Please explain Shorin Ryu (Okinawan) karate

[Katydid]

I asked this on the weapons board a couple days ago, but it hasn't been answered so I'm hoping someone here will help.

Can anyone tell me anything about the stylings used in the Shorin Ryu Karate?

I'm a total beginner, so I mean things like it being more practical (which I've picked up on) over more flashy, circular vs. jabbing motions, more contemplative or more active... just those really easy types of distinguishing characteristics. Well, if there are big things it is known for for some odd reason, I guess they'd be good to know, too.

Also, the very basics on weaponry in this style if you know. How are they handled (for example, one handed or two on the bo, graceful or flashy)? When are they used? I'd really appreciate the help, so any little thing you know would be great.

Katy

Um... Like I said, I'm totally new to all the terminology. So I started thinking that "kenshin kan" might be an important note to add.

[Torre]

From what I have seen and heard about okinawan karate, it's likely a straight-to-the-point non-flashy style. And traditional okinawan weapon techniques are alike. But there are some people around here who actually train in shorin-ryu so let's wait for them to appear

[complete]

Here is a page with some additional info.

Shorin Ryu Karate - Complete Martial Arts.com

[Katydid]

Originally Posted by complete

Here is a page with some additional info.

Shorin Ryu Karate - Complete Martial Arts.com

Thanks! That's a great compact explanation. It helped a lot.

[sirdarksol]

Shorin Ryu is one of many versions of Okinawan karate. Its purpose is primarily a self defense art. There is a wide variety of maneuvers, though kicks and punches are primary. Nearly every part of the body is a potential striking surface. From what I have learned, most "grappling" attacks are actually break-holds followed immediately by a strong strike to stun your opponent long enough to either escape or press the attack.
What Shorin Ryu lacks, mostly, is an internal facet (though some senseis have added this after the fact). Other styles of karate focus on breathing during katas/attacks. The extent of Shorin Ryu's take on this is the kiai during attacks.
Like all of the traditional Okinawan karates, it possesses a weapons art (kobudo), though this is different enough that some schools teach kobudo separately from the empty hand. Nearly anything can become a weapon in kobudo. In fact, it is based on utilizing farm and fishing implements as weapons.

[Katydid]

Thanks!

Would you please do me a great favor and explain this:

"break-holds followed immediately by a strong strike"

What's a break-hold? I know it is basic, but I have to start somewhere.

[sirdarksol]

It is precisely what its name implies. It breaks a hold.
For example, an opponent comes up to me and begins to choke me with both hands. One response that I am learning is to reach over my opponent's right hand with my left (on the same side, as we are facing one another), grab the meat of his palm with my thumb pressed square in the middle of the back of his hand. My right hand grabs his wrist, and, while twisting his right hand loose, use my right elbow to attempt to pop his left arm loose.
Whether or not I succeed at releasing the left arm, I immediately follow up with a knife-hand (strike with the outside edge of the hand) to the side of the neck or, my preference, a backfist to the temple.

[Katydid]

Ahh! Lightbulb.

OK, thank you!

[Suzy]

In response to sirdarksol's comment about the breathing in the Shorin Ryu system, many Shorin Ryu styles use only a kiai during kata for a very practical purpose. It gets all the air out of the lungs. During kata it helps develop this technique so that when the practitioner needs to use a kiai, such as when they are hit or fall, there is no air in the lungs. If you are holding your breath when you get hit, or hit the ground...it hurts a hell of a lot more than if you exhaled.

Also, in my particular style most of the higher ranked black belts tend to think that the breathing on every move in a kata is just silly. Why would you let your opponent know when you are inhaling? Holding your breath while getting hit is one thing, but inhaling while getting hit is about 50 times worse.

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that sirdarksol is correct in saying that many Shorin Ryu practitioners only use a kiai rather than the excessive (in my opinion) breathing of other styles, however it's not that Shorin Ryu has abandoned the importance of breathing, we just found a different way to do it.

[Suzy]

As for the weapons...I've only recently started practicing kobudo but I've done some research about the origins of the weapons.

Bo:
Staff, generally about 6 feet in length. It was used for various purposes, such as a walking stick or for carrying buckets of water across the shoulders. In the bo kata that I have seen nearly all of the moves are with two hands to maintain control of the staff.

