A Brief History Of Karate-Do:
Almost all cultures have some form of fighting art that developed indigenously. The Okinawan prefecture is now part of Japan. It is comprised of what was known as the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch from Taiwan to Southern Japan. The main island in the chain is called Okinawa.
A limitation on the possession of weapons in the Kingdom of Ryukyu was instituted in the late 15th century. The Kingdom was invaded in 1609 by the Satsuma clan from Southern Ryukyu. In 1699 the clan banned the import of all bladed weapons. Trading was done with many parts of Asia, and in particular, the Fuchou region in the Fukien Province in China.
It is difficult to trace the exact evolution of karate due to the lack of written records. Martial arts practice was typically conducted in secret due to the ban on weapons. As a way to defend themselves, the people of Okinawa developed primarily empty hand arts that were designed to be highly effective. Some everyday items such as staffs, boat oars, and farming implements were turned into various weapons.
The first recorded mention of the term tote, tode, or tuti was in the latter part of the 18th century. It was connected with the teachings of a visitor from China, Kushanku, who taught his form of Chinese boxing in Okinawa. An indigenous martial art know simply as te, or ti was concurrently being taught on the island, which predated Kushanku’s arrival by at least several hundred years. Eventually these arts blended together to form the precursor to modern karate.
The cities of Shuri, Naha, and Tamarai became the principle training sites for martial arts in Okinawa. Eventually the locations each came to emphasize certain unique aspects of karate training. Shotokan and Shito-ryu are most heavily influenced by the style of Shuri-te (and some Tamarai-te). Goju-ryu emphasizes the traditional training principles of Naha-te. Naha-te was also known as Shorei-te and the mixture of Shuri-te and Tomarai-te as Shorin-ryu (the name Shorin is derived from the Chinese word Shaolin). Hence, the Shotokan style has many similarities to Shorin-ryu and other Okinawan styles.
Martial arts training continued to be done in secret until the late 19th century. Students usually trained one kata for three years and practiced striking a wooden target known as a makiwara. Sparring drills were not conducted as they are today. Karateka would sometimes strike each other to test their conditioning and occasionally challenge each other to real fights. The Ryukyu Islands were annexed by the Japanese government in 1879. Japan set about to "Japanise" the culture. Eventually martial arts instructors were asked to introduce karate as a form of physical education into the school system. Many of the lethal techniques were altered (e.g., open hand techniques were made into fists) and the stances lowered to build stronger legs. New katas were introduced to make learning easier.
In 1917 Gichin Funikoshi (1868-1957), known as the "father of modern karate", introduced karate to mainland Japan. Eventually new kumite drills were added and katas standardized. In the late 1940s the Japan Karate Association was formed and Funikoshi was named Chief Instructor. The JKA introduced karate throughout the world through instructors that were trained in the renowned JKA Instructor’s course run by the JKA Technical Director, Hiditaka Nishiyama, a student of Funikoshi’s.
Sensei Nishiyama went on to become the Head JKA Instructor for the Western Hemisphere in the early 1960s. He founded the American Amateur Karate Federation (AAKF) which is part of the International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF), the organization that has been sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee to represent Traditional Karate. Sensei Nishiyama also holds the highest rank of any living Shotokan karate master, the 9th dan. There are only a few of his contemporaries who also have also legitimately obtained this rank. He has been the trainer of many of today’s most famous instructors around the world including Shirai, Enoeda, Kanazawa, Okazaki, Oishi, Ueki, Kawazoe, Yaguchi, Mikami, among others.