There are said to be several styles of karate. Classically it is written that there are just two: Shorin-ryu and Shorei-ryu. Of course, there is also at least the style of Motobu udundi which is different to these two Chinese styles. There are several variations of the two broad styles, which I wrote about in an article for Shotokan Karate Magazine entitled The Okinawan Origins of Japanese Shotokan Karate. The point is that it is complicated as each kata has its own combination of styles that made it as it is in Okinawan karate, which is Okinawan-style Chinese boxing. Although, that usually concerns the older teachings passed down in Okinawa, not the newer kata such as in Goju-ryu and Uechi-ryu that both teach Okinawan-style Shorei-ryu, though Uechi-ryu is more like the original Chinese method. What was often just called tī (te in Japanese) was a combination of ancient Japanese and Chinese influence, with Okinawan grappling and further Chinese and Japanese influence. My lineage is Funakoshi karate, so it shows influence from ancient times and later from Jigen-ryu kenjutsu as well as quanfa systems such as those of Masters Kusanku and the Fujian expert from Annan whose name may or may not have been Chinto. All of these systems are descended from Chinese boxing with regards to the kata / quan themselves. Some were created from Chinese techniques, some were devised purely in Okinawa, and some were brought from China as quan and altered in style more or less. Various lineages such as Shotokan, Mabuni Shito-ryu, and Goju-ryu had the old text Bubishi passed to them. In that book the articles state the methods being Shaolin. So all of these lineages studied Shaolin teachings. You can say that, while there are northern and southern Shaolin schools, and they do look different, they are both types of Shaolin boxing. Even Wudang boxing originated in Shaolin. Depending on what Chinese text you read, you would either say there is northern and southern Shaolin, and Wudang, or there is Shaolin and Wudang. In essence, the real differences in style lie within whether it is practised externally or internally initially. Hence, either Shaolin or Wudang. Old Okinawan methods happened to see influence from Shaolin. It seems that only later on did experts such as Master Kanken Toyama study Wudang boxing as well. Hence, it is not to be excluded from the ongoing development of karati. Nonetheless, what has been practised up to now can be called Okinawan Shaolin. However, there aren’t really any styles, just the study of hard and soft techniques. Shorin-ryu is usually for lighter, faster techniques, while Shorei-ryu is for heavier, stronger techniques. That difference seems like Shorin-ryu would be soft while Shorei-ryu would be hard. Certainly Shorin-ryu is more natural in movement and breathing, while Shorei-ryu is heavier. However, as with Uechi-ryu karate and Goju-ryu karate, for instance, both are founded on the principles of hard and soft as one, Uechi-ryu having been formerly called Pangainoon which means “half-hard, half-soft”. And all of the old masters talked about hard and soft all the time. This is Chinese, and, as mentioned, our orthodox karate is Okinawan Chinese boxing. So, too, are the so-called Shorin-ryu and Shorei-ryu both based on hard and soft applications combined in different ways. The same is true for Wudang boxing which might be classified as being internal or soft, and natural, while Shaolin might be called external or hard. Both are actually a combination of hard and soft. Without hardness, your techniques will be no good, and without softness, your techniques will be unintelligent and therefore also inferior to a one-sided approach. A martial art with just hard or just soft is not as skillful as a method comprising both ways of nature. To be able to move in accordance with your opponent, you must have the skills to manoeuvre between hard and soft types of boxing skills. That is the same idea as combining Shorin-ryu and Shorei-ryu, except it is more fundamental in description. There are no styles in authentic karati.
