Gishin Funakoshi

Similar to Kano and Ueshiba, Funakoshi was of small stature as a child and he had a weak health. His parents wanted him to have all the attention he needed so they let the parents of Funakoshi's mother raise him. In elementary school he became friends with the son of Anko Azato, a famous grandmaster on the island. At that time karate had a great variety of names and styles such as Tode or Okinawa-Te. Azato was a very discriminating teacher and the art of karate was surrounded with a great deal of secrecy. Yet, Funakoshi kept insisting on becoming his student and finally Azato gave in and taught him Shuri-Te (Shuri-fist). In 1890 Azato introduced Funakoshi to Yatsune Itosu, a grandmaster of Naha-Te. At that time Itosu tried to make karate accessible for a large group of people, especially children. Funakoshi was very keen on Itosu's vision and, meanwhile, completed a course to become a teacher at an elementary school. Around 1900-1905 Itosu's vision became reality as his style of karate became an official part of the physical education program of elementary and high schools in Okinawa.

Funakoshi further developed and integrated the two styles that his teachers had taught him. He visited all major schools and practiced different styles of karate. Funakoshi became the most eclectic karateka of his time. He was invited to give a number of demonstrations in Japan including a demonstration in Jigoro Kano's Kodokan dojo in 1922. Later on he taught Kano karate in exchange for food and shelter. He also gave a demonstration for the Japanese emperor at the imperial palace. Later that year he moved to Tokyo where he taught karate, mainly to intellectuals and students. As a formally trained teacher Funakoshi was able to summarize his ideas in a concise and systematic method. He introduced the three fundamental categories of karate training: kihon (basic training of individual techniques), kata (forms of style) and kumite (practising with a partner). As years went by karate became ever more popular. In 1936 a group of Funakoshi's student funded the construction of their own dojo. The training hall was named after Funakoshi, who was also a poet. He used 'Shoto', meaning pine-tree, as a pseudonym. The sounds of the wind rushing through the pine-trees gave him inspiration for his poems. The dojo is therefore called Shotokan (house of Shoto).

In 1936 Funakoshi spends his time on research that he deemed necessary to evolve his method. He changed the way 'Kara-te' was written. At first the two characters meant 'Chinese hand'. Funakoshi changed the first character so that it refered to 'empty' ('Kara' can refer to 'Tang', another name for China, or to the Buddhist principle of emptiness). So from now on Karate was translated as 'empty hand'. He developed a complete body of techniques and a system for graduation. And finally he defined the philosophical dimension of his style. Karate is no longer an art (bu-jutsu - the art of war) but a 'Do' (a way of personal growth).
Funakoshi defined this as follows:

'The ultimate goal of karate is
neither defeat or victory,
but the improvement of the
character of the practitioner.'

Funakoshi died in Tokyo on April 26, 1957. On his memorial at the Enkaku-ji temple in Kamakura the abbot made the following inscription:

'Karate ni sente nashi' (There is no first attack in karate')

Written and translated by Dennis de Booij.