Shito ryu karate

Shito ryu is a style of karate founded by Kenwa Mabuni in 1934. It is a combination of four main karate systems namely, Shuri te, Naha te, Tomari te and Hakkaku Ken, which attempts to unite the diverse roots of karate. On the one hand, Shito ryu has the physical strength and long powerful stances of Shuri te styles, like Shorin ryu. On the other hand, Shito ryu has circular and eight directional movements, hard and soft characteristics of Naha te and Tomari te styles, such as Goju ryu and Uechi ryu karate. It also incorporates techniques of crane fist ( Hakkaku Ken ), which can be seen in its official katas like Nipaipo, Papuren, Haffa etc. Shito ryu is extremely fast, but still can be artistic and powerful. Apart from this, Shito ryu integrates the five rules of defence ( uke no go gensoku ), developed by Kenwa Mabuni  in its training curriculum. Although the style has a so many katas ( 40 to 60 katas ), it also place a strong emphasis on kumite ( sparring).These characteristics makes Shito ryu unique and could be considered as an essence of various styles of karate.