Japanese history uses “periods” to describe large sections of time. The periods often refer to a ruling emperor or family and it is often described by reforms and major events in time. It also conveniently shows major changes in Karate over time since it was distilled from local Okinawan wrestling and merged with Chinese boxing styles.
Each of the periods methods, form and fundamentals were different. Katas looked very different and the actual practice of Karate was very much different. Peichin Takahara would probably not recognize the tournament style of Kata that Osaka Sensei is known for and would shake his head at two men like Yahara and Kagawa sparring and engaging in a battle on stage for the Kumite championships.
The start of Karate actually dates back to the Edo period or around 1690’s, and stretches all the way through 5 distinct periods in Japanese history. Each period was a major transformational period in Japanese/Okinawan history as well as a period of adaptation, transformation and rebirth of Karate.
Edo/Togakawa era (1603-1868)
The Edo Period was also known as the Tokugawa era and was named after the hereditary Shogunate that took control of Japan at that time. The nobility was set up and a uniform system of just about doing any business, religion ext was set in motion. The Era was also dominated by a complete control of society. No protests or criticism of the government was allowed and this lead to a peaceful period in Japanese history, even if it was a peace achieved by firm military control and staunch
retribution for anyone stepping out of line.
80% of the population were rice farmers! The economy was based around rice and while the development and improvements in agriculture lead to new and more effective and efficient ways to grow Rice the population stayed fairly steady, which lead to a great amount of prosperity. The Daimyo or feudal lords ran the economy, government and military as well as operating hundreds of castle towns, the largest being Edo and Osaka.
Japan had a solid and elaborate social structure, one in which everyone knew their place and level of prestige. At the very top was the emperor, then the nobility…both with invincible prestige, but weak in power. Next came the Bushi or Shogun and his Daimyo, layers of feudal lords, and then merchants and so on. The samurai were warriors attached to Daimyo and the Shogun, some served as body guards to the Emperor, but served the Shogun. The Samurai had numerous grades and degrees or levels within the cast, but mostly were military in nature and served as military personnel would. Most Samurai were Ashigaru, or foot soldiers and had minor duties, not the spectacle we see in movies.
During the 17th century the shogun suspected that the European nations were going to invade japan and that Christian workers and other European foreign nationals were in fact planning to over throw the government. In 1637 a revolt that saw 30,000 foreign nationals, ronin and converted Japanese Christians was crushed by more than 100,000 Samurai. This lead to the Sakoku or Seclusion from the outside world. Effectively the Shogun shut the doors on all foreign influences…but left it open for Okinawan influence and trade. Okinawa was seen as a part of Japan at that time. The segregation of Japan lasted until 1844, nearly 200 years, when William II of the Netherlands sent a message to japan asking they open their doors to outside business…they rejected and the American Commodore Perry moved to Yokahama with four warships and forced the Japanese to open their doors.
It was during the Edo period that men like Peichin Takahara took lessons from Chatan yara in Okinawa and began to form the root system of Karate. Back then it was called Tode or simply Te. The style was rough and used mostly forms or Kata to teach techniques. The Kata shared time with repetitions of Hojo Undo or conditioning exercises along with drills and partner work to test techniques. The form was not important and probably looked much more like a mix of Chinese boxing and wrestling.
Takahara taught one of the most influential men in Karate’s ancient history, a royal guard/member of the Okinawan court, Sakukawa Kanga. Sakukawa was a court advisor and studied for six years with Takahara, probably for his employment in the royal court and castle compound as a body guard to the king. He then studied with a Chinese ambassador named Kusanku. While his Karate was probably very Chinese in nature and looked very different than our style today, he began to refine the system and take out the extra movements. His system was then passed on to his student Matsumura Sokon, and equally influential master of his time and this era.
Matsumura was also in the royal service and took up Jigen ryu sword fighting. His skills with a sword influenced Karate’s development greatly. He took much of the movement skills and applied it to his style of Karate. Matsumura learned from Kakukawa for five years only. Sakukawa was an old man already when he passed on his style of fighting to Matsumura and much of Matsumuras influence may have come from outside instructors. Matsumura was truly the starting point for the branch of Karate known as Shuri Te. His style was fast, powerful and started to make notice of foot work and deeper stances in training. Prior to this it is suspected that stance was not as refined and may have been a very low key element of Karate.
