This style of karate was first introduced to Okinawa around 1875 by Norisato Nakaima. Born of wealthy parents in Kume, Naha, Nakaima was a good scholar and, at the age of 19, went to Fuchou, China for advanced studies in the martial arts. There a former guard to the Chinese embassies in the Ryukyu islands introduced him to a Chinese boxing teacher known as Ru Ru Ko. Nakaima was accepted as a disciple, and, after 5-6 years of training, received a certificate of graduation from the master. Just before leaving China, in order to further his experience in the martial arts, Nakaima traveled to the Fukien, Canton, and Beijing areas, where he collected a number of weapons to bring back home with him.

Back in Okinawa, Nakaima passed this Chinese boxing style in secret to his son Kenchu Nakaima, who then went on to teach it to his son, Kenko Nakaima (founder of the Ryuei Ryu Karate and Kobudo Preservation Society). In 1971, at the age of 60, Kenko Nakaima realized that in today's world there was no longer a need to keep his family's fighting system a secret, and so, with some hesitation, he took on a group of 20 school teachers as karate students.

In 1979 two instructors were chosen for the task of bringing the style to the United States. They were Tomohiro Arashiro and Tsutomu Kuniyoshi. Since then the style has continued to become more widely recognized and is now taught in several dojos in Buenos Aires Argentina, Europe, throughout Asia, Southern California,South Florida, and Okinawa, Japan

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