Chitō-ryū
style of karate
Chitō-ryū (千唐流) is a style of karate founded by Dr. Tsuyoshi Chitose (千歳 强直, Chitose Tsuyoshi), (1898-1984). The name of the style translates as: chi (千) - 1,000; tō (唐) - China; ryū (流) - style, school, "1,000 year old Chinese style." The character tō (唐) refers to the Tang dynasty of China. The style was officially founded in 1946.
Chitō-ryū is generally classified as a Japanese style because Chitose formulated and founded Chitō-ryū principally while living in Kumamoto, Japan. However, some modern practitioners feel it is better categorized as an Okinawan style given that its roots and techniques are firmly grounded in and derived from traditional Okinawan Tōde (唐手). This belief is warranted since the style's founder, Tsuyoshi Chitose, received first the rank of Judan, in 1958, and then the rank of Hanshi, in 1968, from the Zen Okinawa Karate Kobudo Rengo Kai (All Okinawa Union of Karate-do and Kobu-do).
Founder
Tsuyoshi Chitose (千歳 剛直, Chitose Tsuyoshi) (Okinawan: Chinen Gua) was born on October 18, 1898, in the town of Kumochi, Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture. He came from a martial arts lineage—his maternal grandfather was Matsumura Sōkon (松村 宗棍). While in Okinawa, Chitose grew up studying the art of karate (唐手, Tang hand), now written 空手 (empty hand), as well as kobudō.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chitō-ryū” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.