There is a commonly believed theory that a Buddhist monk from India, Bodhidharma (called Ta Mo in Chinese and Daruma, Daishu, Dharma, or Daruma Tasshi in Japanese), traveled to China circa 525 A.D.  It is thought that Bodhidharma arrived at the Northern Shaolin Monastery located in Honan Province.  While there, he began teaching his form of Buddhism.  Seeing that the physical condition of his students was not up to the challenge placed on them by the harsh mental discipline that he imposed on them, he developed a series of exercises known as the Shih Pa Lo Han Sho, which he supposedly originated by watching animals in combat.  It is believed that this is the foundation of the Chinese fistic arts known as Chuan Fa.  It is thought that in subsequent years, Chinese traders and merchants who were experts in Chuan Fa went to Okinawa where their fighting techniques were mixed with the local combat methods called Tode.  This formed the basis for karate.

In 1609 A.D. the Satsuma clan of Japan's southernmost island, Kyushu, conquered Okinawa.  At that time, the Japanese samurai ruled supreme and the Okinawans were forbidden to carry weapons.  They found it necessary to develop an alternative means of self-defense.  In secret, they began to refine the technique we now call karate, or the way of the empty hand, until their unarmed bodies were as deadly as the swords that were taken from them.

Where and how karate was taught was a mystery to most Okinawans, for to be introduced to the discipline was to be marked as one of the most poised and trusted human beings and was an honor as high as any that could be bestowed.  They also originated methods of defense using farm implements that became known as te-gua, kobujutsu or kobudo.  As time went on, the cities of Shuri, Naha and Tomari became the centers of karate development.  In the more settled times that followed, karate, although remaining secret and known only through word of mouth on the island of Okinawa, became a course of exercise valued for its health and character building.

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Originally, the karate of Okinawa was simply referred to as "Te" (pronounced 'tay') meaning hand.  It is stated that all styles that were practiced on the island of Okinawa came under this term and that it was not until 1830 that the name Shorin-ryu was first used.  Around that date an Okinawan official, Sokon "Bushi" Matsumura (1809-1899), while working as a bodyguard and court instructor for the King of Okinawa, was sent to China by the king to study the Chinese methods of fighting.  It is said that Matsumura mastered a form of Shaolin Temple Boxing (called Shorin-ji-ryu in Japanese) and then returned to Okinawa to teach this art.  He taught the art in Shuri, the capitol of Okinawa, and referred to it as "Shorinryugokoku-an-karate-jutsu."  Because of his mastery of his art, the King of Okinawa appointed him as the first Chief Martial Arts Instructor of Okinawa.

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Okinawan Karate-do owes a tremendous debt to a man named Yasutsune "Anko" Itosu, a Matsumura disciple.  Itosu is considered the Father of Okinawan Karate and is the first person responsible for publicly teaching the art, and for its spread to the Japanese mainland where it eventually played an essential role in the militaristic indoctrination program.

Around 1903, Itosu taught the art of Shuri-te (or karate, as practiced in the city of Shuri) at the Central Okinawan Middle School located in Shuri.  In 1905 he became teacher at the Prefectural Dai Ichi College and the Prefectural Teachers' Training College.  Because of this, Shuri-te (now called Shorin-ryu) grew in popularity and Itosu saw a need to develop some new teaching methods for the many new beginners.  It was during this period that he developed the Naihanchi and Pinan series of kata that Shorin-ryu presently uses.

Although Itosu is regarded as the father of Okinawan Karate, it was his student, Chosin Chibana, who systematized Itosu's style of karate-jutsu and officially changed its name in 1926, from Shuri-te-do-karate-jutsu to Okinawan Shorin-ryu Karate-jutsu.

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Choshin Chibana was born June 5, 1885, at Tottori-cho in Shuri-shi, Okinawa.  He began training with Itosu in 1900, after dropping out of the Okinawa Kenritsu Dai-Ichi Chu-gakko (high school).  He was 15 years old.  He studied with Itosu until Itosu's death on August 30, 1915, at the age of 85.  Five years after Itosu's death Chibana began teaching on his own.  His first dojo was located at Tottoribori.  As his reputation spread he was able to open a second dojo in Kumo-cho, Naha City, then several others.

