Some Shotokan History

[bassaiguy]

In another thread someone asked about the difference between Shotokan and Shotokai karate. I've had a bit of experience here, so I thought I'd offer a suggestion.

Originally, there was Funakoshi's karate in Tokyo, which he just called Karate, but which his followers and admirers called Shotokan Karate-do. This means Shoto's house or style of karate-do. Shoto was Funakoshi's pen name when he wrote poetry and calligraphy, so it basically meant Funakoshi's stye of karate. It was also the name of his private dojo which was destroyed in the firebombing of Tokyo during WWII. In the 1930s these guys formed a group called the Shotokai, which meant Shoto's club or association.

All well and good. After Funakoshi died in the 1950s his followers split on what to do. Since he left no heir (his son had died of TB) there was a big disagreement. Briefly, those guys who wanted to teach for profit, sponsor tournaments and develop a more modern karate-do along Funakoshi's lines formed the Japan Karate Association and developed what we know of as Shotokan. There is some dispute as to how much of Funakoshi's actual, old style, karate was in this mix because there was also some influence from kendo and Shito-ryu and also a huge influence of the teachings of Funakoshi's son, Gigo, who had essentially formed the JKA core syllabus before he died.

Those guys who did not want to teach for money or who had personal issues with the JKA crew stuck with the old Shotokai association. Throughout the 1950s there wasn't too much difference between Shotokan and Shotokai Karate.

Then, the person who had been Funakoshi's senior student (other than his dead son), Shigeru Egami, went off the rails and developed his own variation on the Shotokan theme which emphasized extreme fluidity and some unique deep stances and (IMO) strange punching techniques. Since Egami was the senior man in the Shotokai group he took the whole Shotokai group in this direction (except for some renegade Shotokai guys who got ticked off and quit the Shotokai). Since the 1970s the split has become quite distinct.

HOWEVER, as if this wasn't confusing enough there have been a number of other fractures along the way. Some groups refused to align with either the JKA or Shotokai. The most significant of these is probably the Gima-ha Shotokan sometimes known as Kenkojuku. Gima was an Okinawan student of Funakoshi and has his own lineage which IS Shotokan even though it bothers the big groups to admit it. Also, one of the original JKA instructors to come to American, Tsutomu Oshima, broke from the JKA early on and his group, the Shotokan Karate of America, preserves an older and unique lineage of Shotokan. Finally, the JKA itself split in the late 1980s and early 1990s and although it has recovered there are still off-shoot organizations that practice various branches of karate that are still thoroughly Shotokan-style even though they may have made changes to their kata syllabus and drills.

So, short answer, Shotokan is hard style, Japanese karate dominated by the JKA (except when it not) and Shotokai is soft style, Egami influenced Shotokan (except when a lineage of elder Shoto-guys pops up and says it's not). Clear as mud, right?

[JohnnyB]

Shotokai is considered 'soft' style because they were following Gichin Funakoshi's disapproval of free sparring (jiyu kumite), while the JKA favored it on top of everything else.

[bassaiguy]

I agree that Funakoshi disapproved of jiyu kumite, but he did allow it. Funakoshi's karate could be quite "hard". If you look at the pre-arranged kumite he demonstrated on film in the forties or fifties there isn't anything soft about it - I would describe his technique as whippy or snappy (if those are actually words). The Shotokai did not become "soft" until Egami's changes to the organization. Look at the difference in technique demonstrated in "Karate-do Kyohan", which is Funakoshi's text with early JKA style photographs and "Karate-do Nyumon", which is Funakoshi's text with Shotokai photographs to see what I mean.

I believe that the Shotokai/JKA split (pre-Egami's changes) was due largely to social class differences. The early JKA guys were government employees, college instructors, and upper-middle class business men. The early Shotokai leaders were scholars, independently wealthy business leaders, or politically and financially connected intelligentsia (artists, writers, etc). In Japan in the 1950s (when the split occurred) the social difference between a "salaryman" and the leadership class was immense. I believe this difference partially explains the JKA/Shotokai split. I also think it speaks to the strength of the JKA - that despite being "lower class" relative to some of the leadership of the Shotokai they were willing to put everything on the line, in public, to further their vision of karate-do.

[bushido_man96]

Thanks for sharing this. You're right, clear as mud! In Cook's book, there is a section where Shotokai is discussed, as well as the things Egami started to do later on in making changes to it.