The Masters After Gichin Funakoshi

It all started with a zipper, or lack thereof.  As I stood there disrobing from my gi in order to use the restroom, my wish for a zipper started me thinking.  The Shotokan karate masters of the 20th century were innovators.  Why couldn’t they put a zipper in the karate gi?

Gichin Funakoshi is known as the founder of modern karate.  It was his son Gigo who really transformed the karate of old into something more representative of what we know today.  Masters Nakayama and Nishiyama seemed to be the real driving force in building on the foundation that Master Gigo Funakoshi started.  What are referred to here as 1^st Generation Karate Masters are those who came after the founders and are generally responsible for developing the karate of today.

Generally the 1^st generation of masters lived through the depression and World War 2.  A zipper was probably not at the top of their list of important things.  My research really demonstrated that they were all living human beings experiencing life just like all of us.  They felt the hardships and joys, pain and reward just as we do today.  They did not always get along, and struggled through disagreements.  But in the end, it was actual practice that mattered most.

Masters Nakayama and Nishiyama are responsible for leading the 1^st generation of masters, setting up the training format in a more formal way and developing the Instructor Training Course.  Master Nakayama had the vision to see karate as something with global appeal.  He sent out the best of the best, the 1^st generation karate masters, into the world to spread Shotokan. 

In Japan, the martial arts are the national sport.  Only the best get selected to participate in martial arts at the University level.  Only the best of the best were selected for the JKA instructor trainee program.  Therefore, the karate Masters profiled in this document are world class karateka.

It is interesting to note that they all pretty much seemed to focus on karate as a path to improving (seeking perfection of) character.  Still though, there was a great deal of conflict and strife in the world of Shotokan karate.  It became political, yet the primary focus for these masters really seems to be on the practice of karate.  They all practiced karate for their entire life.  Maybe that is the real essence of karate.  A lifelong struggle to be better and improve in all aspects of being human.

For these masters, karate was something they did.  They probably did not consider themselves as athletes the way we think of them today.  They did not have fitness and dietary coaches.  They did not refrain from alcohol or other things athletes today consider detrimental.  They did not have access to the same medical or scientific knowledge that we have now.  They practiced in a more harsh environment without the benefit of the training aids we have today.  Still though, their results were spectacular by all accounts.

We have amazing and spectacular Shotokan karate masters in today’s society as well.  There are also a significant number of posers, those with big talk and small action.  The 1^st generation of karate masters let the precision of their techniques and actions do the talking for them.  It is amazing how humble these masters were and generally how respectful they were.  They all seemed to care so much about their students.  They really are the foundation of modern karate.  As modern karateka, we should all be humbled by the gifts they have provided for us.