“Founded To’on Ryu Karate Do”
Kyoda Juhatsu 1887 - 1968
“Founded To’on Ryu Karate Do”
Sensei Kyoda Juhatsu was born on December 5th 1887. He was a student of Kanryo Higaonna, founder of Naha-te. After the death of Higaonna, Juhatsu travelled to the Japanese mainland and opened a dojo in Oita Prefecture, and eventually established and taught his own Okinawan style To’on Ryu karate-do
Juhatsu Kyoda entered the dojo of Higaonna Kanryo in 1902 and continued studying with him until Kanryo’s death in 1915. One month after Kyoda started, Miyagi Chojun (promoter of Naha-te on Okinawa, and eventually cofounder of Goju-ryu) entered the dojo. In 1908, Kenwa Mabuni (founder of Shito-ryu) also joined the dojo of Higaonna Kanryo.
Kyoda began training between 1901 and 1903. He also studied with Arakaki Seisho and Kojo Taite. Like Miyagi, he received a teaching license from Dai Nippon Butoku Kai in 1934 and named chief instructor of Dai Nippon Butoku Kai’s Okinawan Branch.
Kyoda took part in the famous 1936 meeting of senior Okinawan Karate masters called to attempt to formalize and understand what karate had become as it took on mainland Japanese form.
At the beginning of the meeting, Kyoda Juhatsu said he was opposed to making a formal decision at the meeting, since “most Okinawan people still use the word ‘China Hand’ for karate. The upshot of the meeting was that Karate-do was chosen to uphold the distinction of empty hand and do (the spiritual way). The meeting was a watershed in the history of Karate and effectively a ‘changing of the guard’. Of singular importance is that the named Okinawan Goju-Ryu karate, and other ryu styles, were registered with the official Japanese Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, and led to the rapid development and spread of Karate throughout Japan, and worldwide, a critical goal of the meeting.
Although Kyoda Juhatsu had several instructors, he credited Higashionna Kanryo as his primary teacher. By far Higashionna had the most profound impact on him. Indeed, Kyoda devoted well over a decade of his life to learning Higashionna’s karate-do. So loyal was Kyoda to his teacher, that he named the style of karate do that he taught after him: Tou’on-ryu (literally ‘Higashionna style). The Toon-ryu kata and training drills consist of Ten-I-Happo, Tsuki-Uke (Shiho-Uke), Kiso I and II, Sanchin, Sesan, Sanseru, Pechurin, Jion, & Nepai. Apparently Kyoda knew two versions of Seisan but only passed onw version. He learned Jion from Kentsu Yabu.
Kyoda Juhatsu died on August 31, 1948, at the age of 81.