Funakoshi, Father of Modern Karate When I began my formal karate training at the New York Karate Club one ceremony was performed always, at the beginning and at the end of the class we used to go down on a kneeling stance,seiza, and after a short period of meditation we used to bow first to a photoghraph of an older Japanese gentleman, whom I thought to be the instructor s father, located high on the wall, and after to our Sensei for the evening, usually Orito Sensei. Until then nothing had been explained to us beginers about who that old man was, but as time went by, some information about him began filtering down to us the lower level practitioners. He was Funakoshi Sensei, the father of modern karate. A year or so went by and I had begun practicing very seriously and often when I stayed after class doing a final stretching of my body, my eyes were often like glued to that picture high on the wall. I tried to guess, what he was thinking when that picture was taken, at times it seemed to me that he was sad, other he was just thinking of God knows what and others had a strange look of happiness or maybe he was just thinking of the future of karate based on his past experience. Anyway this toughts helped me to concentrate on my efforts and nothing else. As the years passed by, I began thinking more and more about that picture high on the wall, By now I had seen it hundreds of times in many different clubs. In 1996 I began taking notes about that old master, Funakoshi Sensei, and finally decided to make a real good investigation about him and write a book for all those, who like me, were wondering about that solitary old man that guards every dojo in the world. It took me a long time, but this book is the result and I am glad that now I can tell all practitioners about this great old man and the fantastic legacy he left for us. I think that after reading this book a lot of joy and knowledge will be acquired and this is my gift to my fellow karateka. Willy J. Ortiz
CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 4 BUN - BU RYODO CHAPTER 2 PART ONE: OKINAWA 10 OKINAWA, THE BIRTHPLACE OF KARATE 14- Satsuma Invasion 15- Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa 20- Meiji Restoration CHAPTER 3 24 THE CREATORS OF MASTER FUNAKOSHI 24- Sokon Bushi Matsumura 25- The Precepts of Master Matsumura 26- Yasutsune Ankoh Itosu 29- Itosu s Ten Teachings 30- Yasutsune Ankoh Azato 32 OTHER OKINAWAN MASTERS OF TODE 32- Chotoku Kyan 35- Kentsu Yabu 38- Chojun Miyagi 40- Shimpan Gusukuma 42- Gusukuma s Considerations 43- Chomo Hanashiro 44- Chosin Chibana 46- The Origin of the name Kara-Te 51- Genealogy of Japanese Karate
CHAPTER 4 54 THE ERA OF GICHIN FUNAKOSHI IN OKINAWA 59 THE VISIT OF PRINCE HIROHITO TO OKINAWA CHAPTER 5 PART TWO: JAPAN 66 THE DAI NIPPON BUTOKUKAI 76- The Dai Nippon Butokukai Crest CHAPTER 6 80 FUNAKOSHI SENSEI AND HIS KARATE IN MAINLAND JAPAN 80- His First Demonstration in Mainland Japan 83- The First Steps of the New Martial Art 84- The Meisei-Juku 87 FUNAKOSHI SENSEI S SHORIN AND SHOREI KATA 91 FUNAKOSHI SENSEI INTRODUCES KATA TO JAPAN CHAPTER 7 98 FUNAKOSHI SENSEI, A KIND HUMAN BEING 101 FUNAKOSHI SENSEI AND HIS RELATIONS WITH OTHER KARATE MASTERS 101 - With Choki Motobu 106 - With Kenwa Mabuni 108 - With Hironori Ohtsuka 111 - With Mas Oyama
CHAPTER 8 116 KATA, THE BASIS FOR TEACHING KARATE 119 FUNAKOSHI SENSEI S FIRST BOOK 125 - Hoan Kosugi 127 PICTORIAL OF THE BOOKS OF FUNAKOSHI SENSEI 134 - The Twenty Precepts of Master Funakoshi CHAPTER 9 142 YOSHITAKA GIKO FUNAKOSHI CHAPTER 10 152 THE CREATION OF KARATE-DO 153 - The Origin of the Name SHOTOKAN 154 - The Tokyo Shotokan CHAPTER 11 161 THE FORMATION OF THE JAPAN KARATE ASSOCIATION 177 THE EXPORTING OF KARATE TO THE WORLD CHAPTER 12 186 THE GROWING YEARS AND THE ERA OF MASATOSHI NAKAYAMA SENSEI 197 MASATOSHI NAKAYAMA S SENSEI PICTORIAL 210 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 214 INDEX
I was originally born in Perú, South America, but now the lovely city of Tampere has become my home, here I reside with my family, from whom I have always received a very supporting feeling in respect to my work. I began my career in Shotokan karate in 1964 at the New York Karate Club in New York City. At the present time I hold the rank of Shichi Dan -7th degree- in the style of Shotokan. I am, because of my work, a well known international instructor and referee with the J.K.A. World Karate Federation, J.K.A. Shotokan Karate-Do International and the Finnish Karate Federation. As I mentioned in my first book: I have trained with the best that ever was, beginning from Senseis like M. Nakayama, H. Nishiyama, T. Okazaki, M. Mori, T. Kase, T. Mikami, M. Ueki, H. Kanazawa, K. Enoeda and others from the Shotokan school. Also I have participated in training camps with Senseis Hironori Ohtsuka, Gogen Yamaguchi and Mas Oyama. This book contains over 200 hundred pictures in color and black and white and covers the history of Shotokan karate from its beginning in Okinawa until the end of the Masatoshi Nakayama era. In its pages it will be possible to find a description and photographs of the karate masters that have had the most influence in the developing of this martial art. In it is also included a description of Okinawa s geographical position as the birthplace of karate and as the bridge between the Asian martial arts and Japan. Finally, this is a brilliant opportunity to know the past history of karate in order to understand the meaning of its future.
