About us
Welcome to the Shorinji-ryu Renshinkan School of Karate Do. The Renshinkan School is a very traditional karate school with a long history dating back to the beginnings of karate do in Okinawa. “Heart" represents the core values of the school - honesty, integrity, loyalty and courage. This "great heart" is stressed as being the most important factor in the long and sometimes arduous journey that is the "way of the empty hand".
This website has been produced in order to give you some basic information with regards to your practice, whilst recognising that karate is best learned by action and not words. However, it is understood that many of the traditions of karate do, and the philosophy of our School, do need to be translated from Japanese so that students can wholeheartedly embrace the wisdom that exists within.
My encouragement to you is practice karate do with a united heart, mind and body, and in so doing, continually strive to improve your personality.
Shihan Julia Turley
History
This is a very brief summary of the style of Shorinji-ryu. It is a complex story dating back to the very beginnings of the unarmed system of self defence in Okinawa which eventually became known as the practice of karate.
The Style
The style of karate practised by the Renshinkan School is Shorinji-ryu. This style can trace its origins back to the very early days of karate history in Okinawa and the famous master, Sokon Matsumura who is said to have created the kata, Chinto. Amongst his most committed students was Chotuku Kyan (1870 - 1945) who trained a karateka named Joen Nakazato. On his return from active service during World War II, Nakazato was determined to continue his practice of Shorinji-Ryu maintaining to the letter his master's teaching. It was Nakazato who named the style Shorinji-ryu after its birthplace, a Shaolin Temple in China. One of Nakazato's students, Isamu Tamotsu of Kagoshima was responsible for first taking the style to mainland Japan in the 1950's. The School he created was named the Renshinkan School.
