Chito-Ryu Kata | Ryusan

  

Chitō-ryū (千唐流) is a style of karate founded by Dr. Tsuyoshi Chitose (千歳 强直, Chitose Tsuyoshi), (1898-1984). The name of the style translates as: chi (千) - 1,000; tō (唐) - China; ryū (流) - style, school, "1,000 year old Chinese style." The character tō (唐) refers to the Tang dynasty of China. The style was officially founded in 1946.[1]

Chitō-ryū is generally classified as a Japanese style because Chitose formulated and founded Chitō-ryū principally while living in Kumamoto, Japan. However, some modern practitioners[2][3][4][5] feel it is better categorized as an Okinawan style given that its roots and techniques are firmly grounded in and derived from traditional Okinawan Tōde (唐手). T

his belief is warranted since the style's founder, Tsuyoshi Chitose, received first the rank of Judan, in 1958,[6] and then the rank of Hanshi, in 1968,[7] from the Zen Okinawa Karate Kobudo Rengo Kai (All Okinawa Union of Karate-do and Kobu-do).

Chito-Ryu Kata | Ryusan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxinYWC9Ikk

Ryūsan (龍山, "Dragon mountain") is meant to mean "dragon climbing the mountain".[citation needed] It is not found in any other styles of karate outside of Chitō-ryū (except for Patrick McCarthy's Koryū style, but there is debate about where his kata comes from).[citation needed] 

It is completely open handed from beginning to end with stabbing fingers, ridge hand and knife-edge blocks and palm strikes. The stance transitions are complex with the trailing leg sometimes pulling up and creating a shorter seisan-dachi, which is unlike other kata in the style.

There is a signature movement in the middle of the kata where the karateka stands on one leg, thrusts one hand straight up and one hand straight down, and then switches legs and hands. It is this movement that gives the kata its name.