Karate is a martial art developed in Japan from a system used on an island called Okinawa. Okinawa is the Principle Island of the Ryukyu Archipelago laying three hundred miles to the south of Japan and three miles east of main land China

Although the roots of karate can be traced back thousands of years to India, the evolution of karate as we know it today began in the seventeenth century.

Legend has it that the Indian Buddhist monk Bodhidarma the originator of Zen Buddhism brought Ch Uan-Fa to the Shaolin temple in China during the Sung Dynasty. Some historians claim this to be false, but yet it remains a popular view.

Very little is known from that period until record of the practice of Ch Uan-Fa in Okinawa in 1372 when King Satto declared his allegiance to Chinas Ming Emperor.

In the centuries to follow Ch Uan-Fa gained a strong foothold in Okinawa practised along side with an indigenous unarmed fighting system known as Tode.

In 1609 the Japanese Satsuma Clan marched on the Ryukyu Islands ending their independence and banning all weaponry. This brought a bond between the Ch Uan-Fa and Tode to develop a fighting method to strengthen the physical and spiritual body in a bid to survive. The union came to be known as Te (hand).

Te was practised in secret in three main centres around the towns of , Shuri, Naha and Tomari. These local variations were later known as Shuri-Te, Naha-Te and Tomari-Te.

Between 1784 and 1903 karate replaced the word Te to describe the fighting system.

In 1875 the Satsuma occupation of the Ryuku Islands ended and they officially became part of the Japanese Empire. By 1903 karate was practised openly in schools.

Karate was by now a combination of hand and feet techniques influence by its origins.

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.

Prominent karate masters Funakoshi, Mijagi and Mabuni were instrumental in developing the three main styles from which all other originate, Shotokan, Shito-ryu and Goju-ryu.

Yoshitaka Funakoshi son of Gichin brought later changes forming Shotokan Karate into what is recognisable today.

Gichin Funakoshi was also a poet and wrote under the pen name "Shoto", meaning "whispering pines", the Shotokan was the "place of Shoto" where Gichin Funakoshi set up a dojo (training hall).

Yoshitaka Funakosh
The development of modern day Shotokan can bein large part accredited to Gichin Funakoshi's third son,Yoshitaka.

It is Yoshitaka that has resulted in thekarate that Shotokan exponents today practice Yoshitaka is known to havedeveloped longer, deeper stances to create more strength, hiskicks were more dynamic and the attacking techniques weredeveloped even further all with the patronage of his father.Around 1930, Yoshitaka took over the running of his fathers maindojo in Japan and continued until 1944/45.

Yoshitaka was instrumental in introducing manymore katas to the Shotokan system which he had learned from Azat. He was also instrumental in developing katassuch as Ten No Kata, Chi No Kata, Hito No Kata, the five Heiankatas, the three Tekki katas, Kanku Dai, Kanku Sho, Empi,Gankaku, Jutte, Hangetsu, Jion, Meikyo.

Yoshitaka was critically ill, however, and wastold when he was a boy of around 13 that he would not livebeyond his twenties due to tuberculosis. However, through hardtraining he lived to the age of forty seven.

Yoshitaka taught at the Shotokan dojo until1944/45 but by 1945 he was seriously ill and much of theteaching was carried out by Genshin Hironish

Without a doubt from 1932/33 until 1945,Yoshitaka had a enormous influence on the way Shotokan karate developed.However when he died in 1947, Gichin Funakoshihad to come out of"retirement"to take over fromwhere his son had left off to oversee the training.

Master Taiji Kase

Born in February 1929 it was in 1944 thatTaiji Kase took up karate training at the original Shotokandojo when it was being run by Gichin and Yoshitaka Funakoshi.

The following are excerpts from an interviewby Steve Cattle 6th Dan For Traditional Karate Magazine in 1988:

"I started karate in 1944 in Februaryof that year at the original Shotokan Dojo. That was thecentral dojo in karate at that time. The teachers then wereGichin Sensei and Yoshitaka Funakoshi Sensei. Actually Gichinhad retired and Master Yoshitaka did most of the teaching. Thename"Shoto"was Gichin Sensei's pen name andalthough he had resigned he still visited the dojo frequentlyand he had authorised the development of technique which hadbeen advanced by Master Yoshitaka. The teaching was mostlydone by Master Yoshitaka or by his assistants: Hironishi andEgami. This was of course in the middle of the war. I trainedabout three days a week mostly in kihon just like we have now:Sanbon Kumite, Oi tsuki, Maegeri, Yokogeri... All very hardbasics!

We did kata also. Karate was done for combatonly, there were no thought of competition.

In 1944 during the war when I was trainingat the Shotokan Dojo on the wall were written the officialnames of the katas. I often looked at the list of these katasI remember many of them till this day.

There was written Ten No Kata, Chi No Kata,Shi No Kata, Taikyoko Shodan, Nidan, Sandan, Heain Shodan -Godan, Tekki Shodan - Sandan, Bassai Dai, Bassai Sho, allkinds of katas as I remember. At this time I was only abeginner I didn't know what the katas were. I used to ask myseniors what those katas were. We have of course, documentsand books from this period. The most famous one is"Karate Do Nyumon"which is ascribed to MasterGichin Funakoshi but was actually written by his sonYoshitaka.

This was written in 1943. This book showedthe official kata names such as Nijishiho, Shokyo, Shoto andHotaku. Where we now have Nijishiho, it was probably namedHakko and Futaku is Gojushiho.

After the war and Master Yoshitaka's death,Sensei Gichin had to come back and with him all the assistantinstructors he had taught which were of the 1st generation ofkarate in Japan. They returned from China and other parts ofAsia. Upon their return they discussed how to develop karate.But they were not aware of the changes that had taken place intheir absence. Master Yoshitaka had completely changed karate,always the approval of his father. However, through theleadership of Sensei Gichin they tried to stay close to theoriginal concept of Yoshitaka's ideas.

Yoshitaka developed the inner strength ofhis body, he believed that if you developed big techniques the muscles in one area would assist the muscles in another.So we have the shotokan basics very big. Very deep stances.Often they appear useless. Its only after ten or twenty yearspractice that they become useful. This is a deep concept. It'snot tomorrow we are thinking of when we train these techniquesbut far into the future. After many years of strong, hardpractice we can do many things. We can move anywhere withbalance and stability. Without this training, I don't thinkits possible to have the power and balance to be effective.This is what Master Yoshitaka perfected."