Page "Karate" Paragraph 18

Funakoshi changed the names of many kata and the name of the art itself ( at least on mainland Japan ), doing so to get karate accepted by the Japanese budō organization Dai Nippon Butoku Kai.

Funakoshi also gave Japanese names to many of the kata.

The five pinan forms became known as heian, the three naihanchi forms became known as tekki, seisan as hangetsu, Chintō as gankaku, wanshu as empi, and so on.

These were mostly political changes, rather than changes to the content of the forms, although Funakoshi did introduce some such changes.

Funakoshi had trained in two of the popular branches of Okinawan karate of the time, Shorin-ryū and Shōrei-ryū.

In Japan he was influenced by kendo, incorporating some ideas about distancing and timing into his style.

He always referred to what he taught as simply karate, but in 1936 he built a dojo in Tokyo and the style he left behind is usually called Shotokan after this dojo.