The dates highlighted are essential for any Dan grade candidate to learn, and may be asked for during a dan grading.
If you would like to add an important date to the timeline, email it to Sensei Steve Cook with the year and a brief statement.
868 | First known martial arts traced to this year. First known martial artist was the Buddhist monk Bhodidharma |
1400s | The warring clans resolve their issues and ban weapons across Okinawa |
1609 | Japan invades Okinawa, continuing to ban weapons and 'fighting systems' |
1668 | Chatan Yara born (teacher of Takahara) |
1683 | Takahara Peichin born (teacher of Sakugawa) |
1720 | Kong Su Kun born (AKA Kushanku) |
1733 | Sakugawa Kanga born (teacher of Matsumura) |
1756 | Chatan Yara dies |
1756 | Kong Su Kun sent to Okinawa as ambassador to the Qing Dynasty |
1760 | Takahara Peichin dies |
1762 | Kong Su Kun returned to China |
1790 | Kong Su Kun dies |
1797 | Matsumura Sokon born (teacher of Azato and Itosu) |
1815 | Sakugawa Kanga dies |
1827 | Itosu Anko born (teacher of Funakoshi) |
1832 | Azato Anko born (teacher of Funakoshi) |
1868 | Funakoshi Gichin born |
1892 | Matsumura Sokon dies |
1902 | Japanese Ministry for Education recommends karate as a form of physical exercise |
1906 | Azato Anko dies |
1913 | Nakayama Masaytoshi born |
1915 | Itosu Anko dies |
1921 | Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan witnesses karate demonstration while visiting Okinawa |
1922 | Prince Hirohito invites Funakoshi to Japan to give the first public demonstration of karate |
1922 | The karate study group in Japan is formed, thus becoming the first known formal karate class |
1922 | Vernon Bell born |
1924 | First recorded karateka graded to Shodan |
April 12th, 1924 | Gichin Funakoshi awarded karate's first black belt dan upon seven men. The recipients included Hironori Ohtsuka, founder of wado-ryu karatedo, Shinken Gima, later of gima-ha shoto-ryu, and Ante Tokuda, Gima's cousin, who received a nidan (second degree) black belt. Like Gima, Tokuda had trained extensively in Okinawa before coming to Japan. The others were Kasuya, Akiba, Shimizu and Hirose. Bestowing these belts was a highly personal, yet formal ceremony in which Funakoshi is said to have handed out lengths of black belting to each of his pupils. Still there is no evidence that Funakoshi himself had ranking in any budo under the dan/kyu system. |
1931 | Kanazawa Hirokazu born |
1935 | Shotokan and Shotokai split |
1936 | The first Shotokai dojo is built |
1939 | Funakoshi's dojo named 'The Shotokan' |
1945 | Shotokan dojo destroyed in an air raid during bombing in the Second World War |
1945 | Yoshitaka 'Gigo' Funakoshi, third son of Gichin Funakoshi, and a Shotokan innovator, dies |
1949 | First ever karate association formed, the JKA, with Funakoshi in charge and Nakayama as the chief instructor |
1957 | Funakoshi Gichin O'Sensei dies |
1957 | Vernon Bell awarded Shodan, the first British karateka to achieve this |
1967 | Pauline Laville-Bindra, becomes the first woman in Britain to be awarded the grade of 1st Dan by Hirokazu Kanazawa and the JKA |
1978 | Kanazawa forms SKIF, breaking away from the JKA due to politics |
1987 | Nakayama Masatoshi Sensei dies |
1994 | CFTS formed by Sensei Kidby, Sensei Coppen and Sensei Calver |
2001 | Kanazawa Sensei awarded 10th dan, the first ever Shotokan student to be awarded this grade |
2004 | Vernon Bell dies |
2015 | Shotokai and Shotokan train together for the first time in many years |