Kenwa Mabuni
Japanese karateka, developing the style Shitō-ryū
摩文仁賢和 · 마부니 겐와
- Born
- 14 November 1889, Shuri
- Died
- 23 May 1952, Tokyo City
- Citizenship
- Japan, Empire of Japan
- Sport
- karate
- Occupation
- police officer, karateka
Kenwa Mabuni (摩文仁 賢和, Mabuni Kenwa; 14 November 1889 - 23 May 1952) was one of the first karateka to teach karate in mainland Japan and is credited as developing the style known as Shitō-ryū. Originally, he chose the name Hanko-ryu, literally "half-hard style", to imply that the style used both hard and soft techniques. Finally, Mabuni chose Shito-ryu, the first characters of the names Itosu and Higaonna, his two primary teachers.
Teachers
Students
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q453505 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.