Japan Karate Association

日本空手協会 (nihon karate kyōkai). 日本 nihon is Japan, 空手 karate the empty hand, 協会 kyōkai an association: the Japan Karate Association, founded in Tokyo after the war, in 1948 by its own account, with Funakoshi Gichin as its chief instructor. In 1957 it became the first karate body incorporated under Japanese law. Its style is Funakoshi's lineage, the one the world calls Shōtōkan, though a note in the association's own 1956 monthly asked members not to use that name, since 松涛 was Funakoshi's pen name and he had founded no school. The six characters are the association's name as it writes it.