| Funakoshi Gichin was born in the district of Yamakawa-cho in the Okinawan capital of Shuri in 1868. Born prematurley, he was rather a sickly baby and since both his parents and grandparents agreed he would not live long, they all took special care of him. It was during this stay at his grandparents home he began attending primary school, where he became close friends with one of his classmates, the Son of Yasutsune Azato, one of Okinawa\rquote s greatest experts in the arts of Karate. It was his good fortune to be bought to Azato\rquote s attention and eventually to receive his first lesson along the never ended path of Karate-do | ||
| Another Sensei whom Funakoshi dedicates a lot of his understanding of Martial Arts to is Master Itosu.Itosu was of average height with a huge barrel chest and his arms and chest possessed quite extraordinary power. It was said that said that Itosu could crush a piece pf green bamboo with his bare hands. It was Itosu\rquote s influence which drew Funakoshi to believe in the idea of training the entire b ody to be invulnerable. During this time the practice of karate was banned by the newly restored westernised government, so lessons were literally held in secret and pupils were forbidden to discuss the fact they were learning the art. | ||
| In 1888, at the ag e of twenty, Funakoshi relinquished a possible career as a doctor as it wouls have interfered with his learning of Karate-do. Unfortunately, he still needed some sort of income, (one not to disrupt his training schedule) so Funakoshi became a school teacher. | ||
| During 1902, the school Funakoshi was teaching at was visited by the Commissioner of schools for that area. Among the various exhibitions that had been arranged for his viewing was demonstration of Funakoshi\rquote s Karate. He seemed greatly impressed by it but said little to Funakoshi. Later, upon his return to Okinawa, he submitted an extensive report to the Minister of Education, bringing to his attention the benefits to the art. As a result of this report, Karate became a part of the curriculum of the pr efectural middle school and men\rquote s normal school. Finally, the little know Martial Art he had studied in secret for so long had emerged from seclusion and actually had Ministerial approval. Once this decision had been made to teach in schools, karate began t o show its true appeal to all sorts of people. After receiving permission from both Azato and Itosu, Funakoshi was able to stand in front of his first official karate class. | |||||
| In 1912 the Japanese Navy\rquote s First Fleet came to Okinawa and stayed for a week in order to practice Karate. Because of the enthusiasm of these people, Karate was talked about back in Toko but still very little was known. In 1921, the Crown Prince (soon to be Emperor) came to Okinawa to view one of Funakoshi\rquote s demonstrations. And, at the end of 1921, the Minister of Education announced that a demonstration of ancient Japanese Martial Arts was taking place and Funakoshi was asked to demonstrate his little known Okinawan Art in Tokyo. Japan had become captivated by this new-found Art and popularity grew. |
Unfortunately, having no real training area became a problem. During this time, Judo was by far the most popular Martial Art in Japan and Funakoshi himself was astounded when Jigaro Kano, the founder of Judo, invited Funakoshi to use his Do jo when no Judo lessons were taking place. The fee for this was to teach Master Kano some Karate, remembering that at this stage Funakoshi was already 53 years of age. |
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| In 1935 a Committee of Karate supporters raised enough funds to build the first karate Dojo in Japan. In 1936, Funakoshi entered his own Dojo bearing the name " Shotokan " . The name " Shotokan " came from the pen name Funakoshi used when writing poetry in his youth. It was at this stage that Funakoshi formally arranged the format for Kyu grades and Dan grades. |
Since the end of World War II, Karate has indeed been constantly growing in numbers and Shotokan, through Funakoshi\rquote s diligence, has become the world\rquote s most practised style of Karate. Unfortunately, Funakoshi died in 1957, at the age of 89 \endash putting his longevity down to no drinking and no smoking. (maybe there is a lesson in that for all of us!) But some of his students: Masatoshi Nakayama, Hirokazu Kanazawa, and Keinosuke Enoeda, have continued with Funakoshi\rquote s vision for Martial Arts, being that u will learn five things from Karate, they are |
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1. Courage 2. Courtesy 3. Integrity 4. Humility 5. Self-discipline |
| These students and Funakoshi himself have helped make Karate as popular as it is today. And it\rquote s no wonder that, throughout all styles of Karate, he is considered to be the Father of Mordern Karate | |