Kenwa Mabuni (1889–1952) began training with master Ankō Itosu (1831–1915) in Shuri, Okinawa, around 1902 at the age of 13. He trained diligently under Itosu for several years—some sources indicate for 13 years—learning many kata until Itosu's death in 1915.
Kenwa Mabuni trained under Kanryo Higaonna in Naha-te roughly between 1908/1909 and 1915. Introduced by his close friend Chojun Miyagi, Mabuni began these lessons around age 19 or 20, studying in the evenings while continuing to train with Anko Itosu in the afternoons until Higaonna's death in 1915.
By 1929, Mabuni had moved to Osaka on the mainland, to become a full-time karate instructor of a style he originally called Hanko-ryu, or 'half-hard style'. In an effort to gain acceptance in the Japanese Butokukai, the governing body for all officially recognised martial arts in that country, he and his contemporaries decided to call their art 'Karate' or 'Empty Hand', rather than 'Chinese Hand', perhaps to make it sound more Japanese. Around the same time, perhaps when first introducing his style to the Butokukai, is when it's believed the name of the style changed to Shito-ryu, in honour of its main influences. Mabuni derived the name for his new style of Shito-ryu from the on'yomi readings of the first Kanji character in their names, "Shi" for Ito(糸)su and "To" for Higashi(東)onna. With the support of Sakagami Ryusho (1915-1993), he opened a number of Shito-ryu dojo in the Osaka area, including Kansai University and the Japan Karate-do Kai dojo.
Ryusho Sakagami was born in 1915 in Hyogo Prefecture, Kawanishi City of Japan. Sakagami began practicing the martial art of ‘Kendo” around the age of ten and in his later teen years he began to study iaido which is the art of drawing the Samurai Sword. n the insuing years, Ryusho Sakagami would continue his education and intense training in various martial arts. In approximately 1937, after his repeated visits to Okinawa to train in Karate-do and Kobudo, he was encouraged by some of the great masters to return to Osaka, Japan and continue his studies with the prominent Okinawan master Kenwa Mabuni.
Fumio Demura (出村 文男, Demura Fumio; September 15, 1940 – April 24, 2023) was a Japanese–American karateka and kobudoka, based in the United States since the mid-1960s.[1][2] A 9th dan in Shitō-ryū karate, he was Pat Morita's martial arts stunt double in the first, third and fourth Karate Kid films, and was one of the inspirations for the character Mr. Miyagi. Demura, the founder of Shito-Ryu Genbu-Kai, was a highly respected and world-renowned karatedo, kobudo, and batto-do instructor. He was a mentor and friend to many across the world. Demura met martial arts scholar Donn Draeger, who introduced him to Dan Ivan. It was Ivan who helped bring Demura to the U.S. in 1965 as an instructor of Shito-Ryu karate and Okinawan kobudo. Demura performed karate demonstrations at Japanese Village & Deer Park in Buena Park for many years. He was featured on the cover of Black Belt Magazine nine times. He authored numerous karate and kobudo books, magazine articles, and DVDs. He was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in 1999, was inducted into Black Belt Magazine’s Hall of Fame twice and received the magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award.