 One of my favorite things about the martial arts, other than the whole, you know, being able to defend yourself deal, is the cultural reference that goes into each art. Many styles of karate, Chinese martial arts, jiu jitsu, and others have such deep roots embedded in their cultures. So it's no surprise that you would find a lot of significant symbols to emerge and represent their art. I previously did a video breaking down the IKKA Ed Parker Kempo crests, which is the symbol of my art, American Kempo. If you haven't seen that one, I do recommend checking it out as a lot of thought and consideration went into its design. We also took a look at the Kanku, the official emblem of Kyokushin karate, and what that stood for in the history of Kyokushin. Now breaking down these symbols stirred my interest, and I wanted to explore more symbols and other art crests. So today we're going to take a quick look at the Shotokan Tiger logo. This is the official emblem of Shotokan karate, as created by founder, Genshin Funakoshi. Now, we'll be delving much deeper into Funakoshi's life when we come back around to the history of Shotokan episode, but for those who are unfamiliar with him, he has quite the significant place in martial arts history. He not only founded the art of Shotokan, but he was also a major pioneer in spreading karate from Okinawa into Japan, and he's sometimes called the father of modern-day karate. He was also a poet, and he was known to spend time contemplating and meditating in Mount Torau in Okinawa, which is also known as the Tiger Tail Mountain. He often liked to spend time in solitude, particularly after a long day of training, and he found his refuge in the narrow, pine tree-covered mountain trail. He would often sit up there at night under the moon and listen to the breeze as it gently whispered through the pine trees, and it reminded him of the sound of ocean waves breaking along the shore. This inspired a lot of poetic imagery for him, and he took on the pen name of Shoto, which means pine waves. Funakoshi was a student of the Okinawan arts, and eventually he established his own art, which was derived from Shoreiru and Shorinru. As a fun fact, he never actually gave his art a name, he simply referred to it as karate. The name Shotokan came into being when he opened his first dojo in 1936. Kan means house or hall, so the word Shotokan translates to house or hall of pine waves. When students would train, they would say they were going to the Shotokan, and over time the name stuck and became the moniker for the art. Now, with all of that established, Funakoshi had a great artist friend named Hoan Kosugi. Kosugi was believed to be instrumental in inspiring Funakoshi to spread his art, and it is said that Kosugi convinced him to write down all his notes on the art into a master text, also known as a Toronomaki. This refers to an old tradition that goes way back when a master would write down all their notes in a long scroll, which became the master text. Even though that tradition was already pretty much gone by Funakoshi's time, Kosugi convinced him that this could be his Toronomaki. He also promised to paint the cover of the book if he were to finish it. So Funakoshi went on to write his book, Ryukyu Karate Kempo, and publish it in 1922. I have seen some references saying that this might possibly be the first official book written on karate in the world, but I would be interested to hear if anyone has any more insight on that. So Kosugi kept his promise and he painted the cover for the book, which included the image of a tiger. This was an interesting choice because there are no tigers in Japan. However, the tiger is often the symbol of power, strength, and ferocity. In a Chinese culture, the tiger can also represent keen awareness and never sleeping. The choice of the tiger image is also very fitting in that Funakoshi spent his free time, up in peace, in the Tiger Tail Mountains. And even though the name Toronomaki means master text or master scroll, the word Torah in Japanese sometimes also means tiger. So you can often see the text referred to as the tiger scroll. So the image of the tiger fit the poetic symbolism often associated with Funakoshi. This tiger is also inside of a circle to show that it is contained. It is a power and a strength that should not be used liberally, but rather with discretion and should remain contained until only when it was necessary to unleash its power. The circle is also imperfect to show that it was done in one continuous stroke. I also saw a reference to the design of the tiger itself. Kosugi didn't just draw a tiger, but rather he compiled a collection of lines and patterns that individually represent nothing when put together as a whole make up the image of a tiger. This is also representative of Shodokan and honestly this can be applied to any art really. The idea is that the art is not composed of just one piece. It is a system of very important smaller ideas that when put together create a larger, more powerful concept. I absolutely love that idea and it really makes me appreciate this Toronomaki even more. And if you look really close to the tiger's tail you can see a little part of Kosugi's signature in Kanji. That's a lot of thought in one simple image. Now some of you might get a kick out of this. This was something I discovered only recently and I found it both funny and shameful at the same time. See this right here is my first karateki ever. I was 14 and I had just started taking Kempo. Our school for the first few years was pretty heavily commercialized, but not over the top. In the front of the school we had a pro shop where we could buy sparring gear, weapons, and patches for our uniforms. Now to credit the school we were never forced to purchase anything, especially patches, but we were allowed to get anything that we wanted. Now I thought that was awesome and a great way to personalize my uniform and they had a huge selection. So you know I found a couple that I liked, had them sit on my uniform and went about my training. Now just recently as I was pulling uniforms out of my closet, I've collected quite a few over the past 26 years and I was pulling them out because I'll be going through all of them as a Patreon video, but when I got to this one I just had to laugh. Look what I chose to put on the most important part of my uniform. I had apparently worn the Shodokan Torinomaki for the first three to four years of my training without even realizing I was representing another art over my heart. I find it funny because you know I have a cultural interest in Shodokan now, so this kind of seems ironically fitting, but I also find it shameful that I didn't know this earlier or that my instructor didn't teach me the meaning behind this if even he knew it himself. So there's that. In any case, I highly respect this symbol and I can't wait to delve into the art even more when we circle back around to the history of Shodokan. Now if you are interested in Funakoshi's book, it was republished again later under the name of Karate Do Kyohan and I put a link to that in the description below, so please be sure to go check that out. Thanks for watching. Please like and subscribe. Go back to our Patreon to see the uniform video and other exclusive content. Thanks everyone. We'll see you on the map.