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Choki Motobu |
In Japan there is a phrase, Jissen, which is used to distinguish real martial arts from what
has been referred to as 'garden party' Karate. Jissen literally means
real fighting. It is many times used in conjunction with Karate to
establish the difference between combat effective martial arts and what
might best be called tournament Karate.
Jissen Karate is
many times attributed to Choki Motobu, who was considered by many the
greatest Karate master to have ever lived. During his whole life he is
known only to have been beaten in combat by two individuals, one being
Kentsu Yabu, a veteran of the Pacific War (World War II). It is believed
that it was his war time combat experience that allowed
Yabu to defeat
Motobu. The other was his brother, Choyu Motobu, who had been trained in
the family art of Gotente, and had the advantage of superior training.
After the incident, however, Choki became a devoted student of his older
brother's art. It is also known that at one time he and a friend were
attacked by a gang of twenty five and in his desire to protect his
untrained friend, Choki Motobu dived into battle against all twenty five,
and after hurting and knocking down many of the number, the others ran
rather than face the fighting fury of this great martial artist.
In his youth Choki
Motobu, having been born in an aristocratic family, was constantly getting
in trouble, and fights, more from the expectation of being treated with
respect, that was not forthcoming, than from any inherent meanness. There
are those who say that Choki was crazy, mean spirited, and a belligerent
fighter, and yet among those who knew him well, he was a refined
gentleman, with good manners, and a quiet but humorous nature. Yasuhiro
Konishi, Choki Motobu's main interpreter on Japan, said that those who ran
afoul of the man usually did so because they started to treat him with
disrespect, acting like he was a country bumpkin from Okinawa. While
Konishi said that Motobu was basically a man of peace, who had to live
down the reputation of his wildness in youth, he was not one to suffer
insult well and this lead to many confrontations, in which the wise
apologized and sought recompense, and the foolish ended up knocked out or
demonstratively beaten.
Choki Motobu
referred to his art as Kempo and was very much a specialist in the use of
unusual fists associated with Okinawan Karate. His favorite technique was
the Ippon Ken Zuki, forefinger knuckle fist thrust, which he had developed
to a very powerful level. It was said that he could actually strike
a Makiwara full power with this weapon. In his famous battle with
the European heavyweight boxing champion, it is believed that this was the
punch which knocked the opponent out.
The Jissen Kempo
of Choki Motobu could be thought of to consist of certain concepts which
constitute the nature of real combat. First of all, real fighting martial
arts, are to be only used when your life is on the line. It is to be used
to defend yourself or another, from serious injury or death. Thus the
basic attitude is one of don't fight if it is not necessary. It is said
that it took Choki Motobu a long time to realize this principle, but that
once he did, he held to it quite well. The main two reason not to fight
frivolously are simply, you may hurt your opponent and two you may get
hurt yourself. It is said that after his battle with the European boxer,
the man was placed on board a ship to be sent home, but died before he
made it there. And in his battle with
Kentsu Yabu, both men were banged
up badly after the fight. It may have been these two events which turned
Motobu away from fighting and towards a more peaceful lifestyle.
One other
important aspect of Jissen Kempo is that it included all the techniques of
combat. From his Karate instructors; Kosaku Matsumora and Yasutsune Itosu;
Choki Motobu learned the most important aspects of blocking, punching,
striking, and kicking. From his brother Choyu; Choki learned how to
throw, joint lock, and grapple in the Okinawan fashion.
In comparison,
Shiai Karate, or contest martial arts, develops a 'be aggressive'
attitude, which may be fine in regard to a sporting match, but can be
dangerous on the street. The idea of contest martial arts is to win and
not lose. It is to score points without allowing the other person to
score as many. All sports, including the most rugged of contests, have to
have limited techniques. In actual combat, self defense, the eyes,
throat, and groin, are the most targeted points. Yet in contests, in
order for the competitors to survive and have a certain level of safety,
these are off limits, with the exception of the groin. But even the groin
is not targeted as in a self defense situation. In contests, cups are
worn, and while strikes may be allowed, in actual self defense, women have
reported the most effective groin technique, is to grab the testicles and
squeeze until the assailant is unconscious or helpless.
