Shorinji Ryu Renshinkan
少林寺流錬心舘A karate school of the Shorinji-ryu branch, which according to its website was founded by Isamu Tamotsu in Kagoshima in 1955. Its fighting is done in bogu protectors.
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Training
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Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
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About Shorinji Ryu Renshinkan
Shorinji-ryu Karate-do Renshinkan is a karate school that, according to the website of its British branch Renshinkan Great Britain, was founded by Isamu Tamotsu. According to it, he opened the Shorinji-ryu Karate-do Association and the Renshinkan dojo in Koma-chou in Kagoshima on 8 November 1955. English Wikipedia lists it as a Shōrinji-ryū branch with the year 1955. The school traces its lineage from Sokon Matsumura through Chotoku Kyan to Joen Nakazato, who according to it named the style after its place of origin, the Shaolin monastery in China. According to the site, Tamotsu, as Nakazato's student, brought the style to the main Japanese islands in the fifties. The same site says elsewhere that after the war he studied on Okinawa under Zenryo Shimabukuro, Kyan's student. The school says the founder introduced the rule of fighting in bogu protectors. The site says the second soke was his son Iwao Tamotsu (1945 to 2016), the third is his brother Yuzo Tamotsu.
History
According to the Renshinkan Great Britain website, Isamu Tamotsu was born in 1919 in Amami City in Kagoshima Prefecture. At seventeen, according to it, he studied kodokan jujutsu under Tadao Nakahara and southern Chinese martial arts at the Butokuden in Taichung, Taiwan. In 1964, according to the school, he founded the Renshinkan headquarters called Kenshi-ga-oka in Ijuin-cho. The site also credits him with founding the All Japan Shorinji-ryu Karate-do Federation and with an invitation to mainland China in 1965.
How it differs
English Wikipedia lists Isamu Tamotsu's Renshinkan and Joen Nakazato's Okinawan Shorinji Ryu as two separate branches of Shōrinji-ryū, both with the year 1955. According to it, several groups, mostly connected with Chōtoku Kyan, used the names Shōrin-ryū and Shōrinji-ryū interchangeably. According to the same overview, Renshinkan is a different branch from Shorinji-ryu Kenkokan.
Training
According to the school's website, teaching rests on the seven budo virtues of compassion, courage, honor, humility, loyalty, sincerity and honesty. In the historical part the site separately lists the five virtues of gotoku, sincerity, justice, courtesy, wisdom and kindness. According to it, Tamotsu completed the basic kata seiryu-shichiho on Okinawa.
Competition
Its website says the school protects human life in the competition arena through correct use of bogu. It says the founder introduced the rule of fighting with mandatory protectors.
Today
Its website says Renshinkan Great Britain was founded in 1985 by Julia Turley and is affiliated with the Japanese headquarters. The site says Iwao Tamotsu founded an international federation with international friendly tournaments and spread the style to Great Britain, the USA, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Panama. It says the current grandmaster is Yuzo Tamotsu, 10th dan.
Did you know
The school's website spells Kyan's name inconsistently, once Chotuku and elsewhere Chutoku. It says Sokon Matsumura created the kata Chinto by tradition. It says Iwao Tamotsu took over the title of soke in May 2000.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Shorinji-ryu Renshinkan?
According to the school's website, Isamu Tamotsu, who opened the Renshinkan dojo in Kagoshima on 8 November 1955.
Is Renshinkan the same as Shorinji-ryu Kenkokan?
No. English Wikipedia lists them as different branches of Shōrinji-ryū.
Does Renshinkan use protectors?
Yes. The school says the founder introduced the rule of fighting with mandatory bogu protectors.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.