MARTIAL ARTS

Kenwa Mabuni

1889 - 1952

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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. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Kenwa Mabuni is the 16th most popular martial arts (down from 12th in 2019), the 723rd most popular biography from Japan (down from 585th in 2019) and the 7th most popular Japanese Martial Arts.

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Among MARTIAL ARTS

Among martial arts, Kenwa Mabuni ranks 16 out of 179Before him are Conor McGregor, Matsumura Sōkon, Jon Jones, Ankō Itosu, Masatoshi Nakayama, and Mirko Cro Cop. After him are Hélio Gracie, Chōjun Miyagi, Fedor Emelianenko, Cynthia Rothrock, Andy Hug, and Randy Couture.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1889, Kenwa Mabuni ranks 92Before him are Willi Münzenberg, Reşat Nuri Güntekin, Fritz Pfeffer, Hamza Hakimzade Niyazi, Richard Boleslawski, and Mile Budak. After him are Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, Emil Brunner, Lev Karakhan, Amadeo Bordiga, Subhi Bey Barakat, and Ernst Reuter. Among people deceased in 1952, Kenwa Mabuni ranks 66Before him are William Fox, Clark L. Hull, Waldemar Bonsels, Henri Winkelman, Eli Heckscher, and Albert Forster. After him are Princess Hilda of Nassau, Pierre Renoir, Sergei Bortkiewicz, Vladimír Clementis, Władysław Strzemiński, and Vasili Eroshenko.

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Kenwa Mabuni ranks 723 out of 6,245Before him are Ii Naosuke (1815), Aritatsu Ogi (1942), Shō Shin (1465), Isao Tomita (1932), Emperor Shijō (1231), and Shinya Yamanaka (1962). After him are Izumi Shikibu (976), Shō Hashi (1371), Chiang Wei-kuo (1916), Keizo Imai (1950), Takahashi Korekiyo (1854), and Tanzan Ishibashi (1884).

Among MARTIAL ARTS In Japan

Among martial arts born in Japan, Kenwa Mabuni ranks 7Before him are Kanō Jigorō (1860), Gichin Funakoshi (1868), Morihei Ueshiba (1883), Matsumura Sōkon (1809), Ankō Itosu (1831), and Masatoshi Nakayama (1913). After him are Chōjun Miyagi (1888), Hironori Ōtsuka (1892), Motobu Chōki (1870), Higaonna Kanryō (1853), Koichi Tohei (1920), and Morihiro Saito (1928).