Gichin Funakoshi

Gichin Funakoshi, born in 1868 in Okinawa, began his primary training with two Okinawan instructors: Yasutsune Azato and Yasutsune ('Anko') Itosu. It is widely speculated that Funakoshi combined Itosu's style, Shorin-Ryu (a light, quick style), and Azato's style, Shorei-Ryu (a hard, heavy system), to create his own system, which would later be Called Shotokan.

The word Shotokan Means "House of Shoto", which was a pseudonym that Funakoshi used when he composed poetry. Shot means "waving pines", an image derived from his childhood home. Shotokan, therefore, directly translates as "House of the Waving Pines". Today, karate is stereotyped as a Japanese art, that is not true. Karate was originally developed in the island of Okinawa (which at the time, was not a part of Japan proper). After an exhibition at the First National Athletic Exhibition in Tokyo, in 1922, under tremendous pressure by new enthusiasts, Funakoshi remained in Japan until his death in April of 1957.

Funakoshi's primary gift to karate is that it was he who truly campaigned for the development of karate-do, the art of karate. To him, karate was much more than a crude series of street-fighting tactics, it was truly an art, one which refined the student both physically and socially. He always frowned upon the false pride and egotism of others, as well as the crude systems which were developing in Japan and Okinawa. His contributions to the realm of karate, in its development, refinement, and dispersement, have led to his consideration as the "father of modern karate-do".