structural:scholar_edition
Japan

When Shō Tai, the last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, was ordered to move to Tokyo in 1879, he was accompanied by prominent karate masters such as Ankō Asato and Chōfu Kyan (father of Chōtoku Kyan). It is unknown if they taught karate to the Japanese in Tokyo, although there are records that Kyan taught his son karate.

In 1908, students from the Okinawa Prefectural Middle School gave a karate demonstration at Butokuden in Kyoto, which was also witnessed by Kanō Jigorō (founder of judo).

In May 1922, Gichin Funakoshi (founder of Shotokan) presented pictures of karate on two hanging scrolls at the first Physical Education Exhibition in Tokyo. The following June, Funakoshi was invited to the Kodokan to give a karate demonstration in front of Jigoro Kano and other judo experts. This was the beginning of the full-scale introduction of karate in Tokyo.

In November 1922, Motobu Chōki (founder of Motobu-ryū) participated in a judo versus boxing match in Kyoto, defeating a foreign boxer. The match was featured in Japan's largest magazine " King," which had a circulation of about one million at the time, and karate and Motobu's name became instantly known throughout Japan.

In 1922, Funakoshi published the first book on karate, and in 1926 Motobu published the first technical book on kumite. As karate's popularity grew, karate clubs were established one after another in Japanese universities with Funakoshi and Motobu as instructors.

In the Showa era (1926–1989), other Okinawan karate masters also came to mainland Japan to teach karate. These included Kenwa Mabuni, Chōjun Miyagi, Kanken Tōyama, and Kanbun Uechi.

With the rise of militarism in Japan, some karate masters gradually came to consider the name karate (唐手, lit. ' Tang hand ') undesirable. The name karate (空手, lit. ' empty hand ') had already been used by Chōmo Hanashiro in Okinawa in 1905, and Funakoshi decided to use this name as well. In addition, the name karatedō (唐手道, lit. ' the way of the Tang hand '), which was already used by the karate club of Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) in 1929 by adding the suffix dō (道, way) to karate, was also used by Funakoshi, who decided to use the name karatedō (空手道, lit. ' the way of the empty hand ') in the same way.

The dō suffix implies that karatedō is a path to self-knowledge, not just a study of the technical aspects of fighting. Like most martial arts practised in Japan, karate made its transition from - jutsu to - dō around the beginning of the 20th century. The " dō " in "karate-dō" sets it apart from karate- jutsu, as aikido is distinguished from aikijutsu, judo from jujutsu, kendo from kenjutsu and iaido from iaijutsu.

In 1933, karate was officially recognized as a Japanese martial art by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, but initially belonged to the jujutsu division and title examinations were conducted by jujutsu masters.

In 1935, Funakoshi changed the names of many kata and karate itself. Funakoshi's motivation was that the names of many of the traditional kata were unintelligible, and that it would be inappropriate to use the Chinese style names to teach karate as a Japanese martial art. He also said that the kata had to be simplified to spread karate as a form of physical education, so some of the kata were modified. He always referred to what he taught as simply karate, but in 1936 he built a dōjō in Tokyo and the style he left behind is usually called Shotokan after this dōjō. Shoto, meaning "pine wave", was Funakoshi's pen name and kan meaning "hall".

On 25 October 1936, a roundtable meeting of karate masters was held in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, where it was officially decided to change the name of karate from karate (Tang hand) to karate (empty hand). In attendance were Chōmo Hanashiro, Chōki Motobu, Chōtoku Kyan, Jūhatsu Kyoda, Chōjun Miyagi, Shinpan Gusukuma, and Chōshin Chibana. In 2005, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly passed a resolution to commemorate this decision by designating 25 October as "Karate Day."

The modernization and systemization of karate in Japan also included the adoption of the white uniform that consisted of the dogi or keikogi —mostly called just karategi —and coloured belt ranks. Both of these innovations were originated and popularized by Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo and one of the men Funakoshi consulted in his efforts to modernize karate.

At that time, there was almost no kumite training in karate, and kata training was the main focus. There were also no matches. However, at that time, judo and kendo matches were already being held in mainland Japan, and randori (乱取り, lit. ' free-style practice ') practice was also being actively practiced, the young people in mainland Japan gradually became dissatisfied with kata-only practice.

In pre–World War II Okinawa, karateka practiced iri kumi (Okinawan for kumite) allowing all kinds of techniques (strikes, choke holds, joint locks, etc.) but in a controlled manner to not injure the opponent when aiming to vital areas. Despite sparring was originally an unnoticed form of practice for senior students, there were no "contests" until Western-style competitions were introduced to Japan.

Gichin Funakoshi stated, "There are no contests in karate." Shigeru Egami relates that, during his visit to Okinawa in 1940, he heard some karateka were ousted from their dōjō because they adopted sparring after having learned it in Tokyo. In the early 1930s, pre-arranged sparring was introduced and developed, and finally a few years later free sparring was permitted for Shotokan students.

According to Yasuhiro Konishi, kata-only training was often criticized by the leading judo practitioners of the time, such as Shuichi Nagaoka and Hajime Isogai, who said, "The karate you do cannot be understood from kata alone, so why don't you try a little more so that the general public can understand it?" Against the backdrop of these complaints and criticisms, young people such as Hironori Ōtsuka and Konishi devised their own kumite and kumite matches, which are the prototypes of today's kumite. Motobu's emphasis on kumite attracted Ōtsuka and Konishi, who later studied Okinawan kumite under him.

After World War II, karate activities were temporarily stalled due to the "Notice Banning Judo, Kendo, and Other Martial Arts" issued by the Ministry of Education under the directive of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. However, because this notice did not include the word "karate," it was interpreted by the Ministry of Education that karate was not prohibited, and karate was able to resume its activities earlier than other martial arts.

A new form of karate called Kyokushin was formally founded in 1957 by Masutatsu Oyama (who was born a Korean, Choi Yeong-Eui 최영의). Kyokushin is largely a synthesis of Shotokan and Gōjū-ryū. It teaches a curriculum that emphasizes aliveness, physical toughness, and full contact sparring. Because of its emphasis on physical, full-force sparring, Kyokushin is now often called " full contact karate ", or " Knockdown karate " (after the name for its competition rules). Many other karate organizations and styles are descended from the Kyokushin curriculum.