Why did they call a Shotokan promo, Karate only?

[sensei8]

There's nothing wrong with just labeling it "Karate"!! After all, it was "Karate", and that was important enough to convey their intent. Who cares if it was Shotokan or Bozokan or any other style of "Karate"??

What Shizentai's post speaks about is direct and to the very point, imho. The layperson see's the MA as Karate, no matter the style, so why confuse the layperson with styles!?! To that layperson, Shotokan and Goju-ryu, for example, might appear the same with a shrug of their shoulders.

Let's not forget, many MA schools simply blaze the word "KARATE" on their window front no matter the actual style of the MA that's being taught inside. For example, if I put Shindokan Saitou-ryu Karate and Kobudo on my window front, the layperson is more than likely only going to focus on the one word...KARATE...and disregard the others because they understand the word, KARATE!!

I'm sure that's what my mom saw when she enrolled me in a Karate school; forbade the other words entirely, focusing only on that one word...KARATE!!

[JR 137]

There's nothing wrong with just labeling it "Karate"!! After all, it was "Karate", and that was important enough to convey their intent. Who cares if it was Shotokan or Bozokan or any other style of "Karate"??

What Shizentai's post speaks about is direct and to the very point, imho. The layperson see's the MA as Karate, no matter the style, so why confuse the layperson with styles!?! To that layperson, Shotokan and Goju-ryu, for example, might appear the same with a shrug of their shoulders.

Let's not forget, many MA schools simply blaze the word "KARATE" on their window front no matter the actual style of the MA that's being taught inside. For example, if I put Shindokan Saitou-ryu Karate and Kobudo on my window front, the layperson is more than likely only going to focus on the one word...KARATE...and disregard the others because they understand the word, KARATE!!

I'm sure that's what my mom saw when she enrolled me in a Karate school; forbade the other words entirely, focusing only on that one word...KARATE!!

Exactly. Couldn’t agree more. Furthermore, even non-Karate places use the term karate. I’ve seen it used many times with TKD and Tang Soo Do. I understand it used to be referred to as “Korean Karate,” but call it what is is, either TKD or TSD.

I don’t understand how JKA or any other actual karate organization simply using the term Karate is wrong. Would a car dealership be incorrect in having a sign that says “Cars?” A restaurant with a sign that says “Food?” A pet store that says “Pets?” Sure, being more descriptive might bring in more people who want what a specific thing and less people will turn away because they were expecting something else, but being generic in the description is far from incorrect.

Being too generic can have its downfalls. If I saw a sign that simply said food, I probably wouldn’t go in because I’d have no idea what to expect from the menu. But if I’m looking for a new option, I might do a bit more research on that restaurant.

[Prototype]

JKA is not a style of Karate even though it's exclusively a Shotokan organization. An inference a layman would not be able to make. As for the other Karate styles during that time, Wado Ryu was prevalent and bares little resemblence to Shotokan.

Any Taekwondo style is closer to Shotokan than Wado Ryu is to Shotokan

Yes, but there is nothing to infer unless you ARE savvy. It's like pointing at a hawk and saying "that's a bird." It's not wrong. It's a hawk, and it's a bird. Both are correct, and there is no obligation to stipulate that it is a hawk if you're talking to someone who doesn't know the word "bird" yet.

A "layman" now and what a "layman" was 65 years ago are very different. While the video is very technical, the voiceover was clearly aimed at an American audience that was not very savvy. Americans had to be told why they should care about karate in the first place, before they could be expected to listen up long enough to learn about the different ryu and organizations. This was the former, not the later.

Despite your obvious disliking of shotokan (not sure why), it is karate. Similarly, if someone was doing wadoryu and called it karate in a documentary, they would also be correct for doing so. Are you're suggesting that shotokan should not be called "karate"?

I don't don't dislike Shotokan. However, Shotokan and Kyokushin are about as similar to each other in level of intensity as "generic military training" and Navy Seals. Granted, Shotokan was not yet named, so that naturally answers my question. But I don't think it would be a Shotokan labelled promo anyway, even if Funakoshi was dead when it was made.

The first thing you learn when starting martial art, whether you know anything or not, is which style you train. I don't think it would be too hard for the viewer to grasp that they are watching one very specific branch of Karate by Gishin Funakoshi.

[shortyafter]

I don't don't dislike Shotokan. However, Shotokan and Kyokushin are about as similar to each other in level of intensity as "generic military training" and Navy Seals. Granted, Shotokan was not yet named, so that naturally answers my question. But I don't think it would be a Shotokan labelled promo anyway, even if Funakoshi was dead when it was made.

My experience and knowledge would agree that training in Kyokushin

is generally more intense, but that really depends on the dojo and instructor. Also depends on which day you train within the very same set of dojos. Also depends on how you define intense. In any case, I'm not sure how that really changes the issue. Regardless of the intensity level they are still very much the same art, especially in the eyes of a layman.

As I said before, I am a beginner in both but what I have learned in each style is absolutely valuable when it comes to training in the other. I'm sure as you train up the differences may be more pronounced, but on a fundamental level they are very much the same art which is karate.

The first thing you learn when starting martial art, whether you know anything or not, is which style you train. I don't think it would be too hard for the viewer to grasp that they are watching one very specific branch of Karate by Gishin Funakosh.

Not nowadays in the age of the internet, and 30-50 years since karate has become an art that is known and practiced worldwide. But here we're talking about a video produced in the 1950's for a largely ignorant American audience...

I have to agree that you seem to dislike Shotokan, or else I can't really see the need to make this argument. As others have said, to me it's all karate.

[JR 137]

If it was a Kung fu demo, would you be upset if they didn’t mention which type of Kung fu?

[MatsuShinshii]

Well to me it's blatantly obvious that it's Japanese Karate. If the to choices you give us are between Kyokushin and Shotokan, again I think it's obvious what style is highlighted in the video.

To me there is a pretty stark difference between the two styles.

[OneKickWonder]

How old is the video? It looks pretty old. The narration sounds kinda of 1950s era. The video is old cinematograph film footage.

In that kind of era, karate was shotokan.

Of course, plenty will point out there are other styles and always have been. But the term karate was coined by Gichin Funakoshi in the early 1900s. Funakoshi formalised various similar styles, packaged it up under the label of kara-te-do, later just karate, and sold it to the Japanese public and then the rest of the world.

So why not mention other styles? Probably quite simply that any spin off styles at the time the original video was made would still be in their infancy and pretty much unheard of.

As a kind of interesting aside, there should be no such style as shotokan. Funakoshi never called his karate by that name. It comes from a hand painted sign his students made without asking. I'm not sure of the exact translation but it's something like 'the master's house'.

[JR 137]

How old is the video? It looks pretty old. The narration sounds kinda of 1950s era. The video is old cinematograph film footage.

In that kind of era, karate was shotokan.

Of course, plenty will point out there are other styles and always have been. But the term karate was coined by Gichin Funakoshi in the early 1900s. Funakoshi formalised various similar styles, packaged it up under the label of kara-te-do, later just karate, and sold it to the Japanese public and then the rest of the world.

So why not mention other styles? Probably quite simply that any spin off styles at the time the original video was made would still be in their infancy and pretty much unheard of.

As a kind of interesting aside, there should be no such style as shotokan. Funakoshi never called his karate by that name. It comes from a hand painted sign his students made without asking. I'm not sure of the exact translation but it's something like 'the master's house'.

Shoto was Funakoshi’s pen name. It means waving pines. Shotokan means Shoto’s house/ house of shoto.