GICHIN FUNAKOSHI is regarded as one of the greatest Karate masters in the world. He was born in 1868 in Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, and practised Karate since boyhood, organizing the first public protests. Early in life, he was a schoolteacher and was educated in the Confucian classics. He was elected president of the Okinawa Association for the Spirit of Martial Arts after decades of studying under Okinawa's top teachers. In 1922, he was chosen to perform Karate at the First National Sports Exhibition in Tokyo, which resulted in the ancient martial art's presentation to the rest of Japan and, eventually, the rest of the globe.

Karate-do Nyumon: The Master Introductory Text, Karate-do Kyohan: The Master Text, and Karate Jutsu: Gichin Funakoshi's Original Teachings are among his works. In April 1957, Master Gichin Funakoshi passed away.