About Us

The origins of unarmed combat and martial arts go back over a thousand years. Pilgrims and traders would travel  around the world and find themselves at the hands of muggers and  thieves. They would learn means of defending themselves from local  bandits in the towns and villages they visited and then pass on their knowledge at the next village. 

In  1477 the king of Okinawa, Sho Shin, banned the carrying of weapons  following some years of political unrest. In 1609 Okinawa and the Ryukyu  islands were invaded by the Japanese and the ban was re-enforced so  that only the Samurai could carry weapons.  This meant that the people  of Okinawa had to secretly create their own unarmed combat system which  became known as Okinawa-Te. The word  ‘Te’ meaning hand.

There  are three main towns in Okinawa, Naha, Shuri and Tomari.  Over the  years Okinawa-Te developed into three styles named simply after the  town they came from, Naha-Te, Shuri-Te and Tomari-Te.  As time went on  some styles merged or just changed its name or even a new style came out  of an existing one.  Some of the styles that formed were Shotokan,  Shorin-Ryu, Wado-Ryu, Goju-Ryu, Shito-Ryu, Kyokushin Kai, Goju Kai and  Shuko Kai.  It was decided by karate masters that all these styles  should come under the one name of Karate.  The original character used  when writing karate meant ‘Chinese Hand’ but it was changed to ‘Empty  Hand’ to make it more acceptable to the Japanese. “Kara” also means  “empty” although it is a different character.

One of the masters of karate and an influential figure, also thought to be the father of modern  day karate, was Sensei Gichin Funakoshi.  He was born on 10 November  1868 in the small village of Yamakawa on the outskirts of Shuri,  Okinawa.  He died in 1957 leaving a legacy of students that have become  top international instructors and a style of karate that is taught  world-wide and practised by millions of karateka.

Sensei  Funakoshi founded and established the Shotokan Karate School in Tokyo.   The name ‘Shotokan’ is formed from two words.  The first being ‘shoto’,  this means ‘waving pines’.  Shoto was the pen name of Gichin Funakoshi  which he used whilst writing poetry.  The second word is ‘Kan’, which  means ‘hall’.  Therefore Shotokan means Shoto’s Hall.  Shotokan is  characterised by its long, low stances, its powerful techniques and its  dynamic forms.

This  is only a brief look at the history of karate and one of its major  influences, there is a lot more that can be said and learnt.