Newcastle Sendai Karate Club

 

Gichin Funakoshi (1868 - 1957)

Master Gichin Funakoshi is undoubtedly the father of modern karate and can be credited with placing karate in the position it enjoys on the Japanese mainland today, it is Gichin Funakoshi. This Meijin (Master) was born in Shuri, Okinawa, and didn't even begin his second life as harbinger of official recognition for karate on mainland Japan until he was fifty-three years old.

Funakoshi's story is very similar to that of many great in Karate. He began as weak, sick, and in poor health, at the age of 11, his parents brought him to Yasutsune Itosu together with Yasutsune (Ankoh) Azato (Azato is considered by many the reason Funakoshi developed such a disciplined mind and Karate Technique) for his Karate training. Between his doctor, Tokashiki, who prescribed herbal remedies that would strengthen him, coupled with Azato's and Itosu's good instruction, Funakoshi soon blossomed. He became a good student with Arakaki and Sokon "Bushi" Matsumura as his other teachers, he developed expertise and a highly disciplined mind. Master Funakoshi recounts this part in a different way, while living with his grandparents he started attending primary school where he was classmate of Azato's son and received his first Karate instruction from Yasutsune Azato. He eventually became a professor at the Okinawan Teacher's College and president of the Okinawan Association of Martial Arts

 

Master Funakoshi was the first expert to introduce karate-do to mainland Japan. In 1916 he gave a demonstration to the Butokuden in Kyoto, which at that time was the official centre of all martial arts. On March 6, 1921, the Crown Prince, who was later to become the Emperor of Japan, visited Okinawa and Master Funakoshi was asked to demonstrate karate. In the early spring of 1922 Master Funakoshi travelled to Tokyo to present his art at the First National Athletic Exhibition in Tokyo organized by the Ministry of Education. He was strongly urged by several eminent groups and individuals to remain in Japan, and indeed he never did return to Okinawa. He stayed among his own people at the prefectural students' dormitory at Suidobata, Tokyo. He lived in a small room beside the entrance and would clean the dormitory during the day when the students were in their classes and work errands as a gardener too. At night, he would teach them karate.

Master Funakoshi taught only one method, a total discipline, which represented a synthesis of Okinawan karate styles. It is he who is accredited with taking a pure fighting form and elevating its status to a "Do", an art a way of life. As a person of literary worth, he also wrote poetry under the name of "Shoto", which means "whispering pines" denoting the sound of the wind blowing through the pines, his style of karate eventually became known as "Shotokan", literally the clan or the house of Shoto.

 

Gichin Funakoshi was a teacher (and also a poet) who wrote under the pen name "Shoto", meaning "whispering pines" and "Kan" means "the way". Shotokan is quite simply the "way of Shoto" and "The Shotokan" was the "place of Shoto", where Gichin Funakoshi set up his dojo (training hall). Prominent Karate masters, Funakoshi, Mijagi and Mabuni were instrumental in developing the three main styles from which all others originate; these are Shotokan, Shito Ryu and Goju Ryu. Yoshitaka Funakoshi, the 4th son of Gichin brought later changes forming Shotokan Karate into what is recognisable today. Funakoshi Gichin is, without a doubt, the father of Shotokan and the driving force which brought karate into the Japanese educational system. Shotokan Karate was officially introduced to Japan in 1917 when Gichin Funakoshi demonstrated the art at the Butokuden in Kyoto. By 1921 popularity had grown and Prince Hirohito was so impressed by a demonstration, it was included in his official report to the Japanese Ministry of Education recommending it to be taught in Universities.


Shimoda was apparently an expert from the Nen-ryu Kendo School, he also studied Ninjutsu, but he unluckily fell sick and died very young in 1934, after one of the exhibition tours and was replaced by Yoshitaka (Gigo) Funakoshi. Due to his youth and vigorous training methods (sometimes classified as brutally-strong training) immediate hierarchical conflicts arose with the older Ohtsuka Hironori. Some actually say he was not able to take the hard training. What is clear is that he left the school to establish his own style, Wado-ryu (the Harmonious Way). It's quite obvious that the name alludes to the conflict with Yoshitaka. Yoshitaka's influence was very important for the future of Karate-do but once again death came very soon for Yoshitaka, dying at age 39 of a lifelong affliction (tuberculosis) in 1945.

 
Needless to say, many karate clubs flourished on mainland Japan. In 1924, karate was introduced in Keio University as the first Karate Club, others include: Chuo, Tokyo University (1929), Hosei and Waseda (1930). Another club was established in Shichi-Tokudo, a barracks situated in a corner of the palace grounds.

The martial arts world in Japan, especially from the early Twenties and up to the early Forties, was an ultra-nationalist moment in history, and they looked down their noses at any art that was not pure, calling it a pagan and savage art. Funakoshi overcame this prejudice and finally gained formal recognition of Karate as one of the Japanese martial arts by 1941.

 

When Funakoshi came to mainland Japan, he taught 16 kata: 5 Heian (Pinan), 3 Tekki (Naihanshi), Kanku (Kushanku) Dai, Kanku (Kushanku) Sho, Hangetsu (seisan), Bassai (Patsai), Empi (Wanshu), Chinte (Chinto), Jitte (Jutte) and Jion. He kept his students on the basic ones before they progressed to the more advanced forms. Yoshitaka was later to introduce more and more kata into the system "Shotokanising" virtually every kata being taught at the time. Irrespective of his sincerity in teaching the art of true karate, Funakoshi was not without his detractors. His critics scorned his insistence on the kata and decried what they called "soft" karate that wasted too much time. Funakoshi insisted on "hito-kata sanen" (three years on one kata).

Funakoshi was a humble man. He preached and practiced an essential humility. He did not preach the humility of virtue, but a basic humility of a man who is rooted in the true perspective of things, full of life and awareness. He lived at peace with himself and with his fellow men.

 
Whenever the name of Gichin Funakoshi is mentioned, it brings to mind the parable of "A Man of Tao (Do) and a Little Man". As it is told, a student once asked, "What is the difference between a man of Tao and a little man?" The sensei replies, "It is simple. When the little man receives his first dan (degree or rank), he can hardly wait to run home and shout at the top of his voice to tell everyone that he has obtained his first dan. Upon receiving his second dan, he will climb to the rooftops and shout to the people. Upon receiving his third dan, he will jump in his automobile and parade through town blowing the horn, telling one and all about his third dan". The sensei continues, "When the man of Tao receives his first dan, he will bow his head in gratitude. Upon receiving his second dan, he will bow his head and his shoulders. Upon receiving his third dan, he will bow at the waist and quietly walk alongside the wall so that people will not see him or notice him".

Funakoshi was a man of Tao. He placed no emphasis whatsoever on competitions, record breaking or championships. He placed emphasis on individual self-perfection. He believed in the common decency and respect that one human being owes another. He was the master of masters.

 


He died in 1957 at age 89, after humbly making the largest contribution to the art of Karate-Do.

NOTE: Funakoshi sincerely believed it would take a lifetime to master a handful of kata and that sixteen would be enough. He chose the kata which were best suited for physical stress and self-defence, stubbornly clinging to his belief that karate was an art rather than a sport. To him, kata was karate.