The Karate of the Edo/Tokagawa period was rough around the edges, it also went through a huge transformation over a three to four generation period. Its style was starting to change to what we see today, but it was still heavily influenced by Chinese boxing and had many techniques we would see as strange and out of the ordinary, like crane hands and tiger claws, however the Kata that we do today was starting to form and I have seen old style Kata from styles that have not changed much, I can recognize them…as distant relatives!
Meijin (1868-1912)
The Meijin period or Meiji era started in 1868 and ended in 1912. The Meiji era is a period of time that saw Japan move from a segregated society that did not allow any outside countries to enter or do business with them to a modern society based on European and other western ideas. The form of Feudalism still existed but the true power switched from the Samurai and Shogun to a political group run by the military and rich Japanese merchants.
On Feb. 3,1867 a 15 year old Prince Mutsuhito became the 12nd emperor of Japan. With that the Tokogawa Shogunate was over thrown and the new government was formed. The new era or “Meiji” meaning “enlightened rule” began. The key changes to the Japanese society or five charters oath held the five provisions of 1. Establishing deliberate assemblies of government, 2. Involvement of all classes in carrying out state affairs, 3. Revocation of sumptuary laws and class restrictions on employment, 4. Replacement of the “evil customs” with the “just laws of nature” and 5. An international serch for knowledge to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule. Basically, in a very short period of time the emperor and the new government (mostly the new government) did away with hundreds of generations of military rule, generation of seclusion and made the general population a freer nation, still under a very strict rule. It also moved the capital from Kyoto to Edo, now called Tokyo.
The changes were sweeping, including economy, education, Military, Technology, society changes and even governmental influence on finances. The old ways were abolished and the new ways were more western in nature. Japan was no longer a land of Samurai and Geisha, but now a land of wealth, growth and resembled a western country over the old feudal lands of oppression and military rule. The old ranks of nobility were reorganized into new ranks. From Daiymyo and Samurai classes that were loyal to the emperor came nearly 500 members of the new upper level society that were now given ranks of Prince, Marquis, count, viscount and baron. The new titles were reflections of the Japanese respect for the British rule and ranking of nobility.
Samurai were not longer seen as military nobility, most were abolished and had to fend for themselves, some moved on to the new class structure of wealthy land owners and merchants. But most died off as they had no skills other than warring and the new military had no use for the old ways. The new military used the French military structure and rank and most samurai refused to accept ranks that common people were open to receive as well.
The Karate of the Meiji era was heavily influenced by one of the first “modern” masters of Karate, Itosu Anko and his peers. Itosu’s generation was more focused on use of Karate to protect themselves against modern invaders, Japanese invaders and rulers and saw a major change in the types of attackers they would be facing and a change in the actual situations that they would have to use Karate for self-protection. Karate was now transitioning even more into modern fighting when a knife could be used by a commoner and or a gun, less likely were attacks by Samurai.
At the beginning of Itosus studies with Matsumura, the main concern was Samurai attacking their king and members of the court. The training was still very Kata based and lots of conditioning. These were military men in court jobs. They were strong, fast and used to training 4-6 hours a day to condition the body and work on little paper work. At the end of the Meijin period however the times were changing. The training was more for self protection and less about body guard work. Itosu also saw that less likely would be the use of Karate for military use in general and more a educational component in everyday life.
Itosu started cataloging, refining and making Karate more about family, children and use for fitness, mental training and perfection of character over swift ways to kill your attacker. Itosu was in every way a renascence man and his changes were more about his wide reaching understanding of the directions that the Japanese government, whom had long since taken control of Okinawa, were going. Less important was Bushido and the art of killing that only a small percent of people were engaged in, battle field training was much less important to a merchant and the new middle class than it was in the last era!
Itosu’s Karate became very focused on improving form and the use of deeper stances was even more common, the fancy flicking of hands and use of Animal like movements that Chinese boxing embraced was replaced with easy to teach and perfect form and functional training that made a person healthy and not just able to crush an opponent. It was at this time that Funakoshi Gichin and many of his peers entered into training in Karate. They were young, part of a new generation and were only aware of the old ways from stories that they had been told by family members who glorified the old ways and made it seem like it was a better time…leaving out the stories of oppression and hard times that 80% of the population of Okinawa and Japan truly would have remembered.
Taisho (1912-1926)
The Taisho period or Taisho Jidai was known as the “period of great righteousness” and was rules mostly by the government or Diet of Japan from the old Oligarchic group of elder statesmen or Genro that were ruling Japan before Emperor Taisho took his throne. Seen as one more large step away from Feudal Japan, this was seen as a much more liberal time in Japan. The time actually became known as the Taisho Democracy period. The period was much more stable than the previous Meijin period and a time of great prosperity and growth in Japan.
