Wankan Kata By Shoshin Nagamine Sensei

Sensei Nagamine in another Wankan kata in front of the Shuri Castle.

Sensei Nagamine Performing Wankan

Nagamine Shorin Ryu Karate

risingsunproductions.net presents: Filmed in 1964. 1996 and 1997, this video is a complete overview of Master Shoshin Nagamine in his prime, and then later in life. Included are the empty hand kata, weapons kata and weight training exercises related to the Shorin Ryu style. One of the few 10th dans in karate Nagamine Sensei passed away in 1997, after the Okinawan World Karate Championships, where he demonstrated his kata in front of a crowd who responded with a standing ovation. This important demonstration, and his last public demonstration, can be seen on this video. This video is part of Okinawan Shorin Ryu History. Approx. 30 minutes B/W.

Budo Japanese/Okinawan Masters of the Martial Arts

risingsunproductions.net presents: Never before has there been so much rare martial arts footage compiled into one project. This is Japanese Budo at its finest, these are the men that continue the tradition. FightingSpiritMagazine.Com They are all here Yamaguichi, Ueshiba, Kano, Higa Seko, Nishiyama, Tomiki, Richard Kim, Oshiro, Demura, Tohei, Kubota, and close to 70 more of the most famous ever Japanese/Okinawan Masters of the Martial Arts. Years in the making this documentary is a collection of the best Masters of Budo .... Karate, Aikido, Judo, Sword, Kobudo and much more. This is not just one persons collection but rather 15 plus of the worldÌs leading martial artists have contributed to its making. The narration is excellent, the music appropriate, and the writing factual. The footage dates back to 1917 circa and some as recent as 2003. This presentation close to two hours in length is perfect for martial arts schools to play as a history lesson or for those who are interested in comparing the kata of Higa Seko to that of Yagi Meitoku or who want to compare Hidetaka Nishiyama to Gichin Funakoshi or maybe NagamineÌs Shorin Ryu to Hohan SokenÌs Shorin Ryu. You will see why Masters like Ueshiba, Nishiyama, Kano and Miyazato will go down in history as legends and National Treasures of Japan. Plus you will see some of the most amazing feats of power ever, Tak Kubota smashing his shins with a sledge hammer, Seiji Uechi slicing a solid concrete slab in half with a single cut of a sword, MasOyama fighting a Bull, Hidetaka Nishiyama smashing boards in four different directions and so much more.

Highlights from the 2005 European Karate Championships EKF WKF

This is an excellent karate video. I did the finishing production for Kamikaze Spain. If you're interested in the full DVDs, visit either www.kombatklub.com or www.kamikazeweb.com ENJOY!

What Is Shorin Ryu

Shorin-ryu is one of the major modern Okinawan martial arts. Said to have been founded by Sokon Matsumura during the 1800s, Shorin-ryu combines elements of the traditional Okinawan fighting styles Shuri-te and Tomari-te. Shorin-ryu is widely considered to be one of the two major modern styles of Okinawan karate, along with Goju-ryu, which is rooted in the other traditional Okinawan style, Naha-te.

Sokon Matsumura was a renowned warrior of his time; he has been called the Miyamoto Musashi of Okinawa. However, while he is often referred to as the "founder" of Shorin-ryu, he did not invent all the components the style, and perhaps didn't ever call it "Shorin-ryu" himself. It is quite possible that he synthesized his knowledge of Okinawan arts with Chinese fighting styles that he learned on his travels and taught it as a coherent system to some eager students, who subsequently refined it, labeled it, and passed it on. (Highlighting Shorin-ryu's Chinese heritage is the fact that "Shorin" is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese 少林, "Shaolin"; "ryu" means "school", or "style".)

Along with being a style on its own, Shorin-ryu is also perhaps the most influential single ancestor of modern Japanese karate. One of Matsumura's best-known students, Anko (or "Ankoh") Itosu became a great practitioner and teacher of Okinawan karate and developed the five Pinan kata, which are now taught not only in Shorin-ryu, but also in a wide variety of Okinawan, Japanese and derived martial arts. It is also believed by some that the first two Pinan katas were actually developed by Matsumura and the last three by Itosu. In addition, Itosu and another student of Matsumura's named Anko Azato were among the primary influences on a fellow Okinawan named Gichin Funakoshi. Funakoshi introduced his Okinawan martial arts to mainland Japan in 1922, and in subsequent decades was instrumental in developing what he termed simply "karate" or "karate-do" as a popular Japanese sport and art. (The style Funakoshi taught on mainland Japan is now called Shotokan karate.)

Shorin-ryu is generally characterized by natural breathing, natural (narrow, high) stances, and direct -- rather than circular -- movements. Shorin-ryu practitioners will say that deep stances are not important for powerful moves, and that only correct motion matters. In fact, Okinawan traditionalists often claim that deep, wide stances are a development of Japanese-styled karate, and useful only for show.

There is not now, and perhaps has never been, a single unified school of "Shorin-ryu," although many dojos use the term for simplicity's sake. Some of the best known schools of Shorin-ryu include Shobayashi, Matsumura Orthodox Shorin-ryu, Kobayashi Shorin-ryu (Shorinkan), and Matsubayashi-ryu, but there are many others, most with long and distinguished histories that trace back to Matsumura and his students.