Introduction to RyuTe®,
the Way of the Hands
Karate, in the
ancient days of Okinawa, was simply referred to as "Te", (Ti
or Di in Okinawan dialect). The only distinction, is that it was
sometimes called "Tode" referring to the Tang Dynasty of
China. Te became regionalized when it roughly divided into three
distinct forms, Shuri-Te, Naha-Te and Tomari-Te. (These were towns
located around Shuri Castle.) These weren't names of styles but rather
references to distinguish differences in applications, kata and
philosophies. It wasn't until the late 1800's to early 1900's that
karate took official names to describe or differentiate styles. RyuTe®,
as such, is not a specific style but a return to the ancient ways of
Okinawa Te through the influences of Tode, Shuri-Te, Naha-Te and Tomari-Te.
Taika Seiyu Oyata
began his martial arts training at a very early age as he was exposed to
the Okinawan form of Sumo through his father, Kana Oyata. During World
War II he received instruction in Iaido, Kendo, and Judo. After World
War II, he began training with Uhugushiku-no-tan-mei, a retired officer
of the Okinawan government. The Uhugushiku family was noted for their
martial art skills and served the Okinawan ruling class for many
centuries. Uhugushiku was known as a kakurei bushi, hidden warrior, and
did not teach outside of family lines or those with no direct connection
to the warrior class of Okinawa.
Uhugushiku
introduced Oyata to Wakinaguri, an elderly gentleman who was a
descendent of Chinese emissaries sent to Okinawa when it was a
tributary state of China. These two gentlemen began to teach Oyata the
ancient ways of Okinawan and Chinese martial arts. During this time,
karate was taught openly as a public art; however, what Uhugushiku and
Wakinaguri taught were arts handed down through their families for
generations.
Neither Uhugushiku nor Wakinaguri had descendents to whom they
could pass their art; therefore, Oyata became the inheritor
of this knowledge.
After Uhugushiku
and Wakinaguri passed away, Oyata sought other karate masters to
continue his training. He joined several research groups, Kenkyu Kai,
and trained directly with Shigeru Nakamura founder of Okinawan Kempo.
Under Nakamura, Oyata learned the 12 basic empty hand kata that are
practiced in RyuTe® today and he helped Nakamura establish Bogu Kumite as the sporting aspect of Okinawan
Kempo.
In 1977, Oyata's senior American
students at that time, Albert Geraldi, Jim Logue, Greg Lindquist, and Bill
Wiswell began to organize within the United
States and brought him to Kansas City, Kansas to established the
headquarters in America. In 1980, Oyata began to broaden the knowledge of the
general martial arts public by introducing the concepts of Tuite and
Kyusho Jitsu that have revitalized the way in which karate is taught and
studied today.
Initially, Oyata
named his organization, Ryukyu Kempo. (This is
a term that has often been used to describe karate in Okinawa.)
From 1969 until the early 90's Oyata used Ryukyu Kempo as the name of his
organization. In the middle 90's Oyata renamed his organization, RyuTe®.
This is sort of an acronym that refers to Ryukyu Hand; however, the
literal meaning of the kanji is "flowing hand." These kanji were
chosen to describe the way in which karate techniques should be
performed and to link the style to the Ryukyu Islands.
Oyata refers to
RyuTe® as a public art that he and his instructors teach
openly. He also teaches the family art he inherited from Uhugushiku and
Wakinaguri to a small group of
long time students and refers to it as Oyata Shin
Shu Ho®. |
