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Style of karate

Shōrei ryū (昭霊流) is a style of Okinawan karate and is one of the two oldest karate styles, alongside Shōrin ryū. It was developed at the end of the 19th century by Higaonna Kanryō in Naha, Okinawa, Japan.

Shōrei ryū means "the style of inspiration" and certain martial arts scholars believe that the term Shōrei is derived from the Shoreiji Temple located in either Fujian or Mount Jiulian of Longnan, Jiangxi.

Little is known about the origins of Shōrei ryū, but it was influenced in its early development by Shuri te. Kanryo Higashionna originally studied Shuri te with Sokon Matsumura and learnt quanfa from Chinese Wai Xinxian (assistant of Xie Zhongxiang). Higaonna later traveled to China to perfect his skills, which he probably succeeded in because he learned many new kata from Fujian, the home of Baihequan (Chinese 白鶴 拳, Pinyin báihèquán) and adopted it in his style. The teachings of this temple provided the basis for the Naha te style of Okinawan karate. Following passing of Higaonna Kanryo, the style began to take a new direction and became a purely "internal" combat style. This was due in large part to the influence of Choki Motobu. Although Motobu's sensei style is still considered Naha te, it actually had nothing to do with Higashionna. When Motobu became the leader of Shōrei ryū, he began to guide his development in another direction, mainly because he trained with Anko Itosu of the Shuri te style, a disciple of the great Sokon Matsumura.

The main features of Shōrei ryū are the use of open hands, circular block techniques, and kicks to the gedan (lower level) area. In addition, the use of short and hard techniques in close combat in combination with throwing techniques is a specialty, especially from the sanchin and shiko dachi stances. Great importance is also attached to training on the makiwara. Another peculiarity is that the handling of Kobudō weapons such as bo, tonfa or sai is also very practiced.

Modern descendants of Shōrei ryū include styles such as Gōjū ryū and Ryūei ryū. Gōjū ryū is considered the direct evolution of Shōrei ryū. The Shitō ryū style also contains many elements of Shōrei ryū, since Mabuni Kenwa was a student of Higaonna, and even the Shōtōkan style contains kata from Shōrei ryū, which, however, did not get there directly, but were passed on to Funakoshi Gichin and his students via Mabuni Kenwa. The Shōrei ryū name (alternatively, Goju Shorei Ryu and later, Shorei Goju Ryu) was also used for the style of karate brought to the United States by Robert Trias. Later, Trias used the name Shuri ryu, although some lineages still use the Shorei Ryu name. This style should not be confused with traditional Shōrei ryū. Trias's karate incorporated elements from Naha te, Shuri te, Tomari te, and others.