Gichin Funakoshi

Gichin Funakoshi, born on November 10, 1868 in Shuri, Okinawa, and dead on April 26, 1957, founded the Shotokan style of karate and is remembered as a father of modern karate. He came from a family of samurai lineage, began his study of karate with Anko Asato and later learned from Anko Itosu, and trained in both the Shorei-ryu and Shorin-ryu traditions of Okinawa. In 1922 he travelled to mainland Japan, where a demonstration at the Kodokan, arranged by the judo master Jigoro Kano, helped make karate popular. He opened the first Shotokan dojo in Tokyo in 1936 and changed the written characters of the word karate to mean empty hand. His students founded the Japan Karate Association in 1949 with Funakoshi as honorary head, and his books, including the Twenty Guiding Principles, still guide Shotokan training.