Sai:
Made of metal, three prongs with two shorter ones on either side of a longer one. I'm not exactly sure of the previous use for these but I've heard everything from the fact that it has always been a weapon, to the fact that it was made to put holes in the ground for planting. I've just made it about 90% of the way through my first sai kata...tricky little buggers to keep a hold of.

Tonfa:
They are made of wood and look like a night stick. They were used to spin stone wheels to grind grain.

Nunchaku:
Two sections of wood, each usually a bit shorter than the length of the forearm, connected by rope. Again, the origin of this weapon varies from a painful set of handcuffs to the bit and bridle of a horse...I'm inclined to agree with the latter.

Kama:
A pair of, basically, evil looking blade things. Each is made of a handle a bit longer than a foot in length with a curved blade. They were used as a farming sickle (who would have thought of that? )

Tekko:
My favorite weapon, as they require very little coordination to hold on to. They come in a pair, one for each hand obviously, and are "attached" by a hole that goes over the middle finger. Usually the ends are a bit pointy, which can be used to puncture, split muscle, etc...all sorts of nice things. They were used to make hauling up fish nets easier.

Eaku:
If it looks like and oar, and works like an oar, then it probably is an oar. Eaku were used as oars. They are made of wood and could be used to fling sand at an opponent.

Tanbo:
Two sticks, basically, between 2.5 and 3 feet in length. Again, the origin of this weapon is a slight mystery to me, but I've heard that they could have been drumsticks.

Nuntebo:
Quite possibly the coolest looking weapon, it's basically a bo with a sai stuck on the end with one of the shorter prongs bent backwards. What was it used for? No clue.

Hope that provided some information that you will enjoy absorbing.

[47MartialMan]

Originally Posted by complete

Here is a page with some additional info.

Shorin Ryu Karate - Complete Martial Arts.com

Yeah, I like some of these. Good info without pure nonsense- biased opinion.

[Joemoplata]

Originally Posted by Suzy

In response to sirdarksol's comment about the breathing in the Shorin Ryu system, many Shorin Ryu styles use only a kiai during kata for a very practical purpose. It gets all the air out of the lungs. During kata it helps develop this technique so that when the practitioner needs to use a kiai, such as when they are hit or fall, there is no air in the lungs. If you are holding your breath when you get hit, or hit the ground...it hurts a hell of a lot more than if you exhaled.

Also, in my particular style most of the higher ranked black belts tend to think that the breathing on every move in a kata is just silly. Why would you let your opponent know when you are inhaling? Holding your breath while getting hit is one thing, but inhaling while getting hit is about 50 times worse.

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that sirdarksol is correct in saying that many Shorin Ryu practitioners only use a kiai rather than the excessive (in my opinion) breathing of other styles, however it's not that Shorin Ryu has abandoned the importance of breathing, we just found a different way to do it.

You breathe out during ANYTHING requiring excessive movement because it directly affects your blood pressure. This can also make you weaker during the movement, so it's always encouraged to breathe out. Weight lifters breathe out during a push/pull. Boxers breath out when throwing a punch. Judo guys breathe out during a throw. This is a general rule of thumb which will prevent injury and make it easier to perform the moves.

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by Joemoplata

You breathe out during ANYTHING requiring excessive movement because it directly affects your blood pressure. This can also make you weaker during the movement, so it's always encouraged to breathe out. Weight lifters breathe out during a push/pull. Boxers breath out when throwing a punch. Judo guys breathe out during a throw. This is a general rule of thumb which will prevent injury and make it easier to perform the moves.

I wasn't suggesting not breathing, but by making when you exhale noisy makes it obvious when you are inhaling. When I do my kata I don't hold my breath until a kiai, I just doing exhale loudly on every single move.

The main thing I was trying to get at was the fact that noisy exhalation, in my opinion, does more harm than good in a fight.

[Chapel]

Well, the only difference between exhaling while you strike and yelling when you strike is the volume. So I don't think it would make that much of a difference.

That is, as long as you aren't doing the 'teeth hissing' breath every time you strike in a form. That just irritates me for some reason.

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by Chapel

Well, the only difference between exhaling while you strike and yelling when you strike is the volume. So I don't think it would make that much of a difference.

That is, as long as you aren't doing the 'teeth hissing' breath every time you strike in a form. That just irritates me for some reason.

That hissing is exactly what I was referring to...I just couldn't think of a way to describe it.