Comparison of karate styles techniques. Comparison of karate styles The table contains a comparison of karate styles. Some of the distinguishing features are listed, such as lineage, general form of stances, and number of kata. The five earliest karate styles developed in Japan are Shotokan, Wado-ryu, Shito-ryu, and Goju-ryu. The first three styles find their origins in the Shorin-Ryu style from Shuri, Okinawa, while Goju-ryu finds its origins in Naha. Shuri karate is rather different from Naha karate, drawing on different predecessor influences. Shito-ryu can be regarded as a blend of Shuri and Naha traditions as its kata incorporate both Shuri and Naha kata.
Tachikawa-ryu in 1113 by the Shingon monk Ninkan associated with Daigoji, was exiled from Koyasan to the province of Izu after getting caught on the wrong side of a political dispute. In Izu, he met an Onmyoji (Onmyodo: Taoism, Japanese esoteric cosmology) master from "Musashi no Tachikawa (Tachikawa of Musashi Province)" named Kenren (見蓮 also 兼蓮). Together the two created the school of Tachikawa-ryu. Ninkan taught mikkyo to specialist in yin-yang and Yijing divination in Musashi region, and regarded as a founder of Tachikawa-ryu, a heretical Shingon sect. Whether or not they can credited to Ninkan himself, the Taoist elements in