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The early karatedoka of Okinawa developed, in addition, the art of kobudo as they came into continual hostile contact with Japanese samurai clans (particularly the Satsuma clan of southern Kyushu) who raided Okinawa for countless generations. To this day, one sees kobudo weapons, such as the nunchaku, sai, tonfa, and kama, in traditional karate dojo.

In 1917 Funakoshi Gichin, a renowned Okinawan educator, was invited by the Japanese Ministry of Education to give public demonstrations of karatedo in the main islands of Japan. His first trip was so successful that he returned in 1923 to take up permanent residence. In 1936 he inaugurated the first karate dojo in the main islands of Japan. It was called Shotokan, or “Shoto’s House.” The name came from Funakoshi Sensei’s pen name, “Shoto,” which means “wind through the pine trees.” Today, Shotokan karatedo continues as one of the major karatedo styles.

Influenced by Professor Funakoshi, martial arts practitioners established dojo for various karatedo styles. Okinawan Miyagi Chojun founded the Goju style. Yamaguchi Gogen, a Japanese student of Master Miyagi, created his own version of the Goju style. Otsuka Hironori combined jujutsu with the “T’ang Hand” and arrived at his Wado style. Around this time the “T’ang Hand” reading was dropped and the “Empty Hand” adopted, perhaps because of growing Japanese nationalistic sentiments against China. Although some of the old masters of Okinawa resented the name change, it fit not only the nationalism of the times but also the Zen thrust of karatedo. Master Funakoshi explained it as follows (Williams, 1975:132):