Article by by Pierre Jordaan
There are basically two viewpoints being promulgated in this regard:
There are basically two viewpoints being promulgated in this regard:
The first viewpoint is that Hoan Kosugi, a famous artist and friend of Master Gichin Funakoshi, told Funakoshi that he would design and provide a painting for the cover should Funakoshi write a book about karate. Funakoshi subsequently wrote his first book, Ryukyu Kempo: Tode, and Kosugi came up with the tiger, a symbol that has become synonymous with Shotokan karate.
Kosugi's idea for the tiger came from the Japanese expression, 'Tora no maki', which refers to an official written document used as the definitive reference source for an art or system. Kosugi regarded Funakoshi's book as the 'tora no maki' of Karate. Since 'tora' also means 'tiger', Kosugi used and designed the tiger as representative of Funakoshi's movements and conduct.
The second viewpoint is that the tiger symbol represents a special era in Funakoshi's life when, as a young man, he enjoyed the peace and quiet of solitude among the pine trees that surrounded his home in Shuri. Following a hard day of work, teaching in the local school where he was a school teacher, and then engaging in strenuous karate training for several hours, he would often walk up Mount Torao to meditate among the pine trees under the stars and bright moon. Mount Torao, a very narrow and heavily wooded mountain, resembles the shape of a tiger's tail when viewed from a distance and the name Torao, in fact, literally means 'tiger's tail'.
Master Funakoshi later explained that the cool breezes blowing through the pine trees on Mount Torao made the trees 'whisper like waves breaking on the shore'. Following his greatest poetic inspirations whilst experiencing these special sensations and emotions among the pine trees, Funakoshi adopted the pen name of Shoto - literally translated as 'pine waves'.
Stemming from traditional Chinese design, the tiger being symbolic of 'the tiger that never sleeps', the Shotokan tiger symbolises the keen alertness of the wakeful tiger and the serenity and peace of mind experienced by Master Funakoshi on Tiger's Tail Mountain.
Since Master Funakoshi is regarded as the father of Shotokan karate, the tiger has become the representative symbol of the Shotokan style of karate.
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