Gigō Funakoshi
Gigō Funakoshi was the third son of Gichin Funakoshi and is widely credited with developing the foundation of the modern karate Shōtōkan style.
Early years
Gigō Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of seven. He was sickly as a child and began the formal study of karatedō at the age of twelve as a means to improve his health. In the early years, Gichin Funakoshi often took Gigō with him to his trainings with Ankō Itosu. Gigō moved from Okinawa to Tokyo to his father when he was 17, and later became a radiographer of the Section of Physical and Medical Consultation of the Ministry of Education.Career
When his father's senior assistant instructor Takeshi Shimoda died, Gigō assumed his position within the Shotokan organization teaching in various universities. Gichin Funakoshi transformed karate from a purely self-defense fighting technique to a philosophical martial Dō, or gendai budo, but his son Gigō began to develop a karate technique that definitively separated Japanese karatedō from the local Okinawan arts. Between 1936 and 1945, Gigō gave it a completely different and powerful Japanese flavor based on his study of modern kendo, and Iaido under sensei Nakayama Hakudō. Gigō's work on Japanese Karate development was primarily popularized by masters Shigeru Egami and Genshin Hironishi, who later formed the Shotokai karate styleChanges in style
Through his teaching position and understanding of Japanese martial arts, Gigō became the technical creator of modern Shōtōkan karate. In 1946 the book Karate Do Nyumon by Gigō and Gichin Funakoshi was released. Gigo had written the technical part, whereas his father Gichin wrote the preamble and historical parts.While the ancient arts of To-de and shuri-te emphasized the use and development of the upper body, open hand attacks, short distances, joint locks, basic grappling, pressure point striking and use of the front kick and variations of it, Gigō developed long distance striking techniques using the low stances found in old style kendo and Iaido kata. Gigō also developed higher kicks including mawashi geri, yoko geri kekomi, yoko geri keage, fumikiri, ura mawashi geri and ushiro geri kekomi. Yoshitaka was especially known for his deep stances and kicking techniques, and he introduced fudo dachi, yoko geri, and mae geri forms to the Shōtōkan style. All these techniques became part of the already large arsenal brought from the ancient Okinawan styles. Another big changement of Gigō was the introduction of the Kiba Dachi instead of Shiko Dachi and implementing the Kokutsu Dachi instead of Neko Ashi Dachi stance in Shōtōkan Kata.
Gigō's kicking techniques were performed with a much higher knee-lift than in previous styles, and the use of the hips was emphasized. Other technical developments included the turning of the torso to a half-facing position when blocking, and thrusting the rear leg and hips when performing the techniques. These adaptations allowed the delivery of a penetrating attack with the whole body through correct body alignment. Gigō also promoted free sparring.
Gigō's kumite style was to strike hard and fast, using low stances and long attacks, chained techniques and foot sweeps. Integration of these changes into the Shotokan style immediately separated Shotokan from Okinawan karate. Gigō also emphasized the use of oi tsuki and gyaku tsuki. The training sessions in his dōjō were exhausting, and during these, Gigō expected his students to give twice as much energy as they would put into a real confrontation. He expected this over-training would prepare them for an actual combat situation, should it arise.