Shotokai (松濤會, Shōtōkai) is the organisation formed originally in 1930 by master Gichin Funakoshi to teach and spread the art of karate-Do.
After years of research, Egami found an efficient way of striking by executing the movement in a relaxed state of mind and body.
Shotokai refrains from competition because its founding master Gichin Funakoshi, who was also a Confucianist philosopher and a teacher, used to say that there are no contests in Karate.
Master Egami wrote: "First of all, we must practise Karate like a combat technique and then, with time and experience, we will be able to understand a certain state of soul and will be able to open ourselves to the horizons of 'jita-ittai' (the union of one with the other) which lay beyond fighting.
It has also kept the art of Shotokan Karate weaponry (primarily the traditional weapon of okinawan bojutsu, or Bō/kon in Japanese) within practice schedule.
The traditional 15 forms or kata proposed by G. Funakoshi are practiced in the same way as in other forms of karate, although Shotokai often emphasizes smooth, flowing movements rather than the sharp, snappy, rigid movements of other styles, which does not mean that the style is gentle but rather it believes that an effective hand or foot strike resides in "decontraction".
A seasoned practitioner should be able to predict the opponent's intentions often before there is any visible movement, which is the ultimate fulfillment of Funakoshi's statement that stated: 'there is no first attack' in karate.