The meeting is primarily known for the general agreement to adopt the name Karate (using the kanji "空手"), in place of Toudi, Tode, Tii or Te, and in place of the kanji "唐手", meaning "Chinese Hand". However, there were other things discussed that I wasn't aware of, or was only slightly aware of. These are summarised below:
There were only three Kata considered as "Fundamental" that were presented at the meeting: Naihanchi, Sanchin and Tencho (Miyagi Chojun). Traditional kata should be preserved as old or classic kata, and new kata invented for the promotion of Karate nationwide (I would suppose this to mean as in Japan as a whole), through schools, universities and youth schools (the birth of shotokan?, again Miyagi Chojun). Then there is the advocacy of Katate uniform, by both Miyagi Chojun and Furukawa Gizaburo. The biggest surprise of all though, is even at this stage, the advent of sports Karate was introduced by Furukawa Gizaburo. So Traditional, educational and sports Karate were all considered from the very start.
What also surprised me, but I suppose is a direct indicator of how secretive the development of techniques had been until this stage, was how unaware some of the meetings attendees were of how things had developed until this point. This is evinced by the interchange between Ota Choshiki and Choki Motobu:
"Ota: Mr. Motobu, who taught you karate?
Choki Motobu: I learned karate from Master Itosu, Master Sakuma and Master Matsumora of Tomari village.
Ota: I thought you created your own karate on your own without learning from karate masters.
Choki Motobu: (laughing) No, I did not create my karate on my own."
Oh what other things must have been discussed at the subsequent meetings......
Thank you to Scot Mertz and his article on Karate Day:
https://ryuhoryu.blogspot.com/2018/10/karate-day.html
On which these observations are based.
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