"True karate is this: that in daily life, one's mind and body
be trained and developing a spirit of humility, and that in critical
times one be devoted utterly to the cause of justice."
_ Gichin Funakoshi
Gichin Funakoshi, known
as the founder of modern karate and was a professor at
the Okinawan Teacher's College and President of the
Okinawan Association of Martial Arts. In 1922, he was
invited to lecture and demonstrate the new art of
karate at the First National Athletic Exhibition in
Tokyo, Japan. The demonstration turned out to be a
great success, due to the inspiring personality of
Master Funakoshi, and he was flooded with request
until he was able to establish the Shotokan in 1936, a
great landmark in the history of karate.
Gichin (Shihan) Funakoshi Sensei was not only a genius in martial arts
but also a literary talent and signed his work "Shoto",
his pen name. Hence, the school where he taught came
to be known as Shoto's School or Shotokan. He combined
the techniques and katas of the two major Okinawan
styles to form his own style of karate. As a result,
modern day Shotokan includes the powerful techniques
of the Shorei school and the lighter, more flexiable
movements of the Shorin school.
When
the Japan Karate Association was established in 1949,
Gichin Funakoshi was appointed as the chief instructor
due to his advanced skills and leadership abilities.
Although Funakoshi (Shihan) Sensei was a famous as a
great karate master, he always emphasized that the
most important benefit from karate training is the
development of spiritual values and the perfection of
character of its participants. After training and
teaching karate for more than 75 years, Master
Funakoshi died in 1957 at the age of 88 years old.
