His son, Gigō Funakoshi, is widely credited with developing the foundation of the modern karate Shotokan style.

[5][6] Gichin Funakoshi was born on November 10, 1868,[7] the year of the Meiji Restoration, in Shuri, Okinawa, to a Ryūkyūan Pechin.

[3] Being trained in both classical Chinese and Japanese philosophies and teachings, Funakoshi became an assistant teacher in Okinawa.

In addition to being a karate master, Funakoshi was an avid poet and philosopher who would reportedly go for long walks in the forest where he would meditate and write his poetry.

Continuing his effort to garner widespread interest in Okinawan karate, Funakoshi ventured to mainland Japan in 1917, and again in 1922.

[citation needed] In 1930, Funakoshi established an association named Dai-Nihon Karate-do Kenkyukai to promote communication and information exchange among people who study karate-dō.

These rules are the premise of training for all Shotokan practitioners and are published in a work titled The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate.

[11] Within this book, Funakoshi lays out 20 rules by which students of karate are urged to abide in an effort to "become better human beings".

[3] Funakoshi's Karate-Do Kyohan "The Master Text" remains his most detailed publication, containing sections on history, basics, kata, and kumite.

A second stone features an inscription by Nobuhide Ohama and reads:[13] Funakoshi Gichin Sensei, of karate-do, was born on November 10, 1868 in Shuri Okinawa.

Like bugei (classical martial arts), so too is the pinnacle of karate “mu” (enlightenment): to purify and make one empty through the transformation from “jutsu” to “do”.