Myths, Masters and Mayhem

Stories of the Martial Arts

3 - The Founders of Modern Karate - Gichin Funakoshi

All three knew each other in Okinawa and all trained under Itosu Yasutsune. Chojun Miyagi and Kenwa Mabuni were also very good friends. They were to found three of the most influential karate systems. Funakoshi Sensei founded the Japan Karate Association (JKA), Miyagi Sensei founded Goju ryu and Mabuni Sensei founded Shito ryu. Most modern karate styles can trace their lineage back to one or more of these styles. The Seido karate tradition is clearly descended from JKA and Goju Ryu through Kyokushinkai.

In this issue I will talk a little about Gichin Funakoshi, as he was the first to establish a school in Japan during 1922.

By the early 1920s Funakoshi was already in his fifties and like most Okinawan karate instructors he was not paid to teach karate. To support his family he worked as a school teacher.

Funakoshi Sensei learnt his karate primarily under two famous Sensei - Itosu Yasutsune and Azato Yasutsune. However, as was the practice at that time, a student might be sent to another instructor to round out their experience. In this manner Sensei Funakoshi trained under a number of famous instructors including one of the most famous - Matsumura Sensei.

Funakoshi Sensei was not a big man and unlike his instructors he is not widely known for defeating opponents in combat (although he most certainly did so). In fact in his autobiography Karate My Way of Life he recounts only one situation where he used his skills to defend himself and he does so with obvious discomfort and embarrassment.

Yet when a request came from the Japanese government for a karate master to come and demonstrate karate to the Japanese they asked him. More importantly he had the confidence of his teachers and the other karate masters to do so.

JKA practitioners simply refer to what they do as karate, but their style is more commonly known as Shotokan. The name comes from Funakoshi Sensei's pen name. He was an accomplished calligrapher and he signed his work as "Shoto". Kan in Japanese means building, therefore Shotokan-ryu means "the style they practice at Shoto's building".

Funakoshi Sensei is also famous for adapting the name Karate to its modern interpretation. Originally karate was known interchangeably as Te (hand), Okinawa-te or kara-te (Chinese hand). The latter term recognised that the indigenous unarmed styles had been strongly influenced by Chinese unarmed arts.

When Funakoshi Sensei first began teaching in Japan the political climate was tense between China and Japan (and would eventually lead to war). It was partly for this reason and for his personal view that karate is most importantly a means of personal development that he changed the meaning of the name. He did this by recognising that "kara" can mean Chinese (more specifically Tang from the Tang dynasty) or "empty" depending on which kanji character is used. By changing the meaning to "empty" he captured the idea of combat without weapons and the Zen concept of empty mind.

It is perhaps Sensei's skills as a teacher that we owe most to today. He did much to formalise many kata so that variations between instructors were reduced. He also developed the taikyoku kata that still provide instructors with an excellent means of introducing kata to new students.