 Gichin Funakoshi transformed karate from a purely self-defense fighting technique to a philosophical martial "Dō" (way of life), or gendai budo, but his son Gigō began to develop a karate technique that definitively separated Japanese karate-do from the local Okinawan arts.Between 1936 and 1945, Gigo gave it a completely different and powerful Japanese flavor based on his study of modern kendo (the way of the japanese sword), and Iaido (the way of drawing the japanese sword) under sensei Nakayama Hakudō.Gigo's work on japanese Karate development was primarily popularized by masters Shigeru Egami and Genshin Hironishi, who later formed the shotokai karate style

Through his teaching position and understanding of Japanese martial arts, Gigō became the technical creator of modern shotokan karate.