HIS Karate-Do

I last wrote about the founder, Funakoshi Gichin, who brought Te from Okinawan to Japan in 1922 and redeemed it into a form of budo. Among his senior students, the one who would emerge as the most dynamic, far-thinking and influential among them was Nakayama Masatoshi. Nakayama was born into a family whose men had a tradition of becoming physicians. He stayed close to the traditions of both his karate sensei and his father, becoming the Chief Instructor of the Japan Karate Assn for thirty years as well as a professor and the head of the Physiology Department at Takushoku University. He took over the reins of the JKA after the death of the founder in 1957, a position he held until his own passing in 1987. During his long tenure, he applied his scientific knowledge of the human body and kinetics to the art, helping shape it into the rational and highly developed system it is today. His book, “Dynamic Karate”, written in 1966 is a classic and viewed by many as the premier single book on the subject. Just as importantly, he was a man of exceptional vision and organizational skills who strategized its spread across the world. [...]

I wanted to share a few thoughts on lineage, as it applies to karate-do. I’ve said many times before that the most important thing is your immediate instructor, his/her abilities as a teacher, knowledge, disposition, etc; coupled with your earnest efforts, which hopefully produce good results. However, one of the reasons I have devoted so many years to Shotokan Karate-Do is that I guess my own inclination is to like a traditional martial art with a history to it. As a result, I have spent quite a bit of time studying the history of our style, its famous instructors, etc. As most of you know, I began training in Shotokan right after I entered college, back in 1969. While I first began teaching in 1974, I also continued to train until about 1995 or so, stopping when I was about 44 years old. During this time, I was fortunate enough to have many excellent instructors, but four of them stand out in my mind: Shihan Kenneth Funakoshi, Sensei Ed Fujiawara, Sensei Ron Taketa, and Sensei Chester Sasaki. I trained under Funakoshi and Fujiwara for a combined period of about 15 years, with Taketa during my formative ikkyu and shodan years, [...]

The founder of what would be called the Shotokan style started life (as do so many of the martial arts masters), as a small and sickly child. Decended from Okinawan bushi, he grew up in the ryukyu islands (Okinawa). He learned Te the old way, through personal training, either one-on-one or in very small groups, at the homes of several Te masters, often at night. He would go to school or work during the day and then walk miles to and from his training, much of the time, on lonely trails in the dark. While he would grow up to become a school teacher and raise a family, he would continue to train in or teach Te for his entire life…living into his late eighties. He never sought the limelight, being very quiet and humble, but was very devoted to what would become Shotokan. And, although he was acknowledged as one of Okinawa’s leading Te experts, he was not a fighting champion such as Motobu Choki nor the best kobudo (weapons) expert like Mabuni Kenwa. Instead, he was considered to be the best educated, best speaking/writing (in Japanese), and highly respected sensei whom the Okinawan Te community felt would serve [...]