Shotokan is a first sports style of karate-do, created in 1936 by the outstanding Okinawan master Gichin Funakoshi - a higly educated person, philologist and poet. It was the pseudonym "Shoto" that Funakoshi used in his literary work that served as the basis for the name of his style "Shotokan", which means "Society of the Shoto". Shotokan is also the first style in which the name was changed from karate-jutsu to karate-do, the applied sence shifted to sports, and were added sports "long distance" fights, points in competitions and a system of colored belts.

Gichin Funakoshi was an iconic figure in karate and stood out strongly against the background of all masters of that time. Most of them were good fighters, but poorly educated and even ignorant. It is not surprising that their students treated karate only as a system of hard hand-to-hand combat without philosophy, traditions and culture. Gichin Funakoshi, on the contrary, being a cultured and educated person, devoted great importance to the moral development of the individual.

He formulated the principle that has become virtually the motto of all modern karate: "In karate not victory or defeat is important: the main thing is spiritual perfection." This principle, at first glance, does not meet the requirements of people who came to study karate only for self-defense skills: they want to win always and everywhere. But on closer examination, the true meaning of the master's phrase becomes clear: it is impossible to always win, each of us can lose in a battle or get into a difficult situation. And here it is important to remain Human and preserve honor and dignity!

This is why Shotokan is ideal for teaching children and young people: this style was actively promoted by the Japanese government in the first half of the twentieth century for teaching in universities and schools as a means of spiritual and physical development. Shotokan is the style for which Japan's first public karate organization, the Japanese Karate Association (JKA), called the "Academy of Shotokan", was established in 1949.

Technically, along with a deep moral foundation and adherence to traditions, Shotokan is one of the most rigid styles, developing great physical strength and forming strong self-defense skills.

A controversial disadvantage of this style is the large number of organizations that have switched to the so-called "score-based" system of conducting fighting (or "long-distance fighting"), in which the victory in competitions depends not on the actual superiority of one opponent over another, for example, a knockout or knockdown, but on the purity of technology and the scores and points gained.

This fact, however, speaks not about the shortcomings of the Shotokan itself, but only about the rules of competitions, which may vary. At the same time the basic technique, which is the basis of the style, remains unchanged and gives followers a huge potential that can be revealed both at sports tournaments and in real life street fight.