Gichin Funakoshi - Karate Master
A Karate legend and Shotokan master, Gichin Funakoshi (船越 義珍 Funakoshi Gichin) was born Noverber 10th 1868, Shuri Okinawa, an island close to Japan. He passed away April 26th 1957 in Tokyo.
Gichin Funakoshi was born in Shuri, Okinawa in the year of the Meiji Restoration in 1868. His parents were ethnic Okinawan which orginally had a different family name: Tominakoshi. He met his first Karate teacher whilst in primary school - his close friend's father, Ankō Asato, a karate and kendo master. Funakoshi found it difficult to obtain his goal of attending medical school due to Japanese government regulations and so he spent a lot of effort learning about martial arts, a much loved interest of his. He trained in both classical Chinese and Japanese philosophies and teachings, and eventually became an assistant teacher in Okinawa. Funakoshi had trained in both of the popular styles of Okinawan karate of the time: Shōrei-ryū and Shōrin-ryū.
No only was he a karate master, Funakoshi was also an avid poet and philosopher who would reportedly go for long walks in the forest where he would meditate and write poetry, another interest of his.
Kan (from Shotokan) means training hall, or house, thus Shotokan referred to the "house of Shoto". This name was coined by Funakoshi's students when they posted a sign above the entrance of the hall at which Funakoshi taught reading "Shoto kan". By the late 1910s, Funakoshi had many students, of which a few were deemed capable of passing on their master's teachings. Continuing his effort to garner wide-spread interest in Okinawan karate, Funakoshi ventured to mainland Japan in 1922.
The Creation of Shotokan Karate In 1936, Funakoshi built the first Shōtōkan dojo in Tokyo. He changed the name of karate to mean "empty hand" instead of "China hand" (as referred to in Okinawa); the two words sound the same in Japanese, but are written differently. It was his belief that using the term for "Chinese" would mislead people into thinking karate originated with Chinese boxing. Karate had borrowed many aspects from Chinese boxing which the original creators say as being positive, as they had done with other martial arts. In addition, Funakoshi argued in his autobiography that a philosophical evaluation of the use of "empty" seemed to fit as it implied a way which was not tethered to any other physical object.
Funakoshi's take on the use of kata was reported to have caused some recoil in Okinawa, prompting Funakoshi to remain in Tokyo indefinitely. His extended stay eventually led to the creation of the Japan Karate Association (JKA) in 1955 with Funakoshi as the chief instructor. Funakoshi was not supportive of all of the changes that the organization eventually made to his karate style. He remained in Tokyo until his death in 1957.
After World War II, Funakoshi's surviving students formalized his teachings. Towards the latter half of his life, Master Funakoshi became extremely dissatisfied with the direction in which the system he had originally created had been developed.[citation needed] All elements of true karate style pressure point striking were slowly removed and emphasis on fighting and training with kata devolved to little more than endurance training, with little understanding of kata's meaning.[citation needed] [edit] Legacy Funakoshi published several books on karate including his autobiography, Karate-Do: My Way of Life. His legacy, however, rests in a document containing his philosophies of karate training now referred to as the niju kun, or "twenty principles". These rules are the premise of training for all Shotokan karateka and are published in a work titled The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate Within this book, Funakoshi lays out 20 precepts by which students of karate and urged to abide in an effort to "become better human beings"
He lived for 88 years and passed away on April 26, 1957.
Gichin Funakoshi's son
The third son of Gichin, and also known as Yoshitake, this man is widely credited for having a huge influential effect on modern day Karate. Whereas his father is known for transforming Karate from a mere fighting technique to a philosophical martial do (way of life), Gigo developed the style immensely with encouragement from his father. Developing new techbiques separated Japanese Karate-do from his native Okinawan art, giving it a completely different and unique style and look.Although Gigo's father is known as being the creator of Karate as we know it today, Gigo is infact the technical creator of most of the techniques, kata and forms. The changes he brought can be seen in the contrast between the ancient art of To-de, which emphasized the use and development of the upper extremities and Shotokan which used new leg techniques such as mawashi geri, yoko geri kekomi, yoko geri keage, fumikomi, ura mawashi geri and ushiro geri. He used leg techniques which are carried out with a much higher knee-lift than in previous styles with an emphasis on using the hips. He also emphasized the oi tsuki and gyaku tsuki.
Kyū-level practitioners are often called mudansha 
The Shotokan Karate Grading syllabus has a range of grades, also known as kyu. When a Karate practitioner progresses beyond brown belt, the next grading is Black Belt or Shodan (1st Dan). Students wear belts which are colored to signify their grade level.
