Shihan Shimabuku Tatsuo
Founder and 1st Soke of style Isshin-Ryu
Founder of Isshinryu Karate
[ Webmaster's note: according to
Sensei Steve Armstrong,
Okinawan family names (the Family in Okinawan tradition, being more important
than any one individual member of the Family), are listed before your personal
name. However, as family names in many countries around the world come last,
this sometimes aides confusion among non-Okinawan Karate-ka. Therefore, as
Master Shimabuku is generally known in the U.S. as "Tatsuo Shimabuku," this
format will be adopted througout. ]
A Brief History of Master Shimabuku
Bio by Steve Armstrong
Edited by
Gordon Hayes
Tatsuo Shimabuku
was born in Kyan Village in 1908, on
the island of Okinawa, on Saturday, the 19th of September. After 67 years
of life, 19 of them as the Soke (head) of the major Karate style Isshin-Ryu,
Mrter Tatsuo Shimabuku passed away from a stroke at his present home village
of Agena, Okinawa, on a Friday, May the 30th, 1975.
Young Tatsuo of the family Shimabuku of the village of Agena, began his study of
Karate at the age of 8 when he walked some 12 miles to the neighboring village of
Shuri to learn Shuri-Tei Karate from his uncle. His uncle sent him home; obstinately
he returned and was sent away several more times. His uncle finally gave in to his
persistence and accepted him as a pupil.
For about four years young Shimabuku was privileged to study Karate in the dojo of his uncle
each day after completing the most menial domestic chores. Having achieved a certain degree of
skill in SHURI-TE Karate, he went on to formal training in KOBAYASKI-RYU. He met Chokotu Kiyan,
who was already famous throughout Okinawa as a Karate instructor and become one of that master's
leading pupils. He also studied Karate with Chojun Miyagi of the GOJU style of Karate and become
his best student. Later, he again took up the study of Karate and became his best student.
NOTE: It has been pointed out that the next
statement from the original text, is incorrect.
"Later, he again took up the study of KOBAYASHI-RYU, this time under Choki Motobu, who was
virtually a legend on Okinawa."
I received an email on 8/27/99 stating the following:
"[It has been stated...] that Tatsuo Shimabuku studied Kobayashishorin Ryu under
Kyan. This is a false statement. Kobayashi Shorin is the lineage of Chosin
Chibana, not Kyan. This is something that has been perpetuated over the years
and needed to be corrected. Tatsuo Shimabuku never was Kobayashi Shorin. It is
a diferent lineage altogether. In interviews, videos that I have of Shinsho
Shimabuku and Kensho Tokumura, they laugh when asked this question. They say
"No Kobayashi, only Kyan Shorinryu"."
Still seeking more knowledge of Karate, he took up the study
of the art of BO and the SAI as well as the TEE-FAA forms, from the instructors Taira Shinken
and Yabikumoden who were responsible for providing Okinawa's instructors with these particular
skills.
Shimabuku's reputation throughout Okinawa had reached its peak when World War II
struck and during the early part of the war he did his best to avoid conscription into
the Japanese Army by escaping into the countryside where he worked as a farmer. As the
situation grew more and more desperate for the Japanese and as the need to press the
Okinawans into service became more urgent, he was forced to flee.
As his reputation in Karate spread among the Japanese, many soldiers began a
thorough search as they wanted to study Karate under him. The officers who finally
caught up with him agreed to keep the secret of his whereabouts if he could teach
them Karate; it was in this manner that Shimabuku survived the war.
After the war he returned to farming and practiced Karate privately for his own
spiritual repose and physical exercise, but as the island's leading practitioner of
both SHORIN-RYU and GOJU-RYU styles of Karate, he felt a strong need to combine the
various styles of Karate into one. After consulting the age masters and the heads of
schools. Shimabuku Tatsuo founded one of the world's major styles of Karate, the
ISSHINRYU system. The One Heart Method-Empty Hand.
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