Karate

         Gichin Funakoshi’s 20 Principles of Karate-Do

        The legend says: Karate was a means for the people of Okinawa to stand up against their oppressors from mainland Japan. Okinawa was occupied by Japan back in the days and only Samurai were allowed to carry weapons. According to the legend, the Japanese occupiers began to harass the people of Okinawa, who had nothing to defend themselves than their farming tools and their bare hands. Influenced by Chinese martial arts they began to develop Karate in order to fight against the Japanese occupation and to gain back their liberty.

The foundation myth of Karate is, thus, strongly related to topics like empowerment, class conflict, freedom, public disobedience, and social justice. That is the reason why, in opposite to other martial arts, Shotokan has always stressed that it serves a higher purpose. To give helpless people control over their lifes, Karate is a powerful means.

Today, Shotokan is the most practiced style of Karate globally. With its legendary history in mind, one would expect that Shotokan would be highly engaged in finding solutions for social issues. Discourses and programs about the most urgent topics of the time would be normal. For instance:

• How could Shotokan help to lead people out of poverty?
• How could it contribute to stop violence?
• What could it do to make people more equal?
• What could it do to make the world a better place more just place?