On this day….(January 1st)

On 1 January 1913 Motonobu Hironishi, an early student of Gichin Funakoshi, was born in Kyoto, Japan.

Hironishi began his Karate training in 1931 at Waseda University under both Gichin and Yoshitaka Funakoshi’s direction. He was a contemporary and good friend of Shigeru Egami at Waseda. Both men would go on to teach at the original Shotokan dojo located in Zoshigaya, Toshima Ward, Tokyo.

Following Gichin Funakoshi’s death in 1957 there was a split within Shotokan between the JKA and the Shotokai. Egami and Hironishi led the Shotokai faction. Following the death of Shigeru Egami in 1981 Motonobu Hironishi became the Chief Instructor of Shotokai. He was also the President of the Japan Shotokai Karate-Do until his death in 1999.