Goju ryu and Shorei Goju Ryu

[pstarr]

I'm glad to hear it!!! Do you know if Parker Shelton is still active?

 

[Brandon Fisher]

I'm glad to hear it!!! Do you know if Parker Shelton is still active?

I am not sure if he is or not I only saw him once in passing didn't realize who he was at the time. But last I knew he was still active.

 

[Robert Lee]

If you like training in Goju ryu , why did you stop training in it? We had a Japanese Goju ryu black belt at our dojo for a while. I liked the kata that he taught. He has since went elsewhere. Perhaps to run his own dojo. I am not sure. He was very good.

I looked into other arts And train Mostly JKd now days. I do have a upper blackbelt in Goju ryu. And my certificate is sighned by Toguchi But I have not done much Goju since the mid 1980s I prefure No kata training at all now days But I do Think I still could do most of the Goju requirements Because I spent About 15 years being active in Goju before I gave it up. And as you know Alot of time goes into the training So its hard to completely forget it. Just get pretty rusty not doing it as a main training section. I looked at other arts while training goju ryu and chose to leave its method after becoming more exposed to JKD Though I do like it and the other arts I trained I prefure a different method to my training

 

[twendkata71]

I understand that . Everyone needs to get exposure from other arts for their own development. I am not so sure that I would give of kata training. There is a lot more to kata than most people believe. You just have to be creative with working out the techniques from the kata. Anyway, good luck on your journey.

I looked into other arts And train Mostly JKd now days. I do have a upper blackbelt in Goju ryu. And my certificate is sighned by Toguchi But I have not done much Goju since the mid 1980s I prefure No kata training at all now days But I do Think I still could do most of the Goju requirements Because I spent About 15 years being active in Goju before I gave it up. And as you know Alot of time goes into the training So its hard to completely forget it. Just get pretty rusty not doing it as a main training section. I looked at other arts while training goju ryu and chose to leave its method after becoming more exposed to JKD Though I do like it and the other arts I trained I prefure a different method to my training

 

[Bushido492]

Rest assured Hanshi Bowles students are still tough and hard to beat in competition.

I am a student of Hanshi Bowles, he is an excellent teacher and one of the most humble men i have ever met.

 

[Bushido492]

I'm glad to hear it!!! Do you know if Parker Shelton is still active?

Mr.Shelton is still active and teaching in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Our city is lucky to have both Hanshi Bowles and Mr.Shelton teaching their arts here.

 

[Brandon Fisher]

Indiana Karate is some of the best around thats for sure. With Parker Shelton, Robert Bowles, Eddie Bethea, Glenn Keeney, Herb Johnson among many others its great. I am glad I have been a part of it.

 

[Grenadier]

I am a student of Hanshi Bowles, he is an excellent teacher and one of the most humble men i have ever met.

Nice to hear from a fellow Shuri practitioner. I used to train with Kyoshi Abele in South Carolina for a while.

Yes, you're right. Hanshi Bowles is a first great man, and secondly, a great teacher, as are many of the senior sensei in the system.

 

[Tortuga12]

I trained at a shorei goju-ryu school for a while in Brownsburg, IN. I liked the style and instructor's way of teaching, it's legit American Karate, (not Rex Kwon Do!). I didn't like the MASSIVE amount (to me, anyway) of ranks (belts and stripes), each requiring a promotion, and it's associated fee. And the fees for USKA & PKC memberships that were required to promote, make it feel a little like a McDojo. I know they did the pinan series, Bassai Dai, and I believe the Neihanchin series, not sure on that one, though. Good mix of kumite, self defense, kata, and fundamentals.

 

[Brandon Fisher]

Having your rank on record with USKA and PKC is not a bad thing.

 

[searcher]

The term Shorei is a tribute to the masters of the style that makes of a large part of several different styles. Higaonna has already been mentioned, but with Chito-ryu we give credit for our Shorei lineage to Seisho Aragaki/Arakaki. He was the premier Karate-ka of his day. He taught many of the modern masters' instructors, including Chitose, Funakoshi, Higaonna, and Motobu. That is my take on the use of the term Shorei.

 

[Ken]

Are any of these styles similar to Chiba-Ha Shorei-ryu?

 

[Brandon Fisher]

Are any of these styles similar to Chiba-Ha Shorei-ryu?

Probably. The "Ha" just denotes that particular Sensei's interpetation.

