# What style does this version of Rohai come from?



## Makalakumu (Jan 14, 2009)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1506243624322689198&ei=r2FuSdfuK4LorgLKr53EBQ&q=rohai&hl=en

The TSD curriculum contains the kata rohai.  This kata is very different depending on what style of karate it comes from.  That said, the TSD version of the kata is very difficult to find represented in other styles.  

The version I posted here is from a karate style that has a version of rohai that is the closest version that I have seen.  What style is this?

The reason I ask is because this kata is not represented in the typical Shotokan curriculum.  This means that Hwang Kee had to have learned this from a different style of karate, possibly an Okinawan style.  It would be very interesting if one could establish a link between Hwang Kee and an Okinawan style of karate.


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## exile (Jan 14, 2009)

maunakumu said:


> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1506243624322689198&ei=r2FuSdfuK4LorgLKr53EBQ&q=rohai&hl=en
> 
> The TSD curriculum contains the kata rohai.  This kata is very different depending on what style of karate it comes from.  That said, the TSD version of the kata is very difficult to find represented in other styles.
> 
> ...




This is really extraordinary, m. In the Joon Pye Choi lineage of Song Moo Kwan, we do almost exactly the same Rohai. It's slightly more elaborate (there's a wing-tipping move at the end of that three-step sequence in the middle of the form), but I'd say it's about 85%90% the same as what we do.


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## Makalakumu (Jan 14, 2009)

That's why I'm wondering which style this kata comes from.  Any connection between TKD/TSD is often lampooned, but I think that there very well might be something to the rumor.


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## Makalakumu (Jan 14, 2009)

Here is a google search of the user who posted the video.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Theo+Theloesen&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

Looking at many of the different sites, one get the impression that Theo Theloesen is an Okinawan Goju Ryu practitioner.


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## arnisador (Jan 14, 2009)

It _is _an Okinawan form, but I don't know where he learned it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohai


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## JWLuiza (Jan 14, 2009)

Kim Ki Whang was trained in Shudokan karate and was the first TSD guy in the states. I am thinking that Rohai was brought in from Shudokan, but I don't have sources to back up. It is hard to research because Shudokan is also the name of an aikido style. I will keep looking for sources.


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## exile (Jan 14, 2009)

JWLuiza said:


> Kim Ki Whang was trained in Shudokan karate and was the first TSD guy in the states. I am thinking that Rohai was brought in from Shudokan, but I don't have sources to back up. It is hard to research because Shudokan is also the name of an aikido style. I will keep looking for sources.



Very interesting idea, JWL. But the question is then, which Okinawan MA lineage did it get into Shudokan from? The MAist performing the kata in the video is, going by the preceding posts, a Goju-ryu practitioner; but is this particular version of Rohai actually a Goju-ryu kata? If not, where did it come from? What's the actual connection? :idunno:


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## JWLuiza (Jan 15, 2009)

Shudokan's founder (toyama kanken) was a student of Itosu, so pre-style karate I guess


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## Makalakumu (Jan 15, 2009)

I don't seem to remember Rohai being a Goju ryu kata.  Goju is naha-te.  Rohai is shuri-te.  That said, I haven't seen a version of Rohai that looks quite like ours anywhere, but here.  So, what style did this come from?  Do we have any Goju players on the board?


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## Montecarlodrag (Jan 15, 2009)

It is interesting.

We used to do 3 Rohai hyungs. Rohai Cho Dan, E Dan and Sam Dan.
Now we do only one, very similar to the one on the video.

As far as I know, Rohai isn't part of Shotokan's curriculum. It is part of Shito Kai's curriculum however.
This hyung is okinawan, not japanese.


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