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Nakayama Sensei, who was
Gichin Funakoshi's most loyal student became head of the famous
Japan Karate Association (JKA) after the death of Funakoshi.
His methods and teachings are the cornerstone of today's Shotokan.
It would be very hard to follow the Shotokan of Gichin Funakoshi
today although the basic principles are almost the same.
Nakayama Sensei moved the
system on, making it the most popular dynamic style in the
world. Unfortunately, in the early days of Shotokan arriving
in the west the techniques were changed in order to make them
easier for the westerner to understand, with a view to teaching
the correct form of the techniques later on once an understanding
had been gained of the basic principle. However this was a
grave mistake, as in many cases the techniques were never corrected,
and karate-ka ‘perfected' various ‘training' techniques.
Through the years as Shotokan
grew and more senior instructors emerged, the original techniques
of Shotokan seemed to have been forgotten or in some cases
never learned in the first place. An example is found in the
use of basic blocks. Some instructors do not understand the
technical use or the application, such as their use in attacking
or defending. Another example is the use of forward stance,
in its narrow form (not shoulder width apart), which is very
prominent in Nakayama's kata. For certain kata movements, Nakayama
taught to pivot on the heels when, for example, moving from
kiba dachi to zenkutsu dachi – a technique alien to some senior
instructors today.
Nakayama was virtually single
handed in popularising karate to the degree we have today.
He was instrumental in having a similar grading system to that
of Judo and to retain younger students realising that freestyle
and competition was a necessary part of the early years in
our training. Nakayama viewed karate as a living thing, which
must continue to evolve and change constantly to allow it grow.
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