Origin of the Uechi-Ryū Karate Style

Uechi-Ryū Karate is a martial arts that has its origin in Okinawa (Japan). The roots of this martial arts are even older and lie in South China. Kanbun Uechi (1877-1948), a citizen of Okinawa, founded Uechi-Ryū. He developed it out of the Chinese Kung Fu style ‘Pangai-noon’ ('half-hard, half-soft'). His teacher had been the Chinese master Zhou Zihe (Japanese: Shū Shiwa). The style is based on imitating the movements of tiger, crane and dragon. Kanbun Uechi brought the three main katas (Kata: form, fixed sequence of fighting techniques) from China. The three katas are Sanchin, Seisan, and Sanseiryū.  Kanei Uechi (1911-1991), Kanbun's son, named the style ‘Uechi-Ryū’ after his father. The current known form of Uechi-Ryū is based on the work of Kanei Uechi.  He added partner exercises and five bridge katas (Kanshiwa, Kanshū, Seichin, Seiryū, Kanchin).