Shotokan Karate is a school of Karate developed by Gichin Funakoshi and his son Yoshitaka Funakoshi.  Shotokan is considered one of the five traditional Karate styles, comprising of Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu, Shorin-ryu, and Wado-ryu.  Shotokan training is broken into three pieces: Kihon, Kata, and Kumite.  Kihon consists of the basic moves (punches, kicks, etc).  Kata makes up forms.  Kumite is sparring.  While Shotokan is generally regarded as a “hard” style, at the higher levels of the art it takes on some “soft” aspects.  Unlike most other Japanese arts, Shotokan has only three belts: White, Brown, and Black.

History: Shotokan’s founder, Gichin Funakoshi, spent years training in the most popular styles of Okinawan Karate: Shorei-ryu and Shorin-ryu.  Eventually he created a simpler style, with the goal of combining the best of the two.  He never named this style, and only ever called it Karate.  In the 1920s, he adopted the belt ranking system used by Judo.  The first black belts were awarded in 1924.

Training: Shotokan begins training as a very “hard” style, emphasizing strong stances and strength.  At the brown and black belt levels, these techniques begin to take on a much more fluid style – adding in grappling.  Shotokan is generally taught in a very traditional manner, with many schools emphasizing whole-life improvement and character building beyond simply self-defense and combat.

If you are interested in Shotokan Karate, you can discuss it on the forums.