Shotokan-Karatedo.org

松濤館空手道

Shotokan Karatedo

Developed since 1928 by Gichin Funakoshi (1868 – 1957), Shotokan became the most widely practiced style of Karatedo today. The pen name that Master Funakoshi used for writing poetry was Shōtō (or 松濤 in Japanese script), which means ‘waving pines’. Furthermore, the Japanese word Kan (or 館 in Japanese script) means ‘hall’. Therefore, the Training Hall (or Dojo) where Master Funakoshi taught the style (or Ryu) of Karatedo he had developed became known as 松濤館 in Japanese script, meaning Shōtō’s Kan (that is, Shōtō’s (Training) Hall). Therefore, his students created a sign above the entrance of this hall reading these three kanji symbols. Subsequently, this became also the name of Master Funakoshi’s Martial Art: Shotokan (or actually: Shoto’s Kan).

The first Shoto’s Kan was established in 1936

Furthermore, the tiger became the symbol of Shotokan Karatedo. It symbolizes the keen alertness of the wakeful tiger and the serenity of the peaceful mind which Master Funakoshi experienced while listening to the pine waves on Tiger’s Tail Mountain, which is the literal meaning of the name of Mount Torao in Okinawa, near Master Funakoshi’s hometown Shuri.

Master Gichin Funakoshi was succeeded by Masatoshi Nakayama (1913 – 1987), Hirokazu Kanazawa (1931 – 2019), and many other Shihan of Shotokan Karatedo.