Karate, which originated from the island of Okinawa, was introduced to Japan in
1915 by an Okinawan school teacher called Gichin Funakoshi who had studied
under
the great masters, Anko Itosu and Yasatsune Azato. Japan was keen to adopt this
form of martial art since it required no weapons (karate translates as 'empty
hand') and its students developed into disciplined, focused individuals.
After WWII, Karate was transported outside Japan by servicemen who had been
impressed by this form of combat and had studied it in depth.
After a time, Japanese Shotokan karateka (Shotokan Karate is otherwise known as
Japanese Karate-do) began to teach around the world. One of these great
instructors was Hirokazu Kanazawa a student of Masatoshi Nakayama. Kanazawa
became the first Japanese Shotokan Chief Instructor for Great Britain.
