Sensei Shimabuku learned Shuri- te karate from Master Motobu. Motobu was known as a fierce fighter, and Sensei Shimabuku learned good kumite (fighting) skills and the kata chinto from Master Motobu.

Chotoku Kiyan (1870-1945)         (Shorin Ryu)

Shimabuku learned Shorin ryu karate from Master Kiyan. Shorin ryu has roots dating back 500 years. The name “shorin” is actually the Japanese pronunciation of “shaolin”, the famous kung fu style of the Chinese Buddhist monks.

From Master Kiyan, Shimabuku learned the kata seisan, naihanchi*, wansu, and ku san ku. Master Kiyan also stressed good kumite.

(*Naihanchi kata is considered the backbone of Shorin ryu karate.)

Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953)          (Goju Ryu)

Shimabuku learned Goju ryu karate from Master Miyagi. From Goju ryu, Shimabuku took sanchin* and seiunchin kata. 

Goju ryu is a very powerful art, with roots in the Southern white crane kung fu of China. The name means "hard-soft style", for its use of dynamic tension between soft and hard techniques.

 (*Sanchin is considered the backbone of Goju ryu karate.)

Taira Shinken (1897-1970)                 (Kobudo)

Shimabuku learned the use of weapons (kobudo) from Master Shinken, including the bo, sai, and tonfa.

     Master Shimabuku practiced and taught these individual styles for many years. However, he noticed over time that his karate in general worked best when he combined techniques, movements, power, and ideas from all three styles together, in a complementary fashion. Each style had weaknesses that could be bolstered by strengths from the other styles.  He also began experimenting with some non-traditional ideas, such as holding his punching fist vertically instead of twisting it horizontally when delivering a strike, and blocking with the forearm muscle rather than turning the forearm and blocking on the bone.

     Therefore, Master Shimabuku founded Isshin Ryu karate on January 15, 1954, in Gushikawa City on the island of Okinawa. The name Isshin Ryu means “One Heart Style”. (The Japanese characters that make up the name Isshinryu can also translate as “God Mind Style”.) Isshin Ryu encompassed all of Master Shimabuku’s favorite traditional martial arts applications and techniques, and incorporated his own innovative ideas, to stand by itself as a new and modern form of karate.