The history of Shotokan-do karate, and the matrial arts in general, can be traced back to before recorded history. A widley accepted version (still debatable though) can be traced to India.
Siddartha Gautama was a prince in northern India around 560 B.C.
From his upbringing, however, he was never allowed to leave the
palace grounds. His curiousity getting the better of him, he looked
outside one day, only to see so many people in poverty and
suffering.
With that he renounced his kingdom and set out on his
sadhana in the forest to search for truth.
He searched for 14 years, virtually alone in the jungles of India. One day while sitting under the bodhi tree he was enlightend and travelled all over Asia in order to teach others a path to enlightment.
His was now known as Buddha (the enlightned one). He made many disciples in India and all over Asia. Some years later one of his disciples Dham Ho travelled to China to teach people there. He realized that his body and those of his disciples were not strong enough to endure Sadhana, so he developed repetitive excersies that would stregthen the body, his disciples followed.
Eventually the Chinese developed the martial arts into kempo and Shaolin Gung-fu. It was from the trading with the Chinese of Fukien Province, the Okinawins learned the art and eventually devloped it into Okinawate.
Note that Okinawate was not the only form of martial arts being developed in Japan at the time; judo, and Samurai arts(kendo, horse riding, bo etc.), however they have all stemmed from Zen Buddhism (the Japaneese adaption of Buddhism).
During 1700's - early 1900's, weapons were prohibited in Japan. Okinawins
secretly trained in karate and had done things like incroparating
martial arts movements into their dance in order to confuse
imperial inspectors from Satsuma, who were there to insure
strict following of the prohibition. Okinawins also learned to
adapt there farming tools as weapons, which would later integrate
themselves with karate.
Enter Gichin Funakoshi. Born in 1889, Okinawa, Japan, he was a sickly child and wasn't expected to live long. He surpased all expectations and went on to live his life and become a Master and Guru of karate do. Being born into a shizouka class family, he learned the 5 Confuscian classics at an early age.
His family hoever didn't have the honor an upper class family normally demanded; they lived in a rented house and although his father was an accomplished dancer, singer and a bo expert, he was also an alcholic. Funakoshi survived through more than one peril, but always continued in good spirit as karate became a more important part of his life every day. Training under karate masters Itsou and Azato, he eventaully standardized karate throughout Japan, by the introduction of the belt system and standard kata (although he wasn't the only one to know them, he formally introducded Bassai, Chinto, Sanchin, Jion, to name a few) through his books, such as Ryuku Kempo Karate and Karate Do Kyohan: The Master Text. The name Shotokan translates to "Shoto's Place", Shoto being Funakoshi's pen name at the time. The tiger symbol comes from the fact that Funakoshi used to go to a pine lake to train and meditate, which was shaped like a tiger.
Karate continues to be practiced all over the world today,
a result that owes much to Master Funakoshi. Let's finish our
journey through history with a quote Master Funakoshi often left with
his young pupils:
