What is Funakoshi karate?

The Funakoshi Okinawan Karate Kenpō Kenkyūkai is a research and study group dedicated to Funakoshi karate. However, to be truly authentic in approach, there is no segregation, in reality. All karate lineages are considered, along with other styles, whether related to old-style karate or not. My school, Matsuyoshi-juku Shōtō-ha Shōrin-ryū Karate Kenpō to Kobujutsu, is, likewise, dedicated to Funakoshi karate. But, again, that doesn’t mean that it is only concerned with what has been compiled in the past as the content of this or that Funakoshi karate lineage. Indeed, it is evident that the various Funakoshi karate lines teach different things to one another. It isn’t a matter of them all teaching the same content. This is even true amongst the same general type of Funakoshi karate, such as Shōtōkai, in which we can see one line teaching 15, or so, kata, and another teaching many more. The point here is that it isn’t true to say that Funakoshi karate comprises this and that kata, as such. Of course, it can’t be Funakoshi karate without teaching what Gichin Funakoshi and / or Gigō Funakoshi taught. But any school can include additions and variations. That’s exactly the situation that exists. You could even select a handful of kata and only practise and teach those, and it would still be legitimately Funakoshi karate. 

S. R. Marshall