Group of karateka from Okinawa who demonstrated karate under the supervision of Funakoshi Sensei, during the Crown Prince Hirohito s visit to the island. Funakoshi Sensei is seated on the second row and second from the left it may have been through Kinjo s help and the enthusiasm shown by the Crown Prince Hirohito. At the end of 1921 Funakoshi Sensei received an invitation from the Ministry of Education of Japan invitig him to take part officially in the First National Athletic Exhibition to be held at the Women s Higher Normal School Gymnasium, then located at Ochanomizu, Tokyo in May of 1922. Thus, under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Education this exhibition was the venue chosen by the Japanese authorities to officially present Karate to the public. In those days knowledge about Karate was extremely very remote outside of Okinawa, thus Funakoshi Sensei decided to under- some thorough research in order to find out as much as possible Sanda Kanagusuku akatake Saburo Kinjo (1871-1921) about this Okinawan martial art in order to present it correctly to the people of Japan. With his customary and relentless energetic way of doing things, he spent many months in preparation. He made notes of all things concerned with his beloved Karate ideals and gained information about the meanings of the techniques during lengthy conversations with other Okinawan masters. After the basic research had been done, and during his trip to Japan, he spent almost all of his time in his cabin concentrating and writing with his unusual and beautiful calligraphy, three extensive scrolls describing a brief history of Karate, basic techniques and kata. With these scrolls also were included enough photographs and drawings about Karate techniques to make his points clear. It was while on this voyage that was taking him to mainland Japan, that he realised for the first time the tremendous proportions of his challenge and thus in his moments of contemplation, it is normal to assume, he used to take in his hands his brushes, paper and ink and write down his
FUNAK AKOSHI SENSEI AND HIS KARATE IN MAINLAND AND JAP APAN AN HIS FIRST DEMONSTRA TRATION TION IN MAINLAND AND JAP APAN AN When Funakoshi Sensei set foot on Japanese soil in the spring of 1922, Karate was virtually unknown outside the island of Okinawa. A short anecdote will give the readers a clear image of what happened on the morning of his arrival: Several burly budomen, standing on the dock on a sparkling, sun-drenched morning in May of 1922, scanned the passengers crowding down the gangway. Soon everyone had disembarked and disappeared. The husky martial arts men scratched their heads in bewilderment. Was the man they were waiting for still on board? They looked around again. The only person who remained was a gentle looking little man in a tattered kimono that was standing alone, glancing quizzically at them. Could it be? Could this tiny, mustachioed man possibly be the powerful budo giant they had been led to expect? He stood hardly more than 150 cm tall. He was even smaller than Judo s founder, Jigoro Kano, who was only 155 cm and weighed a mere 60 kg. But it was true. The diminutive man with a wart on his brow moved toward them, smiling and bowing. He intended to stay only a week in Japan. Little did he realize at that time that he would never see the sandy shores of his Okinawan homeland again. To say the least, the arrival of Funakoshi Sensei was not an auspicious occasion and no one seriously expected anything to come of his visit to Japan. At 54 the mild-mannered high school teacher from Naha was considered to be already well past his prime. How could anyone have foreseen that Funakoshi Sensei Jigoro Kano Sensei (1860-1938).
