Funakoshi Yoshitaka

Funakoshi Yoshitaka

Funakoshi Yoshitaka ( Japanese 船 越 義 豪 ; * 1906 ; † 1945 ), also called Funakoshi Gigō , was the third son of the karate master Funakoshi Gichin and himself a great karate master.

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Funakoshi Yoshitaka learned karate as a small child. However , it is no longer possible to say today exactly which masters he had in Okinawa . What is certain is that his father taught him and that he himself very quickly developed his own type of training. Between 1938 and 1945 he took over the chief training in Shōtōkan - Dōjō . He often had arguments with his father because he had a completely different attitude towards karate. Yoshitaka was more combative and more modern. It is believed that this was influenced by Asato's fighting style, which Funakoshi Gichin is said to have secretly taught him so that he would not be lost. Funakoshi Gichin had only taught Yatsune's defensive and encrypted system throughout his life. So it was understandable that father and son had different views on karate. But this change brought karate to today's Shōtōkan-ryū. A small selection of his students at the time includes Taiji Kase , Egami Shigeru , Hironishi Genshin and many others who later became great masters themselves. Until 1945, when Funakoshi Yoshitaka became seriously ill, he taught himself, after which the training was mainly continued by Hironishi Genshin. He never took part in any training again, but at the end of a training session he would sometimes find a senpai to fight with. He often played with his opponent; he was often in severe pain. In the same year he died of tuberculosis .

From Shuri-te to Shotokan

Master Funakoshi Gichin taught Shuri-te almost exclusively according to the principles of Itosu Ankō . Why he did not teach Asato Ankō's combative style remains a secret to this day, but what is certain is that he passed it on to his son Yoshitaka. As already mentioned, Itosu's style was heavily coded and geared more towards peacefulness and self - defense . Asatos Matsumura Ryu was based on the physical Shaolin principles. The associated techniques and the use of "bioenergy" is fundamentally different from many other styles. Yoshitaka built these principles into his training and fighting methods. This is how the modern Shōtōkan came into being. Unfortunately, some things that Yoshitaka learned from his father have been lost because he was ambitious enough not to pass them on. Among them are the Yi No Kata and the Yin No Kata.

War years

Yoshitaka and Egami Shigeru taught special troops of the Japanese army during the war years. People don't like to mention this. Historians believe that his father knew nothing about it. He was against the provision of karate for military schools.

The school where Yoshitaka taught was the Nakano school , which used to be used for military espionage - now comparable to the secret service. The training there was very realistic and often led to serious injuries, which, however, were not taken into account. Before that, Grand Master Ueshiba Morihei had also taught there.

literature

• Werner Lind : The dictionary of martial arts. China, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, India, Mongolia, Philippines, Taiwan, etc. Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-328-00838-1 , ( Edition BSK ).

Web link

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Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Funakoshi is the family name, Yoshitaka the first name.