Chapter 14: Early Masters

For better or worse, twentieth century Korean martial artists were greatly influenced by the Japanese. The Japanese ban on Korean martial arts was not able to suppress their practice completely. Actually, the ban sparked a renewed growth of Subak in Buddhist temples, a traditional place of refuge for out-of-favor warriors. Taekkyon was secretly practiced and passed on to a handful of students by men like Han Il Dong and Duk Ki Song. It was under Han Il Dong, in the 1930s, that Choi Hong Hi, the future "father of Taekwondo," began his martial arts instruction in Taekkyon.

Gichin Funakoshi

The first public demonstration of Okinawa-te karate took place in Okinawa in 1906. In 1911, Admiral Dewa, commander of the First Fleet of the Japanese Navy, while stationed in Okinawa, selected ten of his officers to learn Okinawan karate. The first official demonstration of Okinawan karate outside of Okinawa was held at the Kyoto Martial Arts Center in Japan in 1916 by a number of Okinawan experts, including Gichin Funakoshi, an Okinawan language professor at the Okinawa Teachers College. In 1921, the Crown Price of Japan stopped in Okinawa en route to Europe where he was given a demonstration by Okinawan karate masters, including Funakoshi. This led to their invitation to give a demonstration the following year at the first National Athletic Exhibition in Tokyo under the auspices of the Ministry of Education.

After the demonstration, Funakoshi was inundated with requests to teach his martial art in Japan. In 1922, Funakoshi published the first book on Okinawan Karate, Ryukyu Kempo Karate, and he brought Okinawa-te to Japan. He taught Okinawa-te at the Kodokan, the mecca of Judo, until he established the Shotokan in 1936. In Japan, Okinawa-te blended with Japanese Jujitsu and Korean Taekkyon, which was being introduced into Japan at about the same time, to form a new fighting art Funakoshi called Goju-ryu. Funakoshi is considered the father of modern karate.