Mabuni Kenwa

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Mabuni Kenwa shows the Kata Suparinpai

Mabuni Kenwa Sōke ( Japanese 摩 文 仁 賢 和 ; * 1889 in Shuri , Okinawa ; † 1952 in Tokyo , Japan ) was the founder of the Shitō-Ryū style and is considered to be the “father” of modern karated ō alongside Funakoshi Gichin and some other masters . He is considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, experts in the field of kata , as he brought together 73 of them for his style and even developed eight himself.

biography

At the age of 13, Mabuni Kenwa first came into contact with the Tōde , the predecessor of karatedō, when he began training Shōrin-ryū under Master Itosu Yasutsune , where he first learned the Kata Naihanchi . Seven years later, the now 20-year-old Mabuni was brought by his friend Miyagi Chōjun , who later developed the Gōjū-ryū , to master Higaonna Kanryō , who taught him the Shōrei-ryū .

After finishing school and doing military service, Mabuni Kenwa joined the police force in 1912 and became an inspector in 1914. At this time he was able to continue studying Shōrin-ryū and Shōrei-ryū, but learned on professional travels from other masters, such as Aragaki, where Mabuni Kenwa learned the Kata Unsu , Sochin and Niseishi . With Tawada Bushi (warrior) Mabuni also learned how to use the Kobudō weapons Sai and Bō .

In 1924 Mabuni Kenwa founded his first Dōjō together with his students Miyagi Chōjun , Kyoda, Motobu Chōki , Hanashiro, Oshiro, Chosin Chibana and Go Kenki . With these masters he had already founded the Okinawa Karate Kenkyu kai (Karate Study Club) in 1918 and later the Okinawa Karate Club . In 1928, following the example of Funakoshi Gichin and Chōjun Miyagi, Mabuni Kenwa finally left Okinawa and settled in Osaka . There he founded the Karate-Dōjō Yoshukan , from which Mabuni's style, the Shitō-Ryū , emerged, which was officially recognized as a karate style by the Dainippon Butokukai in 1931 .

Mabuni had two sons, Mabuni Ken'ei (1918-2015) and Mabuni Kenzo (1927-2005), who founded different views of Shitō-ryū after the death of their father.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Mabuni is the family name, Kenwa the first name.