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About

Shotokan Ryu

History

Due to the lack of documented records, it is very difficult to provide “actual” dates for the history of Shotokan-09, the island of Okinawa was invaded by the Satsuma Clan (from Japan) and all weapons were banned. So the native fighting style (te, tode or Okinawa-te) was learnt and developed as a means of unarmed self-
defense.

Due to the laws this had to be practiced in secret. As Okinawa is situated about half way between Japan and Formosa (Taiwan), it came into contact with many other oriental combat systems, especially Kempo
(Chinese boxing) from China, as well as styles from Japan and the Ryukyu islands.

These fighting methods were brought to Okinawa through the trading that took place between these countries. Okinawa was also engaged in trace with the people of Fukien province in Southern China and it was probably from this source that Chinese Kempo, was introduced to the ordinary people of the Islands. Further refinement came from the influence of other martial arts brought by nobles and trade merchants to the island. This Okinawa-Te continued to be practiced in secret, even after the end of the Satsuma rule in 1872.

The secrecy did not end until 1902, when the Commissioner of Education (Shintaro Ogawa) recommended in a report to the Ministry of Education that Karate be included in the physical education of the first public high school of Okinawa prefecture. This was the first time (in 1902) that Karate had been introduced to the general public. Some of these styles were combined to form different styles of “TE”. Three fighting styles were developed around the main towns: Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te. Gichin Funakoshi learned Shuri-te and Naha-te from Yatasune Azato Sensei and Yatasune Itosu Sensei respectively (he started training in 1879). They were eventually refined into two styles of Karate: Shorei-Ryu and Shorin-Ryu.

In 1609, the island of Okinawa was invaded by the Satsuma Clan (from Japan) and all weapons were banned. So the native fighting style (te, tode or Okinawa-te) was learnt and developed as a means of unarmed self-defense. Due to the laws this had to be practiced in secret. As Okinawa is situated about half way between Japan and Formosa (Taiwan), it came into contact with many other oriental combat systems, especially Kempo (Chinese boxing) from China, as well as styles from Japan and the Ryukyu islands.
 
These fighting methods were brought to Okinawa through the trading that took place between these countries. Okinawa was also engaged in trace with the people of Fukien province in Southern China and it was probably from this source that Chinese Kempo, was introduced to the ordinary people of the Islands. Further refinement came from the influence of other martial arts brought by nobles and trade merchants to the island. This Okinawa-Te continued to be practiced in secret, even after the end of the Satsuma rule in 1872. The secrecy did not end until 1902, when the Commissioner of Education (Shintaro Ogawa) recommended in a report to the Ministry of Education that Karate be included in the physical education of the first public high school of Okinawa prefecture.
 
This was the first time (in 1902) that Karate had been introduced to the general public. Some of these styles were combined to form different styles of “TE”. Three fighting styles were developed around the main towns: Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te. Gichin Funakoshi learned Shuri-te and Naha-te from Yatasune Azato Sensei and Yatasune Itosu Sensei respectively (he started training in 1879). They were eventually refined into two styles of Karate: Shorei-Ryu and Shorin-Ryu. 
They first placed the emphasis on very powerful, but slow techniques. The other relied on faster, but less strong attacks. Funakoshi Sensei combined the “best” aspects of each art into a new style that would later be called Shotokan (‘Shoto’ being Funakoshi Sensei’s pen-name, “Kan” meaning building or house, i.e.: Shotokan = ‘House of Shoto’).
 
In 1916 or 1917, Funakoshi Sensei was invited as a representative of Okinawa Prefecture to the to demonstrate his style of Karate at the Botoku-den on Kyoto (at that time the official center of all the martial arts) to give a Karate demonstration. This was the first time the art of Karate was to be demonstrated outside the island of Okinawa.
 
In 1922, he was asked again to demonstrate at the Ministry of Education’s 1st National Athletic Exhibition in Tokyo. At the end of this exhibition, Funakoshi Sensei was asked by several groups remain in Japan to spread the art of Karate and popularize this martial art.
During this time, a master artist named Hoan Kosugi* asked Funakoshi Sensei to write something explaining his martial art.
 
In November 1992 Funakoshi Sensei completed the first published work on the subject of Karate titled “Ryukyu Kempo: Karate”.
*Hoan Kosugi was also the artist of the “Shotokan Tiger” which symbolizes our Shotokan-Ryu.
 
By 1935 Karate dojos were established at most of the leading Japanese universities and Karate was more widely practiced. In 1936, Funakoshi Sensei established the “Shotokan” in Tokyo. This eventually led to the start of the Japan Karate Association and subsequent organizations in existence today such as: (SKIF) – Kanazawa’s Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation, (SKA) – Shotokan Karate of America, (ISKF) -International Shotokan Karate Federation), etc.