YOSHITAKA GIKO FUNAKOSHI 1906-1945 There is actually very little knowledge about this young Karate master and the information exists is somewhat exaggerated by the people who trained under him. Young Yoshitaka, also called Waka Sensei, Young Sensei, is probably one of the most mysterious and enigmatic figures in Shotokan Karate. He came to live in Tokyo soon after his father settled there. Tatsuo Yamada an early student of Gichin Funakoshi Sensei, helped him to get work as a carpenter but later on he attended school and learned the proffesion of X-ray technician, a proffesion he performed at the Tokyo Imperial University and at the Ministry of Education. Yoshitaka was born in 1906 and began training in Karate as a boy under the tutelage of his father Gichin Funakoshi, but it seems that as he grew older he showed an uncanny gift for karate and was able sort of create his own style of Karate thus improving the one he had learned from his father. Many years later, both his father and elder brother Giei felt that he was the most suitable person to continue with the tradition. He must have been about thirty years old when he began teaching at the Tokyo Shotokan but although he was vigorous and strong,
HOAN KOSUGI In the world of karate, we are all familiar with the symbol of the rising sun, proudly displayed on hundreds of thousands of karate-gis, around the world, this is immediately associated with Japan; the same way is with the emblem of the tiger, it is automatically associated with the style Shotokan, but the tiger is still something of an incognita, because in Japan there are no tigers, Where did this concept comes from? The idea for the tiger came from a famous Japanese artist Hoan Kosugi born in Nikko, Japan in 1881. He was the president of the Tabata Poplar Club, a highly respected artists organization. Kosugi was not only a painter of some renown, but also a poet and a writer. Originally he painted in the Western style, having studied first under Bunya Loki and later under Shotaro Koyama. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, Kosugi had served in the field as an illustrator, an early day equivalent of a combat photographer. In 1913 he travelled to France for a year of study, and on his return took part in many of the finest art exhibitions in Japan. It was in the 1920 s, the same period in which he met Funakoshi, that he began painting in the Japanese style. Kosugi was apparently quite taken with Funakoshi sensei and his Karate. Whilst he apparently never became a serious student of the art itself, Kosugi still held it in high enough regard to offer to do the illustrations for Funakoshi sensei s first book, Ryukyu Kempo Karate, which was published in November 1922. The success that Funakoshi had in reaching the more influential people in Japan is evident in the fact that his book had forewords written by three Imperial Navy Admirals, one Imperial Army General and several members of the Japanese aristocracy. In 1925, a revised edition of this book was published under the title, Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu, but the original drawings by Kosugi were replaced by photographs. Although the entire story may never be known, it is believed that Kosugi chose the tiger symbol as something of a play on words. In the old traditional Japanese martial arts, each school (ryu) had a document which contained the essence of its style. This was called the Tora No Maki. Funakoshi s Karate was something new and lacked such a scroll, so Kosugi felt that this new book should be considered the Tora No Maki of the art. Tora, written with another Chinese-style character (Kanji), can also mean tiger, and this is how Kosugi came to use this particular animal for the design. Finally, there is the more official story written as told by Hoan Kosugi, The demonstration of karate by Funakoshi Sensei had been so full of unbelievable strength and emotion, that the only image that came to my mind was that of the tiger. There is another story, which may also have been the reason for the choice of this symbol. As a young man in Okinawa, Funakoshi would often climb up a mountain behind the town of Shuri after his daily practice of Karate to meditate among the pines. This mountain was called Mt. Torao, literally tiger s tail and it was here that he began developing many of the ideas which eventually led to the establishment of Karate-Do, a few decades later, known as the way of the empty hand. It is also interesting to note that the original tiger was surrounded by a circle drawn in a single stroke. This is a classical element, often used in Zen influenced art, and is symbolic of the journey of the Karateka through the art and through life. He or she begins naturally, knowing nothing, travels through the many stages of his or her life and training ultimately reaching naturalness once again. Since Funakoshi Sensei was a sincerely religious man, it is believed that he based his conclusions
