The parallels of Shotokan Karate of America and Shotokai

Some time ago an Internet friend asked me why I have not included a document that touches the fact that Shotokai and Shotokan Karate of America (SKA) are quite well related. I thought about it and even though I mention quite a few times the fact we can consider each other brother organizations, I have never really gone in depth on the subject. I will try to draw some parallels in this document.

Even though Shotokai was formed in 1935 to collect money for the construction of Master funakoshi's first Dojo, it was only made official in 1956 with O-sensei as the president. So when Ohshima Sensei and Harada Sensei traveled abroad they had authorization from Master Funakoshi to establish groups under the Shotokan name. This resulted in the establishment of Shotokan Karate of America (SKA) and Shotokan Karate-do do Brazil. Only one of them has survived till this day and in a very notably so, SKA is one of the largest true traditional Karate-do organizations worldwide. Harada Sensei traveled to Europe where he formed a new Karate-do organization, since this was during the early 60's he chose the

Ohshima Sensei

Master Egami

Shotokai name for the new organization thus establishing a relationship to the Association that succeeded Master Funakoshi. Therefore there are only two people that can rightfully use the name "Shotokan", Sensei Ohshima and Sensei Harada, all the rest outside Shotokai that use it, have done so illegally.

Anyway, now that the name issue is cleared up, we can start drawing some parallels between Shotokai and SKA. Ohshima Sensei clearly states that he considers Master Egami, Technical Director of Shotokai from 1957 until 1981, his senior and invited him to the USA for lectures. Ohshima Sensei wrote the foreword for Master Egami's marvelous "The Way of Karate, Beyond Technique", here he states the following: "Following Master Funakoshi in the world of Karate-do is Senior Shigeru Egami. I feel that we of the next generation are fortunate to have this man." Furthermore in the sixties Shotokai, holder of Master Funakoshi's works, decided to translate Master Funakoshi's main work, Karate-do Kyohan, it was Ohshima Sensei that was chosen to do this colossal mission, taking ten years to complete (1972). This gives a clear idea of the close relationship that unites the two groups, and if you actually dig a bit you start noticing that the main difference is barely the name.

Shotokai and SKA are both associations that do not participate in sports karate and furthermore both hold faithfully to the five dan system established by Master Funakoshi, avoiding any commercial temptations in making them 10, 20 or 30! Actually these two characteristics define truly traditional Master Funakoshi derived Karate-do groups.

Much has varied technically in both groups, the SKA at first sight seem to maintain an older technical style of Karate-do, closer to what Gichin Funakoshi Sensei practiced, with higher stances compared to normal Shotokai, but many things repeat themselves between groups and mainly in the most significant areas. For example both stress Karate-do as a way towards personal development, mental, physical and mainly spiritual. Once we notice that Karate-do can use a large diversity of methods, techniques, styles, etc. but search for the same results, names become indistinct and a union beyond names arises. It is my sincere wish that this may happen in a not so far future when kindred spirits within Karate-do may unite for the benefit of society.

Mogens Gallardo