Ask the average karate practitioner to name the main styles of Japan, and chances are he’ll rattle off shotokan, goju-ryu and wado-ryu with no trouble. But unless he’s really up on his art, there’s a good likelihood that he’ll stumble over the name of the fourth major style, snap his fi ngers and ask quizzically, “What’s the name of that other one, again?”
That other style is shito-ryu, and any karate student’s puzzlement about it is somewhat understandable. That’s because shito-ryu is relatively unknown outside Japan, even though it’s perhaps the most interesting of all the Japanese Systems.
Fumio Demura and his students work out on the grounds of Sojyi Temple in Japan. The monastery is often used as a background in the filming of ninja movies.