At the end of the Meijin restoration the whole government and country had exhausted its credit seeking to catch up to the west in military technology. The whole country was broke! Western influences had reached into art, culture and almost every aspect of Japanese society. As the Taisho era began many changes to the government and a shift further away from military spending and military rule opened up many new political parties and the changes in Japan began to create a more structured and stable government based on democracy, with some groups even forming leftist ideals, a situation that would have meant death to party members even in the more liberated Meijin period.
A war in China and a declaration of war on Germany meant that Japan was once again giving power to the military and more funding again. The war however was far from home, which meant that local factories and local businesses were making money to supply the war effort in China, Manchuria and Mongolia. The new Japan was all about expanding its power and influence. They ventured to Siberia, China and almost all places along the Asian borders.
During World War one the Japanese fought alongside the Allies and after the peace conference at Versailles in 1919 they entered a period of great prosperity. Business with the west was a huge influence over paying back all the debts they ahd for their military movements in Asia and Eastern Europe before the war. Japan was recognized as one of the big five in international business and influence. The one segregated country emerged from World war one as a major political power.
While it was a major international political power, the Japanese government did not stay out of debt. for long. They built cities and started major work projects that threw the government and country back into the red quickly after WW I. The new democratic society that was started in motion in the Maijin era was not strong enough to sustain the new taxes, the political unrest and the debt that the country suffered. The new ideas from the west added to the new freedoms that the people had away from the Edo era military rule lead to broad issues from poverty to politics and the shift was hard for the country and its collective ideals to handle.
Emperor Taisho died in December of 1926, with him his son Hirohito became the new emperor and his power was greatly reduced even with his fathers powers being mostly ceremonial. The new era was moving the Japanese people into a revival of militarism and political far right ideology in a hope to regain power form the people and democratic rule that was showing difficult for Japanese people to master at that time.
The Karate of this era was represented by Gichin Funakoshi Sensei. In 1922 he moved to the mainland to spread Karate to the Japanese students. However it should be noted that while he traveled to Japan with a promise of wealthy times, he was older and met with near poverty and had to take jobs that were more maintenance in nature. His culturally free society that he was promised was nearly broke and while his students were all in western style schools and universities as they were promise that being more western would lead to prosperity, many of them were poorer and had little to pay him with.
The Karate of Funakoshi and many of his peers was much more flashy and open than the Karate of their masters. The reason for this was it was designed to be much more marketable in the “new Japan”. The styles were much more about fitness and hard training in class and less about killing. Much of the Jitsu was removed to make it more marketable for children and younger adults. Funakoshi was said to have known over 50 Kata but distilled his classes and style to less than 30 Kata. His focus was the Dojo Kun and making people better. He however continued to teach the Kata, drills, basics ideal and did not engage in free fighting at all in his classes.
Funakoshi’s style of Karate was a complete shift away from Matsumuras Karate. No longer a deadly killing art needed to defend the King or self in battle it was not a scholars art that focused on building up the body for those not used to hard physical work outs, improving mental clarity and concentration and it was used as more a anchor to ancient times and nostalgic look at Japanese culture. Funny that it was an Okinawan art that did this but it was an effective link to the old ways. More science went into teaching and the group of practitioners was growing. More talented teachers and people with different educations were being brought into the key circle of teachers that would effect Karate going forwards.
Funakoshi brought his distilled style of Karate to the mainland and gave the teaching over to men like Otsuka, Egami and Obata. The seed for its Japanese development was planted. However World War II was going to make some major changes to Karate and those that did the art.
Showa(1926-1989)
The period of “enlightened peace/harmony” or the Showa period was anything but peaceful or harmonious when it first started. This period corresponds with the reign of Showa Emperor Hirohito, and was longer than any previous emperor. Japan however descended into a state of political totalitarianism, Ultra-nationalism and fascism that colored and influenced every aspect of Japanese culture.
The “Empire of Japan” period of the Showa era was between 1926-1945 and can be seen as one of the darkest times in both Japanese and world history. The War took many young men and Karate was almost abolished at the end of the war. Even if the allies did not do it, the complete decimation of the young Karate masters and the displacement and near loss of masters like Funakoshi would have put an end to Karate for sure had it not been for luck and the work of men like Obata Sensei and Nakayama Sensei.
