Brief History of Shotokan Karate

Shotokan Karate was developed by Grandmaster Gichin Funakoshi. Grandmaster Funakoshi studied under Grandmaster Itosu and Grandmaster Higaonna. Back then, Karate was called "te"(meaning Hand), and the different types of "te" were trained in certain areas of Okinawa. To describe the different types of "te", names of cities were used (e.g., Shuri-Te, Naha-Te, Tomari-Te).
Grandmaster Funakoshi was the first Karate-ka who introduced "te" to mainland Japan. He demonstrated his Karate at the physical education Expo held in Tokyo in 1921. Although he was supposed to stay for only a short period of time, he was persuaded to stay longer to teach Karate at Kodokan (the Mecca of Judo) by Jigoro Kanou (the founder of Judo) who was impressed by Funakoshi's Karate.
After he taught at Kodokan, he started teaching privately at Meisei Juku where he stayed. At the request of college students, he started teaching his Karate at several colleges - Waseda University (with Master Noguchi & Master Watanabe), Keio University (with Master Obata), Takushoku University ( with Master Nakayama), etc. Around this time, he changed the writing of Karate in Chinese characters from "Karate" (Chinese Hand) to "Karate" (Empty Hand). This meant not only to defend yourself without weapons (with empty hands) but also to create a state of empty mind (called Kuu) so you can be prepared for any type of situation. In addition, he changed the names of the various Katas (forms) from Okinawan to Japanese - Pinan to Heian, Passai to Bassai, Kusanku to Kanku, etc. There were two major Ryu-Ha (style) in Karate - one is called Shorei-Ryu (stressing power and strength) and the other one is Shorin-ryu (stressing speed and sharpness). He picked 15 Katas from both styles that we train as the traditional Shotokan Katas today.
Shorei-Ryu : Tekki Sho-Dan, Tekki Ni-Dan, Tekki San-Dan, Jitte, Hangetu, Jion
Shorin-Ryu : Heian Sho-Dan, Heian Ni-Dan, Heian San-Dan, Heian Yon-Dan, Heian Go-Dan, Bassai Dai, Kanku Dai, Enpi, Gankaku

After Grandmaster Funakoshi passed away, his students started calling his Karate "Shotokan" using his pen name "Shoto". Today, as the major style in Karate, Shotokan has the greatest number of students all over the world.

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