松涛館空手道 shōtōkan karatedō Shotokan Karate-Do

松涛 shōtō, pine waves, the sound of wind in the pines, was the pen name of Funakoshi Gichin, who brought karate from Okinawa to Tokyo in 1922. The students who built him a dōjō in 1939 named it the 松涛館, the Shōtō Hall, and his students' karate came to take its name from the hall; he himself professed no school and never called his karate Shōtōkan. 空手道 karatedō, the way of the empty hand, is the mainland spelling his own students adopted in 1929.

The design brushes 涛 in its modern form; 濤 is the older form of the same character, and the two are one word.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 松涛館空手道.

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