Long Island Shotokan
The man most responsible for the systemization of Karate as we know it today was Gichin Funakoshi. He was born in Shuri, Okinawa in 1886. When he was only a boy of 11, he began to study (then known as "Okinawa-te") under the top two masters of the art at the time. Azato and Itosu. In time, he became a Karate expert in his own right. He is credited with being the first man to introduce Karate to Japan proper, when he gave expositions sponsored by the Ministry of Education. The art soon caught on in Japan, and Funakoshi traveled throughout the country giving lectures and demonstrations. The main universities invited him to help them set up Karate teams, and hundreds of persons studies the art under his guidance. In 1957, Master Funakoshi, the father of modern Karate, passed away at the advanced age of 89, leaving thousands of students to carry his spirit. In Karate, Funakoshi was also a poet under his pen name "Shoto:, meaning "Pine trees in the sand" The style of karate which is taught then became known as "Shotokan Karate".