Building up to the War and even during the war the government was run by the military and the political groups affiliated with the military. The expansionism was replaced by a ideology of entitlement and a hatred for the Western powers….ironic seeing as they selected to model themselves after the west. The war was met with a kind of national pride that led to a long and horrible war. Each soldier swearing to die for the emperor and Japan, Kamikaze pilots flying their ships into Allied war ships with bombs strapped to the belly. The ideology of nationalism was actually held up by a romantic ideological relationship with Bushido. The old guard and political parties alike all turned to the ideas that Samurai and faithful service to the emperor as well as the warrior spirit would drive Japan out of a depression and past the Western powers.
Karate during the early parts of the war was mostly silent and just developing, but the early members of Funakoshis student body were noticed when they were recruited. They were stronger than most and had good physical ability. It was not long before the military came knocking. The flexibility of Karate at that time was tested. Soldiers would go through rigorous training in shooting, hand to hand was limited to thousands of reps of basic kicking and punching till they could kill with these techniques and that was the extent of their training. The Karate was broken down to Kihon training mixed with normal military training.
Normal Karate training in clubs continued on as usual and the new changes to Karate were mostly changes that Gigo Funakoshi and his students were making. Gigo was the son of the founder and he took his fathers traditional distillation of two styles that were taught to him by Itosu and Azato (along with others) and started modernizing the style. His new style was faster, had longer stances and was more explosive. It was now starting to look more and more like what we know as Shotokan.
Gigo and many of his students were known to explore and work with new ideas and new training. Gigo was a big advocate of the heavy bag training and while he did use the makiwara, he also developed other new ideas that were taken from other arts, other styles and many say his training longer with Itosu in Okinawa and other masters gave him a new insight into the direction that Karate was moving.
Early Showa period or “Empire of Japan” Era Karate was rougher than our modern style, but its intent was moving back to use as a military training. The strikes were meant to kill or meme with one strike. While much of the grappling was still removed the art was more Jitsu than Do in nature and was perfect for times of war and for training military personnel.
Showa period Karate 1945-1989
After the defeat in World War Two, the allied forces banned many of the traditional martial arts, and to be honest they probably did not have to. The whole country was demoralized and devastated. The political powers that be had led the country to ruin. The Allied bombings and the final atomic bombs decimated more than just the info structure of the Japanese military.
The Allied powers took over the military policing of Japan and set up a puppet government to prop up the country. They banned all military training and also banned many of the martial arts that were common in Japan at that time. The ban however was fairly short lived and Karate and judo were seen more as sports, while other martial arts were seen more as cultural endeavors and students soon returned to the Dojos to train. The new state of Japan and era was not the “Empire of Japan” but more the “State of Japan” as it was transformed by the Allies back to a more modern version of the Taisho Era government and society.
After the war Yoshida Shireru was put in power as Prime Minister of Japan, his policy was basically “military reliance on the US” and he promoted unrestrained economic growth and expansion in fields that would assist in this. In 1952 the treaty of San Francisco was signed that basically made Japan a sovereign nation again, and Japan kept their post occultation expansion and growth moving. These were times, much like pre WWII, that saw huge growth and potential fortunes to be made. Society was set to westernize and implemented even stricter laws that would help companies in Japan compete internally and externally. The markets grew to be the second largest in the world behind the USA.
The Karate of the Post war Showa period was the golden era of the JKA. The organization grew out of funding from Obata and hard work from his peers and a single minded genius of Karate, Masatoshi Nakayama. Not only was Nakayama a major Karate genius who molded what he learned from Funakoshi Gichin and Funakoshi Gigo, but he also implemented changes based on his travels into china and studies of Chinese fighting as well as his deep understanding and training in Kendo and Kenjutsu.
The Karate of Nakayama began to evolve out of simply Kata and kihon and an implementation of Shiai Karate, more use of the practically unused Kumite and also formation of rules for Shiai. The use of tournaments was reletivly limited and often had previously been blood baths that saw different clubs literally challenge other clubs to a “to the end” kind of fight with little rules other than “Standing only” or “till one gives up” and the fights were nothing more than brutal beatings. Nakayama and his generation participated in them and noted they were horrible and would not help Karate expand. Instead of ending them all together or hiding them, they altered the fights and added strict rules.
With the implementation of Shiai Karate, the very techniques and fundamentals of Karate began to change even further. Longer stances, new techniques like round kicks were formalized and scientific progress in physiology, Physical education, physics and other related fields began to be studied for the purposes of improving Karate itself.
