarmed syllabus many clubs also practise Okinawan kobudo with the bo staff and the sai. Nakazato taught for many years outside Okinawa as well, and the students who trained with him in the 1960s carried the school to the United States; today the Shorinkan is an international organisation headed by Nakazato Minoru.
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