Our club practices the Shotokan style of Karate.

“Shotokan” is the name denoting one of the four major styles of Japanese karate-do (the others are Goju, Shito and Wado). Literally, it might be translated as “the style that they do at Shoto’s place”. This naturally leads to the question, who was Shoto?

“Shoto” was the pen name of the greatest karate pioneer of the twentieth century, the teacher, calligrapher and karateka, Funakoshi Gichin. Funakoshi Gichin was selected to bring karate from Okinawa to the main islands of Japan. By doing so, he began the process of dissemination that has led to karate now being practiced by millions of people around the world. He was also the person who changed the ideograms by which “karate” is written in Japanese to give it its current meaning: empty hand.

Shotokan karate is characterized by long, low stances and powerful, dynamic techniques.