Nakayama himself was a physical education professor at Takushoku university and studied and taught Karate for more than 40 years. He implemented more than just technical changes however. At the time the JKA was formed Karate was a small martial art in Japan basically, with perhaps a few wandering instructors, most of which were not licensed to teach but some did set up clubs. He began Karates expansion and formed the instructor training program, grew the organization by mimicking the mentality of the times. Japan was on a roll and so was the JKA. They grew in leaps and bounds behind the enigmatic and energetic instructor who had a passion for Karate and felt that it would grow to its fullest only if it reached out beyond Japan.
Nakayama Sensei took the best and brightest of his students and the tournament fighters and developed a sound training program to teach them all about real Showa Karate, a style marked by explosive speed, perfection of timing and taking a more modern approach to training, but still a Budo art more than the Shiai Karate of the next generation. The spirit must be sound and only it could back the powerful and dynamic techniques that were distilled in combat on the tournament floor. While much of the Jitsu was removed and very little grappling was ever taught, the style itself was more about a Kendo like fencing but with a “One punch, one kill” mentality that made this new dynamic style more aggressive than it had been and much more dynamic.
The training elements were a mesh of old ways and new science. Gone were the 1,000 reps of Kata and a hour of Kihon…..replaced by more scientific training, Kata, Kumite drills, Kumite, calisthenics, stretching, Makiwara and a plethora of training that had not been used in the Edo period or till now. The fighters and instructors were not just Karate-ka they were athletes and coaches as well.
Showa Karate was the pinnacle point for growth because of its attractive mixing of old and new ways, the Showa period had reached the formula for growth that Karate had needed technique wise, as well as mentality of growth and expansion more like a business than a small group of dedicated students. The JKA’s birth meant that Karate would become a martial art known around the world. Much like Judo had, the key elements of expansionism and controlled management of a style mixed with a solid and safe, but dynamic and exciting style had produced more results in a short time than hundreds of years of training and development had.
Heisei (1989-now)
In the 1980’s a switch to Heisei era occurred when emperor Hirohito passed away and the crown prince Akihito succeeded to the throne. It is worth noting that economic times were different, and Japan was again going through some challenging times. When Akihito began his reign as emperor his era became known as Heisei or “peace everywhere”. The economy was delicate as was most of the economies in the world and the new emperor was not about to make massive changes to any social aspect of life, the government was going to try and keep the economy flowing.
Many scandals, natural disasters and even terrorist attacks started the era off on the wrong direction in the 90’s. However during this period the Japanese re-militarized and began pledging billions of dollars to events like the gulf war, even if they did not participate in the war. The expansion back into this military role propped up the fragile economy slightly as they now had different directions to expand technology and also a avenue for young men to find work that was not related to technology or manufacturing.
The new millennia was marked by massive issues in politics, many members of the parliament would resign, whole parties and coalitions form and dissolve and the major party the LDP would have lost its strangle hold on the leadership in the lower house and the upper house. Japan was rocked in 2011 that destroyed a nuclear power plant and caused horrible losses, both in life and financially. Japan was hit but would be assured that with the slight recovery of the world economy, so did Japan start to make a comeback and would continue to do so.
It is so strange how the Heisei era became a political and economic hot bed of issues in Japanese history and the JKA mirrored and mimicked the very nature of Heisei era politics and upheaval. Prior to the Heisei era only a few members left to form their own groups away from the JKA and broke all tie’s. Kanazawa had been basically the first “big name” to drop out of the organization, but many felt his departure was purely business and he would simply teach JKA Karate without the title of JKA attached. Some smaller groups were formed, normally far away from the Hombu Dojo in Japan, and they were basically lower level students looking to own their own organizations.
While Kanazawa Karate was based on JKA Style Karate, he added many elements he felt were missing from his training. Kanazawa was also a practitioner of Tai Chi and many of the elements of breathing, flow and ideas of energy were taken from that style and implanted into his Karate training. While on the surface the style looks much like the Showa Karate of Nakayama, the actual foundation of its fundamentals and techniques were greatly affected by outside styles. Kanazawa had managed to take what he had learned from Tai chi and outside styles of Karate and implemented a strategy to merge them. He also began teaching Goju Kata to augment what he saw as a Kata curriculum that lacked specific aspects of Okinawan fundamentals. His style was the first to make changes to the established JKA curriculum that was based on Nakayama sensei’s studies.
