Tōon-ryū

is a style of Okinawan Karate founded by Kyoda Juhatsu.

Kyoda Juhatsu ("Juhatsu Kyoda" December 5 1887 - August 31 1968) entered the dojo of Higaonna Kanryō in 1902 and continued studying with him until Kanryō's death in 1915.

One month after Kyoda started, Miyagi Chojun (co-founder of Goju-ryu) entered the dojo. In 1908, Kenwa Mabuni (founder of Shito-ryu) also joined the dojo of Higaonna Kanryō.

In 1934 Kyoda received his Kyoshi license from the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai. [cite book|last=Hokama|first=Tetsuhiro|title=100 Masters of Okinawan Karate|date=2005|pages=36|publisher=Ozata Print|location=Okinawa]

Kyoda knew two versions of Seisan: one from Higaonna Kanryō and one from Higaonna Kanryu. He learned Jion from Kentsū Yabu. By far Higaonna Kanryō had the most profound impact on him as Kyoda devoted well over a decade of his life to learning Kanryō’s karate. He ultimately named his style after him: Tō-on-ryū (literally ‘Higaon [na] style’).

Kyoda's tradition was carried on by Iraha Choko, Kanzaki Shigekazu and Murakami Katsumi. The current sōke of Tōon-ryū today is Kanzaki Shigekazu.

References

External links

* [http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=474 History of Tōon-ryū] on fightingarts.com
* [http://www.touonryu.com Tōon-ryū Honbu Dojo] (in Japanese)