Shoto

Nature: Balanced Origin: Jipangu Flourish: Reeling

Originating from Jipangu, Shoto is one of the most famous and widespread martial arts in Prisma today. Although originating from the super island that is Jipangu, its adherents can be found all over the world practiced by any number of cultures. Contrary to popular believe, Shoto does not originate from the Holy Samurai Empire. Instead, Shoto originates from the Naha-Shuri people of Jipangu, whom were conquered by the Holy Samurai Empire in the past. Shoto was a martial arts used by the Naha-Shuri as a means of protecting themselves in unarmed combat, with the style clearly developed with Kun'lao martial arts as a base. The fighting prowess of the Shoto fighters impressed the Samurai, and Shoto subsequently spread throughout the Empire and then the rest of the world as a result.

Shoto is a well-rounded, balanced style that makes use of powerful strikes and takedowns. It is far more direct than many Kun'lao styles, and thus not as flashy. It is, however, very hard-hitting, and the conditioning of its fighters is well regarded. Shoto fighters will favor fewer but more powerful strikes in the stead of weaker rapid ones. The stopping power of these attacks is capable of sending an oppoent into a daze that Shoto's Flourish is Reeling.

Core Principles

There are a few key elements to those who practice Shoto. These elements are central to the martial art's key concept: Take the opponent down in as few movements as possible, prioritizing powerful one-shot match enders over anything flashy.

• Balanced Toolset: Shoto fighters make use of a great variety of strikes: Punches, chops, knifehands, elbows, kicks, and knees in particular. They also use takedowns, although they tend to be no-flash throws such as the Over-the-Shoulder throw.

• Immense Stopping Power: In Shoto, a fighter trains their strikes so that any individual strike has the power to end the fight. This means that a Shoto will prioritize throwing less strikes and instead focus on each of them being more powerful than their rival's.

• Superb Conditioning: Shoto fighters practice superb conditioning, and many top Shoto fighters are famous for their toughness. Shoto fighters often punch through wooden boards and then cinderblocks as part of their training. They punch their bare knuckles into trees and hard surfaces until they bleed, so that they may heal stronger than before. They even take turns leaving themselves open to attack by their fellow students as a training excercise, so that they may learn to take hits better.

Other Styles

There are actually quite a few different styles of Shoto, with Shoto itself best used as an umbrella term for a kind of martial art. These styles are not as wide in their variety as Kun'lao martial arts, and they have a similar base. Still, they have their differences. This page assumes the character is using the most common form of Shoto: Majin Shoto. There are 4 other prominent schools of Shoto.

• Asura Shoto: The most hard-style form of Shoto, with the most ties to professional fighting and MMA. A focus is put upon intense conditioning, with Asura Shoto adherents being renown as some of the toughest fighters in all of prisma. Their attacks are even more hard-hitting, with a focus kicks powerful enough to take down giant monsters. Because of their toughness, an Ashura Shoto fighter should use the Defensive Flourish instead.

• Deva Shoto: A Shoto style that combines both hard and soft style techniques, with its Kun'lao influences being the most clear here. It uses soft-style, rotational parries and blocks defensively, then relies on direct, hard style strikes for offense. Also makes usage of wide sweeping motions often seen in Divine Void for both its defensive and offensive maneuvers. Deva Shoto practicioners should use Area as its Flourish instead.

• Kami Shoto: A Shoto style focused on refined, upright posture and a more more vast collection of techniques. It is more complex and agile than the other Shoto styles. Kami Shoto practicioners will make use of more esoteric strikes such as hook strikes from something like Mantis style and even pressure point strikes. Kami Shoto fighters have a greater toolset for finding the best way to do damage to a foe, so their Flourish should be Piercing.

• Archon Shoto: The most esoteric of the Shoto styles, and the most rare. In addition to standard Majin Shoto moves, Archon Shoto uses more grappling incorporated with Goro in addition to making more use of Qi techniques. Often most used by warrior priests ofthe Nara-Shuri. The style is best used as a means of keeping an opponent at a distance so that the user can use a long-range Qi technique to finish them off. Archon Shoto practicioners are great at moving opponents around as they desire, and as such their Flourish should instead be Pushing.

Weapons

Although Shoto was developed in the case the user is disarmed, formal Shoto training also means formal weapon training in Nara-Shuri weapons. An example of a few of these includes:

• Tonfas: Tonfas are among the most commonn weapons used in Shoto training, often used to great effect in parrying, disarming, and disabling opponents. Often duel-wielded.

• Sais: A pair of fork-like weapons best used for parrying and disarming opponents. The tips of Sais are traditionally blunt, and it is not best used as a piercing weapon. It is instead most commonly used by a fighter to disarm their opponent of their weapons.

• Kamas: Traditional farming sickles. Shoto was most commonly used by farmers in an effort to protect themselves against the heavily armored and weaponed Samurai. Kamas were mere improvised weapons used by Nara-Shuri farmers, and they used them to great effect as both disarming and cutting weapons.