In 1987 Nakayama, the Chief instructor and driving force behind the JKA passed away and with that a chain of events would occur that would affect the JKA and Karate in general. Nakayama had not named a successor per se, several high level instructors left the JKA as politics began to show its ugly head in the Hombu. Taiji Kase and Hiroshi Shirai left to form the World Karate-Do Shotokan Academy in Europe and abandon the issues that the JKA had. To be frank both instructors had probably little ties to the current JKA and would have left regardless.
Kase’s Karate began to make radical changes to the format of the fundamentals and his students saw an emergence of a unique Karate based on Shotokan, but with a different spin on the form and function of its use. When Kase passed away several groups that had been under him fragmented further, some staying with Shirai and the main line JKA style Shotokan with few adaptations and others moving to a more unique style that they attribute to Kase Sensei’s teaching, but fairly far removed from mainstream JKA.
In the 90’s a legal dispute and personal issues lead to the splintering of the JKA it’s self. Then Chief instructor Tatsuhiko Asai and chairman Nobuyuki Nakahara had a political falling out and the group split into the Asai run side and the Nakahara side. In 1999 the supreme court of Japan found in favor of Nakahara’s group and Asai left the JKA name behind to form two major groups, the JKS and the IJKA.
Asai began remodeling his style of Karate with a larger influence of Chinese styles. He created over 80 Katas and expanded his training syllabus to include many of them for his students. Along with Asai Sensei’s departure many of the senior students left the JKA at that time to follow Asai Sensei. Yahara, Abe and other high level students moved away and joined the departed Chief instructor and shortly after they left Asai Sensei to form their own groups.
Abe Sensei, who had been technical director under Nakayama Sensei left to form his ultra-traditional (to Nakayama standards) organization the JSKA. His style is more Showa/Nakayama influenced than many and his syllabus of teaching is traditional and keeps to the traditional standards of Nakayama Sensei as closely as possible with little change. Yahara Sensei however took his JKA roots and went deeper into Showa Karate and back to the brutal and effective style of training and dynamic techniques he was known for. His organization was influenced by several seniors that left Asai with him and omitted the extra Kata and Chinese influences that flourished with Asai Karate. Yahara Sensei choose to stay very close to JKA style but add an element of Showa Karate that makes his style explosive and dynamic and not very Shiai oriented.
JKA Karate had emerged from the Showa period and while technically it was changed by several people the core of the JKA style developed by people like Gigo Funakoshi, Nakayama, Obata and others was still intact, but politically the JKA went through the same upheavals, scandals, splits and issues as the country that it was formed in. The result was a strong JKA run by Nakahara and Sugiura Sensei that transitioned through the loss of a enigmatic and dynamic genius and into the new generation of sport Karate that was fostered under Nakayama Sensei and his students. The style that emerged from the rubble of the split and post Nakayama Sensei era was dynamically different and opposing depending on the instructor that you trained with.
Heisei Shotokan Karate is either a dynamic throw back to the Showa Style of training with intent on ending fights fast in a dynamic fashion, a Chinese influenced style that adds back to the core JKA style with flowing movements and breathing fashioned around ancient styles, a Sport oriented bouncy style that has a “tag you are it” mentality or a fitness craze that will help you get into shape and allow you to wear white after labor day!
The styles that emerged in the end normally have much in common with Showa Karate era styles but have transitioned to having many high level sport athletes but few true Showa style practitioners. The result of this is a sport style and a health style but little to do with Budo styles that emerged in the Showa era.
The end results so far of the Heisei era is a growth in sport Karate, with little to do with the original intent of why shiai was added to Karate. Many ultra-traditional instructors refer to this era as the birth of watered down Karate because of the sport and health aspect of Karate being so focused on and many are calling for a return to Showa Karate. I have no doubt that the continued growth and development of Karate should focus on re-implementing Showa style training and Showa style Karate that leads back to Nakayama Senseis distilled style of Karate, the original JKA styles and away from tournament style tag matches that are held simply to promote Dojos and organizations.
The JKA style of karate is based on good training in Fundamentals, hard and dynamic execution of powerful techniques and simplicity of form. JKA style Karate is one of the strongest styles of Karate because of its attention to detail in form and its use of Kihon training. Those that left the mainstream JKA tried to add Showa Karate or aspects from other arts and in my opinion found that what they developed was simply a shift in approach that did what the JKA style did, and maybe…in some cases…not as well.
The propagation of JKA style Showa training will generate a strong style of Karate that focuses on personal as well as physical development and will make strong students for what may prove to be very interesting generations to come.
