How Karate Got Its Name

Hello Jesse-San, stances can be very powerful in determining the overall performance of your kata and I personally would like to improve mine and I’m sure I speak for others aswell in saying that ,so, while I dislike asking people to do things, would you mind writing another article on how to improve another stance, preferably Shiko-Dachi, I say that because I am a Shito-Ryu practitioner, no worries, thank you

"Toudi" was not writen alone, the complete name was "Kenpo Toudi"(kenpo=fist law). Kenpo is the japanese pronounciation of the chinese ideograms "Quan-fa" which is just another way to say Kung Fu. The story says that, when the kung fu teachers arrived to Okinawa, they were fealing that kung fu was too artistic and acrobatic, couldn´t be used by most people and was not very practical for self defense. So they decided to cleaning it up, eliminating everything that was not useful in a defense situation. That was the origen of kenpo toudi and in the long run of okinawan karate. Kenpo and Okinawan Karate (as both exist nowadays as separate although very similar martial arts) are focused in self defense.

Hi Jesse I like your articles a lot. I appreciate it deeply. I love karate and I practice karate every day. My style is Shotokan. I perform kata. I'm so powerful but I'm too hard. I don't know how I can be flexible. Thank you Jesse Best wishes

And they discarded a major element in the "Hand" method itself. So indeed, they brought "Empty" Hand to Japan.

Weren't the characters for empty hand used by Hanashiro Chomo as far back as 1905. In his writings on Kumite? :)

Dear Sensei Jesse, There's something I wanna ask about sparring. How can I get over my fear of going to spar? I love Karate so much and I don't want fear to separate me from this art.

I'm not sure where you got your information. But, it Ginchin Funakoshi who officially changed the name from Okinawa-te to Kara-te. After being the only Karate accepted to teach in Japan at the time, he change the name in hopes it would be embraved by the Japanese people. Funakoshi Gichin Sensei, of karate-do, was born on November 10, 1868 in Shuri Okinawa. From about eleven years old he began to study to-te jutsu under Azato Anko and Itosu Anko. He practiced diligently and in 1912 became the president of the Okinawan Shobukai. In May 1922, he relocated to Tokyo and became a professional teacher of karate-do. He devoted his entire life to the development of karate-do. He lived out his eighty-eight years of life and left this world on April 26, 1957. Reinterpreting to-te jutsu, the Sensei promulgated karate-do while not losing its original philosophy. Like bugei (classical martial arts), so too is the pinnacle of karate “mu” (enlightenment): to purify and make one empty through the transformation from “jutsu” to “do”. Through his famous words "???????" (karate ni sente nashi) meaning There is no first attack in Karate and ???????? (karate wa kunshi no bugei) meaning Karate is the martial art of intelligent people, Karate developed on the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was brought to the Japanese mainland in the early 20th century during a time of cultural exchanges between the Japanese and the Chinese. It was systematically taught in Japan after the Taish? era.[4] In 1922 the Japanese Ministry of Education invited Gichin Funakoshi to Tokyo to give a karate demonstration. In 1924 Keio Universityestablished the first university karate club in mainland Japan and by 1932, major Japanese universities had karate clubs.[5] In this era of escalating Japanese militarism,[6] the name was changed from ?? ("Chinese hand" or "Tanghand")[7] to ?? ("empty hand") – both of which are pronounced karate – to indicate that the Japanese wished to develop the combat form in Japanese style.[8] After World War II, Okinawa became an important United States military site and karate became popular among servicemen. Gichin Funakoshi played a major role in introducing karate from Okinawa to Japan, adjusted to reduce injury and merged with approaches for athletic training. On May 27, 1949, some of his senior students, such as Isao Obata, Masatoshi Nakayama, and Hidetaka Nishiyama, formed a karate organization dedicated to research, promotion, events management, and education: the Japan Karate Association.[3] Funakoshi, then around 80 years old, held a position equivalent to emeritus chief instructor. Nakayama designated as the chief instructor. The JKA emerged from karate clubs at Japanese universities located in the Tokyo region. Most of these universities, however, distanced themselves from the JKA during the 1950s. Takushoku Universityalways kept strong ties with the JKA, being the alma mater of many of the senior JKA instructors, such as Nakayama, Nishiyama, Okazaki, Asai, Kanazawa, and Enoeda, who were responsible for the JKA's consolidation during the 1960s and 1970s.[3][4]