The Shotokan Karate of today is recognized as a dynamic style with large linear movements and low powerful stances. It blends long flowing movements with high sweeping kicks and devastating strikes that at first glance gives the impression that as a style it works at optimum front medium to longer range fighting distances. Yet its origins lay in Okinawa and as such shares many of the same attributes as other Okinawan styles.
All styles evolve naturally and they do so for many reasons, such as, much change and development can simply be down to the teachers and their personal preference and interpretation of the techniques they have previously learned, and cultural influences and social demands can play their roles too and of course much depends on the type of techniques the instructor specializes in such as punching, kicking, striking or foot sweep and throws. Politics also exert strong influences on any group of individuals who set off with the same goal and end up desiring to follow a different path.
Such happened with Funakoshi's karate followers after his death with many following the path of Shotokai (Shoto's Association and others adopting the terminology of Shotokan (Shoto's school). The Kai would follow the root of karate as a non-competitive way of personal training and development while the Kan would pursue their development through the road of competitive fighting. Although holding much in common their methods of training would separate and lead both groups down different paths.
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However in this article I wish to examine the development of the Kan of the style and by glimpsing at its heritage see why it changed from its Okinawa roots to what it is today and by doing so how it evolved from a close to medium range defense art into a beautiful, fast, dynamic and powerful style.
Shoto was Master Funakoshi's nickname and kan is the Japanese term for school and although the master said he did not want the karate he taught compartmentalized in terms of a set style it was easy to see why his faithful followers would honor the way he taught with the name of his school and thus call the karate he was teaching Shotokan (Shoto's school). Yet if we look at Tote Jitsu - published by Masters -his master text, we can see the stances are fairly high and many of the movements are tight and short ranged, pointing to his Okinawa routes, compare that with Funakoshi's student and inheritor of Chief Instructor of the Japan Karate Association Master Nakayama's and his much later published book on JKA Shotokan called Dynamic Karate and we see a set of movements that have been elongated and opened up to much wider flowing techniques, the movements are similar but they have been changed . Loud kiai's are incorporated into the kata and dynamics of speed and kime (muscle focus) are emphasized.
To understand why this would happen its necessary to understand the Japanese custom of systemizing things. Firstly karate is taught very differently in Okinawa than it is in Japan although there are many similarities there are also many dissimilarities too. For example the group and acceptance by the group is very important in Japan and thus it is natural that all classes are conducted on a group basis. There is a structured discipline within the group where each member feels responsible to push and aid others. There are definite seniors and juniors and accepted practices within these groups. Things such as who washes and cleans the dojo floor before and after training is assigned to the juniors and who motivates students to train harder and with additional instruction are assigned to the seniors. There is a class leader responsible for maintaining total class discipline and is the link between all students and the instructor. Classes are highly regimented and there is a set pattern of training beginning with warm up, then to basics, then to kata and then to all sparring exercises, then finishing with more stretching and strength training exercises. Belt ranks are awarded and thus seniority is earned and always the hard way. If you train hard and gain a high level competence then you are given a higher status and authority within the group. You are expected to give your all each and every time you train and anything less than this is simply not tolerated. Fighting is ranked very high on the priority list and whether you win or lose is not as important as ensuring that you give your all. The Japanese are also famed for taking something and making it better, look at the car industry or the technology industry and we see how their desire to change and adapt things has worked to their advantage. So in dealing with the import of karate from Okinawa it is natural that theywould begin to alter, adapt and structure the art of empty hand fighting to their personal preferences.
When Funakoshi first introduced karate to Japan some change had already taken place. The introduction of the five pinan or heian katas to make the initial learning of kata simpler was one such indication. Karate' s backbone of existence as a means of weaponless defense had become secondary and the other benefits of physical conditioning and skill training become more prominent also the aesthetics of delivering a perfected performance especially in kata became prominent.
In Okinawa training is more Kata centered and much use of strength equipment and makiwari is used. Sparring is limited to ippon strikes and Kata bunkai. Thus when Funakoshi introduced this type of training into Japan it was only natural more changes would follow. In his book Tote Jitsu he said that he preferred that only three kata were taught to make the system complete but in Japan he said he'd had to introduce a total of thirteen to his teachings to make it more challenging and interesting for his new students. Also his son Yoshitaki began to stamp his own preference for longer stances and fast dynamic kicks and punches into the training and much of Yoshitaki's style influence is greatly responsible for the way Shotokan is practiced today.
Also much use of the makiwari for conditioning was also promoted and all of the most dangerous techniques were still widely practiced in the safer ippon kumites.
After the second world war all the martial arts in Japan were banned for a period of time but karate still survived as a performance art, then Nakayama assumed the mantle of Chief Instructor of the newly formed JKA and he introduced the first JKA kumite and kata championships in 1957 and new rules of combat were introduced and a point system was added, Shotokan karate had finally arrived as a way of personal character development and a modern sport and no longer was it considered a deadly fighting system and it was now being taught in several Universities. The Japan Karate Association and its All Japan Championships flourished and Nakayama also introduced the JKA instructor's course and this completed the systemizing of Funakoshi's Karate.
Subsequently a number of highly skilled individuals such as Nishiyama, Kanazawa, Osaka, Kase, Shirai, Enoeda and many more were sent to various locations around the world to teach exactly the same style and content. These JKA karate instructors would go on to produced very high quality karate students of their own and the growth of Shotokan was insured for the long term.
In conclusion I would like to add that Shotokan as a style is easily reverted back to its roots as a prime self-defense system and by analyzing the kata it is possible to unlock all of the most lethal techniques. Other styles of karate and various martial arts have taken competition down many different paths and this has led to modern sport karate. Yet many traditionalist are returning to the earlier roots of Funakoshi's teaching and unlocking the code of kata as a deadly system of fighting moves and a means of personal character development, this means to me that the wonderful heritage of Karate that Funakoshi Gichin introduced to us all remains in the good hands of all who follow in his pat, no matter which path they have chosen. K
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