JKA Shotokan’s Close “Relative”
You all know that you practice Shotokan Karate-Do, but how many of you have ever heard of its close cousin, Shotokai Karate-Do? A Bit of History Master Gichin Funakoshi introduced what would become the Shotokan Karate-Do system into Japan in 1922. As with most things in the world, the passage of a century inevitably brought changes, and Karate-Do was no exception. In 1934, one of his main disciples, Hironori Otsuka (who was also an expert in jujitsu) left to establish his own style, known today as Wado-Ryu. In the 1940s, Mas Oyama would study Shotokan as well as Goju-Ryu and go on to create his own system in the 1950s, known today as Kyokushin. Both styles are popular and practiced around the world. For a long time, the Japanese Karate Association (JKA), established in 1949, was the premier organization representing the Shotokan-Ryu. Although other large Shotokan organizations have splintered off and grown in recent decades, the style remains so consistent that you could probably enter and train in a dojo from any of these groups without having to make too many adjustments. Shotokan continues to be identified with long and low stances, explosive speed and power, and emphasis on long-distance [...]