was one of the first karateka to teach karate on mainland Japan. He was instrumental in developing modern karate, as well as a driving force in the art's acceptance in Japan. He is credited with developing the style known as Shindō jinen-ryū (神道自然流). Early life Yasuhiro Konishi was born in 1893 in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan. In 1899 he began training in Muso Ryu jujutsu, then kendo when he was 13 and later, Takenouchi-ryū jujutsu and judo. In 1915, he entered Keio University in Tokyo. Konishi's first exposure to te was through Tsuneshige Arakaki, who was from Okinawa. Konishi quit his job in 1923 to open a martial arts center. Naming his dojo the Ryobu-Kan ("The House of Martial Arts Excellence"), Konishi provided instruction in kendo and jujutsu. Training with Japanese Masters In September 1924, Hironori Ohtsuka and Gichin Funakoshi came to the Keio University kendo training hall. With Konishi's help, Funakoshi established a to-te club at Keio University. Konishi, Funakoshi and Ohtsuka were the instructors and with the addition of te to Konishi's curriculum of jujutsu, kendo and western boxing, modern karate was born. Training with Okinawan Masters As karate gained popularity, a number of Okinawan masters traveled to Japan. Many of these martial artists visited the Ryobu-Kan. Among them were Choki Motobu, Kenwa Mabuni and Chojun Miyagi. Konishi considered Motobu a martial arts genius and trained with him often. A native of Okinawa, Motobu did not speak Japanese well. Konishi trained less frequently with Miyagi but Miyagi presented him with a manuscript, "An Outline of Karate-Do", dated March 23, 1934. Konishi trained with Kenwa Mabuni, who resided at Konishi's house for ten months in 1927 and 1928. Mabuni was known for his knowledge of kata. Mabuni and Konishi later worked together to develop the kata Seiryu. The Influence of Morihei Ueshiba Konishi also studied under Morihei Ueshiba. Konishi demonstrated Heian Nidan to Ueshiba who opined that Konishi should cease pursuing such ineffective techniques. Konishi created a kata he named Tai Sabaki (“body movement”). A notable difference from most karate kata was that it was an unbroken sequence of actions. Morihei Ueshiba remarked, "The demonstration you did just now was satisfactory to me and that kata is worth mastering." Konishi would later develop two more forms based on the same principles, and he named these three kata Tai Sabaki Shodan, Tai Sabaki Nidan and Tai Sabaki Sandan. Seiryu (青柳) Kata