FUNAKOSHI SENSEI S FIRST BOOK Whilst living and teaching at Meisei-juku, Funakoshi became so involved with his enterprise - the spreading of Karate, that at the insistence of his friend the artist Hoan Kosugi, he also forced himself to make time to write his first book on the subject Ryukyu Kempo Karate. The book was published by Bukyo-Sho in November 1922. This book, nowadays a collector s item that has been rarely seen by present day practitioners, was composed of about three hundred pages containing five chapters and for the first time the artist Hoan Kosugi presented the design of the tiger as the emblem of Funakoshi Sensei s karate style. His signature appears behind the tiger tail. When Mr. Kosugi was asked why he had chosen a tiger, he answered: The demonstration of karate by Funakoshi Sensei had been so full of unbelievable strength and emotion, that the only image that came to my mind was the one of the tiger. The book s prologue contained letters of praise by famous people like Vice-Admiral Rakuro Yashiro, Prince Hisama, Prince Goto, Professor Tonno and the newspaperman Sueyoshi from the Okinawan Times. The book also contained specific explanations about subjects such as What is Karate, The Value of Karate, Karate Training and Teaching, The Organization of Karate, Fundamentals and Kata. It is in this book that Funakoshi Sensei described the general characteristics of the styles being practiced in Okinawa and this is probably the one single reason that motivated the Okinawan masters to become more professional in their fields. They began classifying their karate in terms of style and also put pressure on themselves to begin trying to improve their karate, accept more students into their dojo, formalise their training methods and practice routines and finally implant a grading system for their practitioners. The kata presented in his book were the five Pinan kata. These kata were based on the kata Kanku, Bassai, Gankaku, Meikyo and Jion. The book also included instructions of kata Naihanchi - ( Tekki 1, 2 and 3), Chinte, Jion, Jitte, Bassai Dai, Bassai Sho, Kanku Dai, Kanku Sho, Seishan, Gojushiho, Chinto, Sochin, Rohai, Wankan, Prince Goto Unsu, Jiin, Kokan, Wanshu, Wandau, Jumu, Wando, Niseishi, Superimpei and Sanseryu. Funakoshi poured his most sincere and truthful feelings into the pages of the book and in this way he laid down the strong and unmovable foundations for what we now know as Karate-Do. The introduction to the book also reflected clearly Funakoshi Sensei s well thought out basic ideals of Karate-Do aimed at the Japanese people who were now involved in practicing karate. However this was not yet the highly refined philosophy that emerged later on at the time when his karate became a popular and international martial art. Deep within the shadows of human culture lurk seeds of destruction, just as rain and thunder follow in the wake of fair weather. History is the story of the rise and fall of nations. Change is the order of heaven and earth; the sword and the pen are as inseparable as the two wheels of a cart. Thus, a man must encompass both fields if he is to be considered a man of accomplishment. If he is overly complacent, trusting that the fair weather will last forever, he will one day be caught off guard
respect, the comunity of martial arts schools celebrated a ceremony followed by various martial arts demonstrations at the International Stadium of Ryogoku near Tokyo. A few years later his last son passed away, but his daughter, Mrs. Tsuruko Morita used to live in seclusion on the out-skirts of Tokyo. With Funakoshi Sensei s death the strong unifying force that had bonded together Shotokan Karate-Do practitioners and especially the Japanese instructors for so many years, also died. After Funakoshi s and Giko s death, for a while karate became simply a fighting sport, ignoring the words of Funakoshi Sensei. Giei Funakoshi, his second son, deplored the situation and succeeded for some time in teaching the Karate-Do of his late father after becoming the second chairman of Nihon Karate- Do Shotokai. Giei also emphasized the importance of reconstructing the Shotokan dojo as a technical centre and as a place of training, but unfortunately he passed away before the new dojo was built. One statement he made caused a further friction between the JKA and Shotokai: "The burial of my father will be in charge of the Shotokai school, this because my father did not have other duties other than Director of the Shotokan Dojo and the Shotokai school. Now that his Dojo has disappeared in a fire, the logical thing is that his burial be in charge of the school". That statement became the end of any future between these two organizations. Giei Funakoshi 1890-1961 The cause that Funakoshi Sensei envisioned for the development and spreading of JKA was somehow altered but the coup de grace that came many years later with the death of Masatoshi Nakayama Sensei. Questions are often made regarding the reason for Engaku- Ji Temple to be chosen as the ground for the erection of his memorial. According to Teruyuki Okazaki, Engaku-Ji Temple was selected Because this is where Master Funakoshi studied Zen with the Buddhist Abbot Furukawa Gyodo. You see, Master Funakoshi didn t tell anyone about this so nobody knew; it wasn t until after the War that we found this out. And he came so many times to Engaku-Ji, and it was here, at this time, that Master Funakoshi decided to change the kanji from Tote (Tode) to Karate. So, What is Budo? What is Karate-Do? This kind of question Master Funakoshi asked and resolved through his Zen training. But he didn t tell anyone that he was coming here: we discovered this for ourselves when we just happened to talk to a Zen priest that studied at the temple: Yes, Master Funakoshi used to come here every day, just to sit and meditate. So then the temple donated space for this special tablet, and now every year in April, all the senior JKA instructors make a pilgrimage to Engaku-Ji where they demonstrate Karate-Do and deliver speeches and lectures such as - What is, Karate-Do? and to this many college students also attend, and this is held every May, Master Funakoshi had a number of Zen Masters who were also close friends; because when you reach such a high degree of excellence such as Master Funakoshi, those Zen priests they know. And so they would often talk about many different things. Although Gichin Funakoshi does not mention The red arrow indicates the place where the memorial for Funakoshi sensei is located. The pic-