Tatsuo Shimabuku was the founder of Isshin-ryu ("One Heart Style") style of karate.
During the late 1940s Shimabukuro began experimenting with different techniques and kata from the Shorin-Ryu and Goju-Ryu systems as well as Kobudo. He called the style he was teaching Chan-migwha-te, after Chotoku Kyan's nickname Chan-migwa. The nickname “Chan-migwa” meant “small-eyed-Chan." "Chan", in the Okinawa dialect “Uchinaguchi”, is “Kyan." In Uchinaguchi “mi” means “eye." The suffix “Gwa” or “Guwa” mean's “small.” So Chan-migwa means “Small eye Chan (Kyan)”. He renamed his Chan migwa-te style "Isshin-ryu" on January 15, 1956.
Tatsuo Shimabuku was the founder of Isshin-ryu ("One Heart Style") style of karate.
During the late 1940s Shimabukuro began experimenting with different techniques and kata from the Shorin-Ryu and Goju-Ryu systems as well as Kobudo. He called the style he was teaching Chan-migwha-te, after Chotoku Kyan's nickname Chan-migwa. The nickname “Chan-migwa” meant “small-eyed-Chan." "Chan", in the Okinawa dialect “Uchinaguchi”, is “Kyan." In Uchinaguchi “mi” means “eye." The suffix “Gwa” or “Guwa” mean's “small.” So Chan-migwa means “Small eye Chan (Kyan)”. He renamed his Chan migwa-te style "Isshin-ryu" on January 15, 1956.