Schools of Karate

流祖（開祖）とは，師が継ぐ流派から分派した者のことである。ただ，空手の場合は，多少様子が異なる。空手家が流派を名乗り始めたのは昭和に入ってからであり，それまでは流派らしい流派はなく，沖縄の各地域でそれぞれ独特の技術が伝承されていた。代表的なものがすなわち，首里手と那覇手である。糸東流開祖・摩文仁賢和先生は，首里手の糸洲安恒先生と，那覇手の東恩納寛量先生から，それぞれ手を学んだ。本土に移住後，両師の名から，自身の手を「糸東流」としたことは有名である。こうして流派を名乗るようになったのは，近年になってからであり，多分に，日本の剣術や柔術の影響によるところが大きい。一説には，本土では「何流」と名乗るのが通例であったために，やむを得ず名乗ることとなったという話もある。糸洲安恒先生の高弟である遠山寛賢先生は，「空手に流派なし」として流派を名乗ることを拒み続けた。また，松濤館流の開祖である船越義珍先生も，自身は流派を名乗っていない（”松濤館流”は船越門下の弟子が名乗り始めたものである）。したがって，沖縄の剛柔流や小林流（松林流，少林流，少林寺流），本土の糸東流や松濤館流などは，糸洲安恒先生や東恩納寛量先生などの，流派なき時代の師の直弟子が創始したという意味で，厳密には，流派からの分派とは微妙に異なる。つまり，空手は本来，流派という厳密な境界のない，もっと曖昧な武術文化であったと考えられる。

A founder of the school is basically defined as a person who form an another original school depart from the school his/her master succeeds. But, karate has a little different situation from other martial arts. It was not until Showa era that karateka identified themselves with a specific school name. There had been not any schools like the so-called "school" until then, and original techniques had been passed down at each area in Okinawa. Representative ones are nothing but shuri-te and naha-te. The founder of shito-ryu Kenwa Mabuni sensei learned both shuri-te from Anko Itosu sensei and naha-te from Kanryo Higaon'na sensei. It is a very famous episode that he identified his techniques as "shito-ryu" named after his two master after he had migrated from Okinawa to Osaka in Japan mainland. It is not until recently that karateka has given themselves a name of school, and probably this phenomenon in karate might have been influenced mainly by ken-jutsu and ju-jutsu in Japan mainland. Some say that Okinawan karateka unavoidably gave themselves a name of school against their will because it is usual that martial artists have their own name of school in Japan mainland. Kanken Toyama sensei, who was the leading disciple of Anko Itosu sensei, had been refusing to identify himself with a specific school name, saying "there is no school in karate." In addition, Gichin Funakoshi sensei, who is the founder of shotokan-ryu, also did not identify his class with a specific name of school ("shotokan-ryu" has been given by the disciples of Funakoshi sensei). Thus, goju-ryu and syorin-ryu in Okinawa and shito-ryu and shotokan-ryu in Japan mainland are subtly different from a sect of main school, since that the direct disciples of such masters in the age of no school as Anko Itosu sensei and Kanryo Higaon'na sensei have founded their respective schools. In other word, it is suggested that karate must have been essentially a more vague culture of martial arts without strict boundaries of schools.