 

[kohelet]

Over the years Robert Trias was responsible for "founding" several arts. Currently these are the branches of Trias Karate I know of:
International Shuri-Ryu - Style Head Robert Bowles
Trias Traditional Shuri-Ryu - Style Head Roberta Jane Trias-Kelly
Shorei-Ryu - Style Head Terry B. Sanders
Shorei-goju Ryu - Style Head Herb Johnson

Each of these today are considered independant styles since the USKA disbaned in the late 1990's. In my experience Shuri-Ryu represents the last stage of Trias' development of his own system. The current leaders of both the International group and the Traditional Group agree that Shuri-Ryu is an American Style of Karate based on Okinawan Karate.

The other Groups represent earlier developments which he left to groups of his students who didn't wish to continue with his personal development path. Shorei-goju Ryu, in my experience does use mostly Goju kata, though usualy a specificaly Trias version. Shorei-Ryu tends to be more of a mixture of sorts. Using the Pinans, Neko Buto series, and certain forms from Shuri, Naha, and Tomari development. It seems that each of these styles have a few kata in common, namely Gopei Sho, Dan Enn Sho, and Nan Dan Sho. These Kata are perported to have been taken from movements of a chines art, but later scholars feel it is more likely he developed them himself.

I have trained in Trias based Karate styles for over 23 years and train with an instructor who has studied Trias Karate since 1968. She has spent lots of time over the last 13 years sharing her experience through the development of these arts and has trained in all of them durring her time. Today she holds a 9th Dan and, though she doesn't like the Idea, was given the title Hanshi.

In the end, Trias left an interesting legacy and many wonderful branches of his Karate styles over his lifetime. We all have some things in common, but there are truely some differences also.

Hope this helps with this discussion, even though it is an old one at this point lol.

 

[Grenadier]

International Shuri-Ryu - Style Head Robert Bowles
Trias Traditional Shuri-Ryu - Style Head Roberta Jane Trias-Kelly

I've trained with both of the above factions, and found both of them to be excellent. For the most part, they're consistent with each other, with some minor variations.

I don't know much about the third faction of Shuri Ryu (led by Vic Moore), though.

The current leaders of both the International group and the Traditional Group agree that Shuri-Ryu is an American Style of Karate based on Okinawan Karate.

Yup. On the Yahoo groups, Hanshi Abele gave a very nice summary of that.

Gopei Sho, Dan Enn Sho, and Nan Dan Sho. These Kata are perported to have been taken from movements of a chines art, but later scholars feel it is more likely he developed them himself.

Dan En Sho and Go Pei Sho are Trias' creations, that are unique to his system. Nan Dan Sho, though, is his version of kata Nijushiho that is commonly practiced in many systems, much like how he adopted Kanku Sho from other systems, as well as forming his version of Empi. Thus, the Shuri Ryu kata list has some of its own creations, as well as having a good number of similar kata as other Japanese and Okinawan systems.

 

[kohelet]

Yes the different branches of Trias Karate have their similarities, but each has it's own unique flavor. I am not sure about the third branch of Shuri-Ryu but would be interested to learn more since Victor Moore was one of my sensei's instructors. I am not sure of their current friendship but she gives him credit for many of the kata she teaches and their applications.

Today it seems that the huge group representing Shuri-Ryu are pulling in many different directions which saddens me. It seems that any time groups pull apart rather than together it always makes losses in the art itself. One group develops in one way and others develop in others and they eventually become so different that it is hard to consider them as teaching the same art anymore. For instance, the ISA is currently in the process of adding 5 new kata to their curiculum of Shuri-Ryu, namely Hakutsuru 1-5. in order to learn these forms you must attend the siminars where they are being taught one a year over the next five years. Those of us who are not affiliated with their organization will not be adding them to our requirements and thus will be teaching something different.

I am finding my personal studies leading me into the Shorei-Ryu Group headed by Terry Sanders, not for it's unity but for it's common cause of preserving Trias Karate in all it's varried forms. the Kondo No Shokai web sight has many interesting articles and information in it's archives covering many years of Trias Karate right up to the present.

Practicing with all these groups, except the current Shorei-Goju-Ryu, I can appreciate the many aspects of learning available. At last count i have personaly learned and worked with over 180 kata taught through out the Trias Karate history. Some more obscure than others but all teaching wonderful aspects of martial skill. Some of these forms were never even officialy added to the curiulim of any of the branches but were only sent out as part of a USKA News letter or the like.

I have trained over the years in many different styles but continue to find myself drawn to Trias Karate. It has been an interesting experience.

 

[SixStringSlayer]

I first studies Shorei-kan and I wanted to bone up on the techniques and when you search it books on goju-ryu come up and the only ones that mention shorei-kan are straight up goju-ryu books. I was talking to my best friend when he just started using goju-ryu and not the shorei-kan and he rattled off the whole history to me. I was a brown belt and he made black belt 2nd degree. and we both remember it fondly.