Our Chinese History Kenpo

 

Choki Motobu was born in Akahira village Shuri, the old capital of Okinawa, in 1871. He was born into a high-ranking family, his father was an aji or lord. Choyu Motobu, Choki’s elder brother, was educated and chosen to carry on the family's martial tradition as education and privilege were reserved for the first-born son at that time. Because of this situation, Choki Motobu, the family’s third son, did not receive the privileges that his elder brother did and went looking for instruction elsewhere. Choki’s older brothers, however (particularly, as mentioned, Choyu Motobu, the eldest) were good karateka and he may have learned something of the art from them.

 

Choki Motobu trained himself every day, lifting stone weights and hitting the makiwara (striking post). He would strike the makiwara a thousand times a day. Motobu would sometimes sleep outside, (when he slept inside the dojo he would lie on the hard wooden floor, without a mattress), and if he woke up during the night, rather than turning over and going back to sleep he would get up and hit the makiwara. Motobu was also very agile and quick and he got the nickname "Motobu-saru" (Monkey Motobu) not only because of his rough behavior but also because of his remarkable agility in climbing trees and moving from branch to branch as nimbly as a monkey.

Choki Motobu's idea of a good training session was to go down to Naha's entertainment district and pick fights. This area was well known for street fighting and Motobu picked up valuable experience in this way. Being bigger and stronger than the average Okinawan he usually won these fights, but there was one occasion when he tackled a man called Itarashiki and was well beaten. This Itarashiki was a karate expert and the defeat only made Motobu more determined to train hard and learn more about karate.

 

Choki Motobu was able to get instruction from several leading experts, because of Motobu's upper-class birth, many karate masters found it difficult to refuse him instruction. Motobu originally studied karate with the famous Ankoh Itosu, the leading master of Shuri-te. He later studied with Kosaku Matsumora and with Master Sakuma. However, Motobu's karate always seemed to bear his own instinctive stamp, arising no doubt from his independent nature and his fighting experiences. He always emphasized practicality, and in time many people came to regard him as the best fighter on Okinawa. It was only after he moved to Osaka in 1921 that he became known in Japanese martial art circles. In 1924 he defeated Russian’s heavyweight champion in a bear-handed contest.

 

What brought Motobu to the attention of the Japanese was his victory over a Western boxer in a kind of all-comers challenge match. For the record, the story states that Motobu knocked the boxer unconscious. Choki Motobu was over 50 years old when he defeated the Western boxer! In 1932, Choki Motobu tried to go to Hawaii, and he was refused a visa. Speculation has it that it was as a result of his unsavory reputation. In 1936 Motubo and other great Okinawan karate masters had a meeting to discuss certain aspects of karate, including the character used in its writing it. This resulted that by 1937 the form of writing "KARATE" became standardized and has remain unchanged since.

 

In 1940, Choki Motobu returned to Okinawa and died there in 1944.