Yamashita Shorin-Ryu

[OwlMatt]

Any Shorin-Ryu guys on MT who are familiar with Yamashita? I've looked him up online, and can find plenty of stuff about the man himself, but precious little about his karate clubs. Two of his clubs are near me, and I'm wondering what to expect. What will be different from other Shorin-Ryu styles? Is training likely to include sparring?

Any info would be much appreciated. I'm a noob when it comes to karate.

 

[Ray B]

Yamashita's karate is throught the Chibana line. Chibana-Nakazato-Yamashita.
There are typically a lot of yakusoku and free sparring. He is also known for his kobudo.

 

[OwlMatt]

Thanks a lot. I had gotten hints of the kobudo from what I had found, but nothing about sparring.

 

[chinto]

yes I know a man who studied under him in the mid west at times. his instructor was a student of Yamashita Sensei.

 

[rframe]

When I was a little kid I studied Yamashita Shorin-Ryu in the midwest for maybe 6-9 months under sensei Pat Kerrington. I probably cannot tell you much more than you can google on it, as I was pretty young. I still have my tiny little gi with the Yamashita cobra/tiger/eagle shield on the back and my old orange belt.

 

[FabianosKarate]

Our head Sensei, Mr. Tom Fabiano, trained with Sensei Yamashita for several years. This is where he was introduced to several of the applications we use in class still today. From what I remember (and don't 100% quote me), Sensei Fabiano wasn't a huge fan of how Sensei Yamashita tested his black belts. Mr. Fabiano has very high standards when it comes to technique and he doesn't feel that some of Yamashita's students truly earned their rank.