Karate everywhere, every time has had those who go a step beyond.

So often people bash Japanese karate, really not knowing what they are talking about. Of course it began with Funakoshi, Ginchin. And his focus when he stayed in Japan to spread karate, was to focus on the universities. Knowing the strongest hope for the continuation of Japanese karate, was to get the right class of Japanese involved with it. It wasn’t kids. It wasn’t the person off the streets, Rather the future administrators, businessmen and military leaders who would have gotten their starts through the universities. So he shaped his karate towards those who could begin in a 4 year university program.

But those people also were trained to think and question, at least some of them were. And  so the instructors that arose from those programs did think. Some went to Okinawa, sought other training, and through their efforts began to make changes in their art. Some of them wrote books on their thoughts and training experiences. Some of them conducted research and development of new ideas.

One of the more interesting of Funakishi Ginchin’s students was Egami Shigeru. Loyal to the karate he learned under Funakoshi. At the same time he did go to Okinawa to learn new things and then incorporated them into the way he practiced then taught karate. He observed the ways the JKA was changing what he originally learned, not agreeing that was the strongest karate could become for him.

Eventually he did not believe in what the others following those changes were accomplishing. Broke with them and formed the Shotokai organization. There he continued to make changes to make the karate he taught stronger to his mind.

Among them were changes he made to the way of striking that had been created in his karate. A trip to Okinawa proved to him this was necessary. Not that others on Okinawa did not understand what he was doing, for they were already doing it, but that he developed a need to make his karate stronger. And the acted on that need.

I suggest my blog post on Egami might be worth looking at.https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-way-of-karate-beyond-technique.html

 

Of course at the same time I put his observations and practice up against the way I use my Isshinryu fist.

But that is another story. Perhaps I could add, I remained with my fist.