The Shotokan Tiger is the icon that symbolises the style of karate founded by Funakoshi Gichin. The drawing was originally created by his friend and student, Hoan Kosugi, instrumental in convincing Funakoshi to both teach karate in Japan and to publish his manual KARATE-DO KYOHAN. Kosugi designed the book and a cover illustration.
In Japanese tradition, the official written document used as a definitive reference source of an art or system is termed “Tora No Maki” (master text/scroll). Kosugi considered Funakoshi’s manual to be the Tora No Maki of karate; since “Tora” also means tiger, he designed the tiger as a representation of Funakoshi’s art.
The irregular appearance of the circle itself suggests that it was drawn free hand and with one continuous stroke of his brush. The kanji found in the upper right hand corner is Hoan Kosugi’s own name.
(Reprinted from:
http://www.world-shotokan-karate.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=77&Itemid=88)
Along with the name Shotokan, Sensei Funakoshi's style of karate is also identified by it's symbol, that of a Tiger surrounded by a circle. This design came about as the result of Sensei Funakoshi's meeting with the painter Hoan Kosugi in Tokyo shortly after his arrival. In fact it was Hoan Kosugi who encouraged him to write a reference book on the subject of karate-do. This ultimately led to his first book "Ryukyu Kempo" being published by Bukyosha, in 1922.
The tiger symbol was then drawn for Sensei Funakoshi's book by Hoan Kosugi. The irregular appearance of the circle it's self suggests that it was drawn free hand and with one continuous stroke of his brush. The kanji found in the upper right hand corner is Hoan Kosugi's own name.
Why the Tiger was selected is not entirely clear and while there are several theories, all are speculation as far as I can tell, and as such I will not elaborate on them here.
Suffice to say that without either the name Shoto-Kan, or the symbol of the Tiger, our art would in many ways be greatly diminished.
(Reprinted from:
http://www.shotokankarate.ca/the%20tiger.htm)
Hoan Kosugi, a famous artist and president of the Tabata Poplar Club, an artist' guild, was a very important figure in the development of Shotokan karate-do in Japan.
As part of his enticement of Funakoshi, Hoan Kosugi told Funakoshi that if he would write a book about karate, Kosugi, would design it and provide a painting for the cover. When Gichin Funakoshi produced the book, Hoan Kosugi produced the now famous Shotokan tiger.
His idea for the tiger came from the expression "Tora no maki." Tora no maki, in Japanese tradition, is the official written document of an art or system, which is used as the definitive reference source for that particular art. Since no books had ever been written about karate, Hoan Kosugi told Funakoshi that his book was the tora no maki of karate, and since "tora" also means "tiger", he designed the tiger as a representation of Funakoshi's art.
The article below is reprinted from the 28th annual East Coast Shotokan Karate Championships Tournament Guide. The East Coast Shotokan Karate organiznation reports to Master Okazaki (JKA/ISKF). As Master Okazaki was at this tournament I would suspect that this could be considered the closest thing to official for JKA/ISKF karate-ka.
The Shotokan TigerMaster Funakoshi's pen name Shoto, literally means "pine waves", and today is synonymous with the tiger symbol and Shotokan Karate-do. But few people understand the relationship of Shoto to what is commonly known as the Shotokan Tiger.
When Master Funakoshi was a young man, he enjoyed walking in solitude among the pine trees which surrounded his home of Shuri. After a hard day of teaching in the local school and several more hours of strenuous karate practice, he would often walk up Mt. Torao and meditate among the pine trees under the stars and bright moon. Mt. Torao is a very narrow, heavily wooded mountain which, when viewed from a distance, resembles a tiger's tail. The name Torao, in fact, literally means "tiger's tail".
In later life, Master Funakoshi explained that the cool breezes which blew among the pines on Mt. Torao made the trees whisper like waves breaking on the shore. Thus, since he gained his greatest poetic inspirations while walking among the gently blowing pine trees, he chose the pen name of Shoto, "pine waves".
The tiger which is commonly used as the symbol for Shotokan karate is a traditional Chinese design which implies that "the tiger never sleeps". Symbolized in the Shotokan tiger, therefore is the keen alertness of the wakeful tiger and the serenity of the peaceful mind which Master Funakoshi experienced while listening to the pine waves on Tiger's Tail Mountain.
This second story was originally put forth by Sensei Randall Hassell in the first edition of his
Shotokan Karate: Its History and Evolution text. Sensei Hassell has since abandoned the second story in favor of the first, which (to him, at least) has more foundation in verifiable historical fact.
(Reprinted from: "Shotokan Karate: It's History and Evolution":
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Fuji/2890/tiger.html)