Chibana remained on the island of Okinawa during World War II and narrowly escaped death when Shuri was destroyed by the Americans in 1945.  After the war, he once again began teaching Shorin-ryu in Giho-cho which is a section of the city of Shuri.  From February, 1954, until December, 1958, he was the Chief Karate-do Instructor for the Shuri City Police Department.  May 5, 1956, on the formation of the Okinawa Karate-do Federation (of which he was a founding member), he was elected its first president.  Two years later, he formed and was president of the Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate-do Association.

Chibana's reputation as a karate master continued to spread, not only on Okinawa but also in mainland Japan.  By 1957, he had received the title of "Hanshi" (high master) from the Dai Nippon Butokukai (The Greater Japan Martial Virtues Association) and in 1960, he received the Physical Culture Distinguished Services Award from the Okinawa Times newspaper for his overall accomplishments in the study and practice of traditional Okinawan Karate-do.  On April 29, 1968, in recognition for his devotion to the study and practice of traditional Okinawan Karate-do, Chibana brought further honor to Okinawan Karate-do by being awarded the Kunyonto (4th) Order of the Sacred Treasure from Japan's Emperor Hirohito.

"Choshin Chibana would not take on any prospective student of bad character." 

In 1964, Chibana was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  However, due to his dedication to the art of Shorin-ryu, he continued to teach even though his body began to weaken as the cancer spread.  By 1966, he was admitted to Tokyo's Cancer Research Center (Tokyo Gan Center) for radiation treatment, as an attempt to arrest the spread of the cancer.  After some improvement, Chibana resumed his teaching with his grandson, Akira Nakazato.  By the end of 1968, his condition became worse and he returned to Ohama Hospital.  Despite the doctors' efforts to save his life, he died at 6:40 a.m. on February 26, 1969, at the age of 83.

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Grand Master Choshin Chibana appointed Katsuya Miyahira to succeed him.  Miyahira was born on August 16, 1918, in Nishihara, Okinawa.  In 1933, at the age of 15, he began studying under the great Chibana and by 1948 had received a "Shihan" (Master Instructor) certificate from him.  During the Second World War he taught self-defense in Manchuria.  After the war he returned to Okinawa and taught karate in his garden at Keneku village in Nishihara.  He later moved to Tsuboya in Naha and opened a dojo at Goeku, while teaching karate twice a week at the University of the Ryukyus in Shuri, where he taught many American servicemen.  In 1956 he built a wooden dojo called the Shido-kan, behind his house in Tsuboya.  In 1958 he was honored by the Dai Nippon Butokukai with the award of the title, "Karate-do Kyoshi" (Full Teacher of Karate-do).  He was promoted to 8th Dan in 1962 and received his 9th Dan and "Hanshi" (high master) title from Grand Master Chibana in 1967.

He became the 10th Dan and assumed the role of president of the Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate-do Association after the death of Chibana in 1969.  Grand Master Miyahira has since received numerous awards.  Two of the most recent are the Martial Arts Distinguished Service Award presented by Shigeyoshi, president of Japan Martial Arts Conference Committee in 1990, the highest honor of its kind in the world of Japanese martial arts; and the Heisei 7th Fiscal Year Person of Distinguished Service to Naha Municipal Government Award presented in 1995 by Kosei Oyadomari, mayor of the city of Naha, Okinawa.

His major contributions have been the introduction of obligatory analytical exercises (bunkai) for each of the kata and the deepening of the philosophical study of karate-do.  Miyahira Hanshi stresses the ideas of reason, justice, solidarity and cooperation.  

Grand Master Katsuya Miyahira's most senior student is Seikichi Iha, Hanshi 10th Dan.

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Please note that the above chart does not include all lineage descendants of Seikichi Iha and earlier.
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