Funakoshi karate was well received by the Japanese, and judo founder Jigoro Kano asked for private lessons on basic karate kata (forms). Funakoshi taught Kano for several months and then arranged to return to Okinawa. Before he could leave, however, Hoan Kosugi, a popular artist of that time, asked Funakoshi to teach both him and his fellow artists karate, because there was no one else in the area who could. It was then Funakoshi realized that, if he were to spread karate throughout Japan, Tokyo was the place to do it.
Judo founder Jigoro Kano was so impressed with Gichin Funakoshi's karate that he asked for, and received, private karate lessons from Funakoshi for several months.
Taking up residence at a dormitory for Okinawan students at Keio University, Funakoshi began teaching karate in the dorm's lecture hall.
Funakoshi became a subject of some controversy only a few years after relocating to Tokyo. For centuries, karate had been written two different ways in Japanese. One way used the characters for "Chinese hands," and the other used the characters for "empty hands." Although both were pronounced "karate," they were written differently. Funakoshi agreed with the obvious historical allusion in the "Chinese hands" characters, but he felt that the use of "empty hands" not only emphasized the art of self-defence without weapons, but also characterized the sense of emptying one's heart and mind of earthly desires and vanity. When he wrote his first book, Ryukyu Kempo: Karate, in 1922, he used the "empty hands" characters exclusively.
Funakoshi is credited with standardizing the writing of karate, a feat which, though angering several martial arts masters at the time, met with eventual universal approval.
In 1923, a massive earthquake shook Japan, and Tokyo was razed in the ensuing fire. Although the dormitory Funakoshi called home and still taught out of was spared, many of his students died or disappeared. For a short time he suspended his instruction and spent the next several months assisting in the massive cleanup.
Funakoshi's next major task was the creation of an all-new dojo (training hall). Because he had a difficult time raising funds, the building was not started until 1935. A year later, the world's first freestanding karate dojo was completed. Funakoshi named the school "Shotokan" (the house of Shoto) after the pen name he used when writing poetry. When he stepped through the doors for the first time, he was almost 70 years old.
As he became increasingly busy with his dojo, Funakoshi began handing over his teaching assignments at the various universities to his students. He still conducted demonstrations, however, including regular performances before Emperor Hirohito, who invited him to the Imperial Palace on an annual basis.
The United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, and times grew hard in Japan. Funakoshi's third son, Gigo, who was supposed to inherit his father's school, died of tuberculosis in 1945. A few months later, Funakoshi's dojo was destroyed by Allied bombers. In that same year, the battle for Okinawa began in earnest, and many people fled to the island of Kyushu, including Funakoshi's wife, who had remained in Shuri during his residence in Tokyo. The couple were reunited at a refugee camp on Kyushu, and Funakoshi stayed with his wife until her death in 1947. He then boarded a train for Tokyo to start all over again.
More than just the buildings had been demolished in Japan during the war; national spirit had been eroded as well. The occupying forces disallowed martial arts instruction. Fortunately, because of Funakoshi's association with the Ministry of Education, karate was classified as physical education, not a martial art. He therefore began teaching again, and within a few years was drawing martial artists from other disciplines, all of whom were longing for a place to practice. Included among these new recruits were American servicemen, who were amazed at this form of exercise. For every GI who returned to the United States with a karate tale, Funakoshi received two more letters from Americans who wished to become students.
Funakoshi, approaching his mid-80s, found a new task. He had spread karate throughout Japan, now it was time to spread it throughout the world. In 1953, after several requests from Americans for qualified karate instructors, he began sending some of his finest students to the United States to begin teaching martial arts. These men, who included Masatoshi Nakayama, Hidetaka Nishiyama and Tsutomu Ohshima, were America's karate pioneers. Funakoshi eventually organized his students and their schools into the Japan Karate Association in 1955, one of the first international martial arts associations.
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