Shorin-Ryu Matsubayashi-Ryu

[Kenpocooper]

There is a relatively new school in my area that teaches this style of karate. There are a couple of old posts in this forum that mention this style but is not allot of information. Is anyone here familiar with this style? My 10-y.o. son and I are interested and I would like to have anyone's input. My main goal is self defense and fitness. My goal for my son is to have fun and develop an interest in martial arts which might result in him being able to protect himself.

Thank you.

 

[dancingalone]

I have a shodan in Matsubayashi-ryu. What do you want to know?

For self-defense Matsubayashi can be as effective as any other martial art can be if trained for that purpose. This is an important distinction. There are karate dojo in any style that train for sport or exercise or spiritual growth and if you are in one of those schools, self-defense skills might be developed incidentally along the way rather than as a main goal. You'll have to train at a school for a while before you can really tell what the instructor's main focus is.

If you have specific questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them.

 

[Kenpocooper]

Thank you for your reply, Dancingalone. Most of the dojos in my area are fitness/sport related. The website for the dojo mentions self defense but I will have to find out as I go. Is this a hard or soft style? Are the kicks high or low? Also, how does it compare to Shito-Ryu as far as soft/hard and high/low kicks? Thanks again.

 

[dancingalone]

Thank you for your reply, Dancingalone. Most of the dojos in my area are fitness/sport related. The website for the dojo mentions self defense but I will have to find out as I go. Is this a hard or soft style? Are the kicks high or low? Also, how does it compare to Shito-Ryu as far as soft/hard and high/low kicks? Thanks again.

It is a hard style, although perhaps softer than most Japanese or American forms of karate. Kicks will be low-line if the school is traditional, yet many schools do teach high kicks for sport application and because it seems to be expected now a days.

It's hard to compare absolutely to Shito-ryu because there are many variations of Shito-ryu and individual application is really up to the instructor anyway, rather than style. If I had to generalize, I'd say it's softer and less sporty (less kicking) than most expressions of Shito-ryu.

You'll likely be spending a lot of time on kata and yakusoku ('promise' or prearranged) kumite. Weapons work (a lot of sai from my recollection) is also introduced early. The instructor I studied with rarely had us free spar at all. Maybe once or twice a quarter.