The history of Shotokan Karate and the Shotokan logo is shared on this page.

This page contains the Shotokan Karate History and our Philosophy.

The History of Shotokan Karate

Gichin Funakoshi Sensei was one of the Okinawan Karate masters who introduced Karate to Japan in 1921. He had trained in both of the popular styles of Okinawan Karate of the time: Shorei-ryu and Shori-ryu.

Shotokan is named after Gichin Funakoshi Sensei’s pen name, Shoto, meaning “Pine Waves” the movement that is caused when wind blows through Pine forests. “Kan” means training hall, or house, thus Shotokan referred to the “house of Shoto”. This name was coined by Funakoshi Sensei’s students when they posted a sign reading “Shoto Kan” above the entrance of their Dojo.

In 1949 he supervised the creation of the Japan Karate Association (JKA). It remained its honorary head until his death in 1957. After World War II, Funakoshi Sensei’s surviving students formalized his teachings. Funakoshi Sensei’s most enduring legacy, however, is his Niju kun, or “Twenty Principles”, essentially a set of Guidelines to students on how to become better people. 

Shotokan Karate in South Africa has origings that go back to the Japan Karate Assiciation (JKA), the Shotokan Karate International (SKI) and the World Shotokan Karate-do Federation (WSKF) organisations in Japan. The Shotokan Karate organisation in South Africa (established in 2010) endeavours to keep as close as possible to Gichin Funakoshi Sensei’s Shotokan.

In 1939, Funakoshi Sensei built the first Shotokan Dojo in Tokyo. He changed the Japanese written characters for “Karate” t mean “empty hand” instead of the Okinawan “China hand” to avoid confusion about the origins of Karate.  Also, he thought the use of “empty” made sense because it emphasized that Karate involved no weapons and a clear mind.