Kenshin Ryu Karate
ABOUT THE CLUB
A Brief History of Karate
Karate was developed at Shuri the capital of Okinawa mid way between the southern tip of Japan and mainland China.
Because of its geographical position Okinawa has had a long history of conflict being ruled at different times by both China and Japan.
Originally the principal "fighting art" was White Crane, a Chinese martial art started by Chi-Niang Fang and developed by the Shaolin monks which spread rapidly through South East Asia.
There are many theories how this spread and developed prior to the mid 19th century however it is around then that "modern" karate was born.
Two principal styles of karate developed in Okinawa during this period, Shuri-te or "hard" style karate and Naha-te or "soft" karate.One of its earliest masters was Yastsune Itosu, amongst his principal students were Gichin Funakoshi who went on to found the Shotokan style and Kenwa Mabuni who founded the Shito-ryu style from which Shukokai is directly descended
ABOUT THE CLUB
Kenshin Ryu was founded by Sensei Dan Smethurst 6th Dan. The club is part of the Shukokai Shito Ryu Karate Alliance (SSKA) and a member of the World Union of Karate-do Federations
The club is named Kenshin Ryu which means school of dedication.
Training karate has many benefits for both Health and well being, it promotes and teaches dedication, self control, self confidence, self discipline, fitness as well as being very enjoyable, fun and rewarding for individuals and families wanting to do something together.
The syllabus we teach, and the grades our students obtain, are internationally recognised, we do not teach so called "free style karate" and we place a great emphasis on the principals of traditional karate including etiquette and self-discipline.
In addition to learning to punch, block, kick and strike we cover a variety of other defences against attacks such as grabs. strangulation, attacks with weapons etc.
