Why should Shotokan practitioners be interested in the history of Shotokan? Surely, history is just history?
The problem is that modern Shotokan has in many ways been stripped of a plethora of useful, yet very effective techniques. Much of this has been caused by the rise of competition karate. While certainly we have been left with a core of very effective techniques, they only represent a limited range of karate’s actual potential.
However – the good news is that there are a range of sources that clearly document many historical techniques. All is not lost!
This problem is not only found in karate, but in other martial arts. Here is footage of Lars Anderson, a Danish archer who has spent time researching old archery techniques. The differences and advantages of historical technique from an actual combat perspective are pretty amazing.
Project Mawashi 