difference between shotokan and shito ryu

[DaSNooZ]

Hello, everybody

I was just wondering what was actually the difference(s) between the
karate shotokan style, and shito ryu style.

Thank you all :-)

[Scott]

The only Shito-Ryu stylists I have met were from the Itosu-Kai
organization so my brief answer is based on those contacts. Shito-Ryu
stylists appear to train all the kata of Shotokan and plus all the kata
of Goju-Ryu. There are, however, differences in the body mechanics used
in Goju-Ryu and Shotokan. At least to my eye, those Shito-Ryu
practitioners appeared to be performing Goju-Ryu techniques using the
body mechanics common to Shotokan.

if you have access to large library systems, there are two documentaries
you can check for. "Budo-Sai" was filmed in Great Britain and includes
footage of both Shotokan and Goju-Ryu practitioners. "Budo, The Art of
Killing" has footage of Teruo Hayashi performing Shito-Ryu techniques.

[Adrian Hoe]

Shoto and Shito are quite similar style due to the relationship of
their founders. Gichin Funakoshi Sensei and Kenwa Mabuni Sensei trained
together very often. Katas of both styles are very similar.

Shoto uses big long stance and big and fast movement in their katas
while Shito uses smaller stance with both slow and fast movement in
their katas. Shoto primarily uses external weight change and crude
muscle power to achive speed and power. Shito uses internal weight
change to achieve both.

Shito is the only style that derived from both Shori-te and Naha-te.
Kenwa Mabuni Sensei was the only student to have complete training in
both systems. Shito has both soft and hard style in its techniques.

With Shito emphasizes on internal weight change, its advantage is that
one will still be able to perform katas to their old age. Very few
Shoto's and hard style practitioners will be able to do so.
--
Adrian Hoe
http://adrianhoe.net

[Derek]

It is pretty simple really. Shotokan was developed by Funakoshi and
Itosu to teach Okinawan school children. However, Funakoshi resisted
the name Shotokan. They took out most of the really nasty stuff
(pressure points, jutusu related stuff), and replaced them with blocks
and punches. Shito ryu did not undergo this transformation.