"One heart way"

Don’t let the word intimidate you. Isshinryu means “One Heart Way”, and it combines the best techniques of Shorinyu Karate, Gojuryu Karate, and Kubudo.

Isshinryu was founded by Tatsuo Shimabuku, a Japanese martial artist whose name means “Dragon Man”. He introduced Isshinryu in 1956, and designed it to incorporate natural stances, eliminate flashy techniques, balance hand and foot techniques and incorporate a vertical fist as a form of punching.

Isshinryu is a close-combat style of martial arts and is very effective for street fighting – which we don’t recommend or endorse. It employs snapping techniques for speed and accuracy, hard and soft blocks with the forearm muscles, and a vertical fist and thumb on top of that. With proper training this can be quite devastating.

Isshinryu teaches basic upper body and lower body techniques, Kumite (sparring), kotekitai (forearm condition), 8 empty hand kata, 6 weapon kata and 2 weapon sparring kata.