History is an important part of karate. Why recreate what so many others have done? Follow the links to get a better understanding of the history of karate, Chito-ryu, and our club.

History of Karate  (below)  

Karate New Brunswick's History of O Sensei & Chito-Ryu Karate (opens in new window)

Leadership of Chito-Ryu

O'Sensei - Dr. Chitose

Soke Sensei (Son of O'Sensei)

Higashi Sensei (Kyoshi) (Honbucho -Top in Canada)

McInnes Sensei (Renshi)

BRIEF HISTORY OF KARATE

From feudal Japan, there are 5 major armed martial arts (archery, spearmanship, swordsmanship, horsemanship, and swimming), 4 minor armed martial arts (war fan, staff, forked dirk, chained weapons), and unarmed martial arts (of which there are more than 25 variants).  Karate is one of many martial arts that developed from feudal Japanese culture.

Karate developed from Chinese methods and concepts.  In shaolin gung-fu(Chinese martial art), techniques are based on ch'i, which represents internal energy.  It is focused in the abdomen.  Using great mental focus, the power is transfered into a movement.  Karate is essentially a discipline that coordinates great mental focus and physical strength as well.  This coordination is centered in the abdomen.  Being centered in the abdomen, breathing and abdominal muscle control is essential for great success in karate.  The ability to control breathing in the height of combat requires great mental control. 

Okinawa is an island about half way between the fourJapanese main islands and Taiwan.  It became an important island allowing trade with southeastern Asia.  Weapons were banned on the island as the feudal clans wanted to expand their territories.  The people of Okinawa developed and added to the techniques from Chinese masters.  Wanting to keep the martial arts secret from feudal Japanese lords, they practiced the techniques and passed the art down from generation to generation.  It was referred to as To Te (Chinese hand) in Okinawa.  Tote could also be pronounced kara.  In the late 1800's, the times changed as governments changed.  The techniques were then shown to the emperor who was impressed by the martial art.  Gichin Funakoshi was a karate master who adopted an alternate meaning for tote.  He gave the meaning as empty, and from this point on the term karate came to mean 'empty hand'. Do represents path or way and adds the spiritualistic point of view to the art.  Today, karate-do represents the martial art of Okinawa.

From this point on, many styles of karate became visible to the public.  Today there are four main styles of karate-do in Japan: Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu, Shotokan, and Wado-ryu.

Chito-ryu developed from Dr. Chitose's work.  Dr. Chitose was a founding member of the All Japan Karate Federation.  He believed he could minimize joint and muscle damage that can be caused by traditional karate. Today, improvements to the style are still being made to minimize potential damage.

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