This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Peter Lee (talk | contribs) at 10:47, 6 June 2005 (The vandalism continues, thus again correct info reposted.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 10:47, 6 June 2005 by Peter Lee (talk | contribs) (The vandalism continues, thus again correct info reposted.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)GENSEIRYU is a karate style with roots in Shuri-Te, one of the three original karate styles on Okinawa (a Japanese island). It was developed by Seiken Shukumine (1925-2001) who combined classic techniques with his own thus developing special characteristics of GENSEIRYU. Shukumine sensei had two known teachers, Anko Sadoyama and Soko Kishimoto. The name of GENSEIRYU was first used in 1953. In Japanese the name consists of three different characters. One is Gen (meaning 'deep and subtle truth'), Sei (meaning 'system and creating form') and Ryu (meaning 'school/tradition'). The combination of Gensei means 'to pursue deep truth and making it clear through the form'.
GENSEIRYU was for the first time demonstrated in Japan by Shukumine sensei in 1949. In 1964 he published his book Shin Karate-do Kyohan in which he describes the techniques of Ko-ryu, which is translated into 'old school/tradition'.
In 1962 Shukumine sensei introduced a further development of GENSEIRYU which he named Taido. Taido is not to be regarded as Karate, but as a new martial art. This new Budo has a lot of acrobatic movements such as sommersaults and flips. Since leaving GENSEIRYU in 1962, Shukumine sensei only held a friendly relation with his former students/masters of GENSEIRYU, but he never took actual part in neither teaching nor examinations.
One particular master, Kunihiko Tosa, the successor of GENSEIRYU, created the only still existing book on GENSEIRYU with Shukumine sensei as a technical advisor. This book GENSEIRYU KARATE-DO KYOHAN 2 was published in Japanese in 1984. Except for these advisory functions, Shukumine sensei had no influense on GENSEIRYU even up until his death on November 26th 2001.
GENSEIRYU is characterised by its genuine techniques such as i.e. Ebi-geri and Shajo-geri. Shiho is a special form of training developed in GENSEIRYU. Shiho translates into 'four directions' and comprises excercises in which a combination of techniques is repeated again and again in four different directions (front, back, right and left). GENSEIRYU has firm roots in what is generally referred to as Okinawa-te. When Shukumine sensei left GENSEIRYU back in 1962, he urged all of his students to follow him into pursuing Taido. Because not all students wanted to do this, some students continued with martial arts under their own names. To this day none of these schools ever officially claimed to do GENSEIRYU, but are adhering to their "own" style. Most of them refer to their style as identical with the name of the organization i.e.: Genwakai, Keneikai, Ryounkai, Seidokai.
Much more information on GENSEIRYU can be found here: Denmark , Japan , Holland , Australia , India