Soryu Karate-Do Association

In Okinawa, the birthplace of Karate, one who masters Ryukyu martial arts (Ryukyu is an old name of Okinawa island) must be a trustworthy person dedicated to protecting the royalty and aristocracy of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Ryukyu Karate was never taught to men of bad character, even though some of them could perform it well. Teaching Karate to a person of bad character brings to mind the old Japanese saying, “Handing a sword to an insane person.” This would be unacceptable because, like a sword, Karate’s techniques can severely injure people. It would be unethical to teach Karate’s techniques to someone who has an evil mind or bad character. To do so would risk bringing harm to the world. Karate’s techniques can be useful to the world only when one with good character acquires the skills. This is why Karate teaches strict discipline.

In Soryu, the knowledge to learn is defined as “Teaching from 5 yen.” Soke taught us, “Like the rice stalk is shown on the surface of a 5 yen, the stronger you are, the higher your position becomes, the richer you are, the greater your authority is while still being humble.” “Be humble,” rather than “Be strong,” is a kernel of knowledge from Soryu.

The concept of “learning Soryu” is to create an environment where you do not fight first. In a situation where you’re forced to defend yourself you need to have strong enough techniques to be able to escape and avoid injury and danger.
If you are a beginner at Soryu, your mind and fists may be disharmonious, which is the state of “Human and fists”. As you learn over the years, you will reach a point of “Human, with no fists,” then you will eventually reach “Fighter with no fists,” in the midst of a chaotic world. This is the word from Soke Michio Koyasu, the originator of Soryu Karate.