Fighting styles have grown and withered away since mankind decided to modify, practice and exchange combat techniques. Some styles have gained popularity whilst others have not. Tracing any style is a difficult historical task, because it seems improbable to imagine that any single martial art system has existed without both influencing other styles whilst also being influenced. Tracing the genealogy of a style is amplified by the national resonance each style holds and the difficulty in making associations outside of country and often, regional pride.

It is commonly thought that Bodhidarma (Daruma - as he is known in Japan) is a central figure in the birth of martial arts when he traveled from India to China to help monks at the Shaolin Temple, Shaoshi. Thus any precise heritage regarding a martial art should start with Bodhidarma. However, Bodhidarma was undoubtedly subjected to influences himself which again go beyond Bodhidarma as being a sole or unique realisation of martial arts in China.

Tracing the etymology of 'Karate' is no exception to this crisscrossing of exchange. 'Karate' thought by many to mean literally 'Chinese-hands' was adopted in early Okinawan terminology but was thought by Sensei Funakoshi to mean 'empty hands'. The phonetically sounding 'Kara' is a Japanese homonym that describes both 'Chinese' and 'empty'. Just as the words, 'too', 'to' and 'two', whilst sounding phonetically the same, refer to different meanings - as in 'too much', 'to you' and 'the number two'.

Okinawa is an island off Japan being only 10KM by 110KM. Trading links, historically, have been far reaching. One can imagine the great influences of many cultures in the forging and finer tuning of techniques exchanged by merchants and seamen alike from their native countries doing business with the people of Okinawa. This tiny island has had a volatile political past. In 1429 'Hashi' imposed a public ban on weapons. In 1609 the Satsuma clan led by the 'Shimazu family' invaded Okinawa (or Ryukyu islands as it was then known) and keenly enforced this already existing ban. Three distinct styles were popularised in the private secretive sphere in the Okinawan cities of Shuri, Naha and Tomari, known as respectfully; Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te. Despite finer nuances of etymology, Okinawa is considered by many to be the birthplace of modern karate and was the origin of 'Sensei Funakoshi' (commonly thought to be the father of modern day karate) Born during the Meiji restoration in 1868 at a time when karate was excluded from public scrutiny.

Funakoshi grew up training in the privacy of night under the guidance of Sensei Yasutsune Azato and Sensei Yasutsune Itosu. Itosu helped take karate out of secrecy from a private arena of teacher pupil heir (Isshi Soden) to a public one of collective open practice in schools by suggesting that it should be part of the educational curriculum in a letter wrote in 1908. In 1916 at the Butokuden, Kyoto, Japan, Funakoshi gave a demonstration of karate. On March the 6th 1921 Sensei Gichin Funakoshi was asked to demonstrate the karate system in front of the Crown prince (later to become the emperor) of Japan. In Tokyo, Funakoshi presented his art at the 'first national athletic exhibition' organised by the ministry of education. Funakoshi, backed by his instructors continued this path in popularising the art leading to the implementation in the universities in Japan. Having taught publicly at a number of venues, finally, in 1939 Funakoshi' dojo opened. Written boldly above the entrance by his students was 'shoto-kan'. 'Shoto' was the pen name Funakoshi used to sign his poems and it meant 'pine waves'. Funakoshi was not impressed that his name had been used to describe a difference in his karate heritage stating; 'There is no place in contemporary karate-do for different schools. Some instructors, I know, claim to have invented new and unusual kata, and so they arrogate to themselves the right to be called founders of 'schools. Indeed, I have heard myself and my colleagues referred to as the Shoto-kan school, but I strongly object to this attempt at classification.'

Karate-Do: My Way Of Life, Gichin Funakoshi P38

Sensei Funakoshi's son Yoshitaka Funakoshi decided to change the length of stances whilst introducing more dynamic kicks - without changing the name from shotokan. Yoshitaka's short time in teaching at the Shotokan dojo and influencing the direction of shotokan karate was short lived due to contracting tuberculosis. His teachings were influential to many modern day practitioners including the recently passed Taiji Kase.