chito Ryu

[kelcca]

How do Chito Ryu kata's differ rfom other karate styles? Do they include weapon kates? I am a JKD student and am interested in starting a traditional style, it is a choice between Chito Ryu or Aikido. I have checkes out every school in my town and it has come down to these two. Chito ryu seem to do alot of stand up jui jitsu similar to aikido but with out the circilar movements, is this right? Any suggestion, pont of views? Thanks

 

[Shuri-te]

I have a friend that trained in Chito Ryu in Canada (Ottawa) where the style is very popular. I know the training was very hard, and that there was an emphasis on strong technique. He did not kobudo in his dojo, but is unsure what might have been done in others.

There are kata practiced, but it was uncommon to do any meaningful bunkai, at least in his dojo.

 

[Mr.karate]

Hi I have been training in Chito ryu for the past 13 years in Alberta it is a great style and I would say try it out and see how you like it! The training is hard and we have both empty hand and Kobudo kata as well as many bunkai. Check out this biography on our founder O sensei Dr.Tsuyoshi Chitose http://www.freenet.edmonton.ab.ca/karate/bio.html. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them to the best of my ability. Now one question for you were do you live maybe I know the sensei?
Good luck
Justin

 

[Shuri-te]

There is a commercial video available on the kata of Chito Ryu. You can get it on Amazon for $30.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004TJIC/bridgebooks/104-0643485-9939147

 

[Shuri-te]

More info on the video.

Please read the review on Amazon (link above) before purchasing. It isn't very favorable. And I was absolutely mistaken to assume that the Chito Ryu kata were on this tape. Oops.

 

[Mr.karate]

The video is more for history of Chito ryu and karate in general. It has some good demonstrations and would be an alright video if it was of better quality, you alsohave to remember it is very old. It is a good video for any serious Chito ryu student because it is one of the few videos that I know of with O sensei doing demonstrations.
Justin

 

[Shuri-te]

Justin:

Good points all.

It was not my intention to disparage the video and for serious Chito Ryu students, any footage of Chitose, no matter what the condition, is a treasure.

The reason I backtracked on the video is that Kelcca asked:

How do Chito Ryu kata's differ rfom other karate styles?

and I may have been misleading to say that this video contained kata. Many videos of systems are heavily oriented towards showing kata, and I may have falsely assumed that this did also. Only after I made the post did I read the review and the description and saw no mention of empty-hand kata.

You are a Chito Ryu student and I would imagine you have the video. Does it have much in the way of kata? If not, are you aware of any videos that show the Chito Ryu kata? I would be interested myself in procuring one.

One last question? Do you by chance study in Ottawa? A student of mine studied there some time ago.

Thank you.

 

[Mr.karate]

It was not my intention to disparage the video

I didn't say that you disparaged the video I was just trying to explain to you more of the contents of the video that is all. You are correct to say that it does not have much in the way of kata just a few little clips here and there. I believe there are some kata videos available on the Canadian Chito ryu websitehttp://www.chitoryu.ca/sales.html. I'm not sure though if you have to be a member to order them or not I haven't got around to getting the videos yet myself. No I do not study in Ottawa I study in Alberta. Sorry if there has been any offense taken here from my last post none was meant I just wanted to explain the video a little better.

Justin

 

[Mr.karate]

I looked at your profile and saw that you study Matsubayashi Shorin ryu. I was just wondering if you no Ota Sensei

 

[Shuri-te]

Mr. Karate:

Can you please help me with some questions on Chito Ryu? I found this site (www.chitoryu.ca/cottreau/kata.html) which lists the following Chito Ryu kata:

1. Shihohai
2. Niseishi
3. Rohai
4. Seisan (Chito Ryu)
5. Seisan (Classical)
6. Bassai
7. Chinto
8. Sochin
9. Tenshin
10. Ryusan
11. Sanshiru
12. Kusanku
13. Sanchin

Is this a complete list? I had thought they might have the Pinans as well.

Also, you mentioned video tapes of kata (www.chitoryu.ca/sales.html) I visited that site and found the following:

1. The Richmond Hill 1998 Soke Cup Videotapes are now available.
2. Soke Sensei/Inomoto Sensei performing various kihon, kata, Bo kata 25.00
3. "Empty Hands"- Scenes from the original Higashi Dojo in Toronto. A documentary of Karate-do philosophy 25.00

Do you know which might have which kata? Perhaps the tournament tape might have several kata?

Thanks.

 

[Shuri-te]

Mr. Karate,

I sent you a PM on my experiences in Matsubayashi, since it was a bit off topic.

It sure is great to have some Chito Ryu representation on the board. A shodan no less.

I look forward to our exchanges.

 

[Mr.karate]

To answer your questions about the pinan katas I believe they used to be part of the style but that was long before my time why they were taken out I do not know. About what katas would be on what tapes I'm not to sure I believe the tournament videos would have a good variety your best bet for all the kata would probably be the Soke sensei and Inomoto sensei video. There are one or two other Kata Rochin ang Gung fu no kata. I say one or two more because there is controversy as two weather or not the two names I mentioned are the same kata or not. They are Chitose family kata and they are believed to be over 45 minutes long when properly done. Here is a link that explains it in a little more detail http://www.chitoryu.ca/cottreau/rochin.html. I also believe that there are more kata then these being taught in different dojo's throughout Japan that are not part of our regular criteria. I hope this answers your questions feel free to ask anymore if you like and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Justin

 

[kelcca]

Thanks for all the replys and info. Are there any web sites that have real video of the Chito Ryu katas? I am only a very beginner in Chito ryu, I train in JKD and will continue to do both JKD and Chito Ryu. I have also trained in Shotokan , Hung Fut and arnis/escrima. There seems to be alot of stand up jui jitsu in Chito Ryu ?? Alot of similar stuff to Aikido, is this true. I could do Chito Ryu or Aikido, I chose Karate because there was more class for the same price. Aikido was only twice a week and I think it is a very hard art to learn if you can only train 2 times a week. Also is Chito Ryu Japaness or from Okinnawa? I have heard both. Thanks

 

[Mr.karate]

As far as websites with video of Chito ryu kata on them I do not believe there are any. Could you explain to me a little by what you mean when you say Chito ryu seems to have alot of stand up jui jitsu? We do have lot's of bunkai with some similar concepts to Aikido. About weather it is Okinawan or Japanese I have also heard both and there are reasons that it could be either. Were do you train and who is your Sensei.

Justin

 

[Mr.karate]

I just remembered something I thought you would be interested in. The katas that you found on that page are the main kata of Chito ryu and the ones in our curriculum, but many of the kata found in many other styles are also taught depending on the dojo they are just not part of the main curriculum. We have other kata like Kusanku Dai and others.

Justin

 

[anyman]

I'm finally getting around to my first post.

I have a brown belt in Chito Ryu and a black in Aikido, so I can speak for both.

The training in Chito Ryu was tough and I learned allot about myself and my ability to defend myself. I truly loved the experience. I went from Chito Ryu to Aikido cause I had a relocation with my company.

I've been studying Aikido for the last 6 years, and I will honestly say for the pure defense qualities, Aikido is the way to go.

Hope this helps.

Al

 

[arnisador]

Do you still do chito-ryu then or just aikido?

 

[anyman]

Arnisador,

Last Chito Ryu was in 97. Doing Aikido, Iaido and Arnis now.

anyman