Choki Motobu
passed his realistic methods of developing Jissen skills to many different
individuals. While he did not create a particular Ryu that has a direct
lineage from him and is considered his own particular method, his Kempo
actually influenced the development of many different systems and in
particular the Kihon Kumite, basic sparring, drills of many styles.
There are three
styles that reportedly were created by Choki Motobu and in some cases are
suppose to have been passed on to certain individuals. According to
Robert Trias, Choki Motobu created the Shorei Ryu style and this was
passed on to him through a Chinese master after World War II. Trias
modified the system by adding certain Goju Ryu Kata to the curriculum,
thus creating his own style of Shorei Goju Ryu Karate. Shuri Ryu was also
attributed to Choki Motobu by Yasuhiro Konishi who eventually passed the
system on to Robert Trias, as the man most preserving Motobu's art. In
Japan itself, the late Tatsuo Yamada called Choki Motobu's system Motobu
Ryu in his teachings of Karate history. In Okinawa the term Motobu Ryu is
applied to the family art of Gotente which was passed to Seikichi Uehara.
Thus in discussing Motobu Ryu it is important to know whether the term is
used in the Japanese manner referring to Choki Motobu's art, or in the
Okinawan manner referring to Choyu Motobu's art. There is a great deal of
difference, with the main one being that Choyu Motobu's art is taught in
the most ancient manner without prearranged Kata.
Choki Motobu
taught many students during his long lifetime of seventy three years.
Among his students were; James Masayoshi Mitose, Yasuhiro Konishi, Tatsuo
Yamada, Shoshin Nagamine, Shinsuke Kaneshima, Yukimori Kuniba, Shinyei
Kaneshima, Katsuya Miyahira, Chozo Nakama, Tsuyoshi Chitose,
Tatsuo
Shimabuku. Eizo Shimabuku, and Shigeru Nakamura. Among the many styles
which are directly influenced by what Choki Motobu taught, especially in
regard to Kihon Kumite and an intelligent application of techniques in
Jissen, real fighting, are; Shorei Goju Ryu, Shuri Ryu, (Koga Ha) Kosho
Shorei Ryu, Yamada Ryu, Isshin Ryu, Tozan Ryu, Shobayashi Shorin Ryu,
Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu, Kobayashi Shorin Ryu, Chito Ryu, Nakamura's
Okinawan Kempo, Ishimine Ryu, Shinto Shizen Ryu, Motobu Ha Shito Ryu, and
Kenshinkan Ryu. Then are many modern systems which have been derived from
these previously mentioned ones which owe much of the reality of their
training, and the practice of Kumite, to Choki Motobu.
Shoshin Nagamine
admits that in his training he teaches his students the skills of Kumite
as taught to him by Choki Motobu. Motobu taught that distancing was the
most important factor to delivering a punch, Seiken Zuki, with fatal
force. He explained that too far away, and not enough power would be in
the technique at contact, but to be too close will keep the technique from
developing full power. Thus it was important to master distancing. And
for those situations where one was too close it was important to be able
to strike properly with Uraken and Ippon Ken Zuki. In the Kumite of
Shodai Soke Shoshin Nagamine's Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu are the lessons
and skills as taught by Choki Motobu.
There are several
systems today which are very involved in the fighting sports which have
been developed from the art of Karate. Each of these Shiai Karate styles,
feel that they represent the best of true fighting skills, with some of
them being the systems listed above which were influenced heavily by Choki
Motobu. It is a shame that those of these contest styles never grew in
the same manner that Motobu did. In his youth, and due to the fact that
he was royalty in a time when it no longer held any meaning, Choki Motobu
engaged in many battles, to uphold his honor. And many of these styles
insist on hard fighting contests, some with bare knuckles, others with
gloves and equipment, but all thinking they are teaching Jissen the way
that Motobu did.
Yet according to
those who knew him best, Shoshin Nagamine and Yasuhiro Konishi, Choki
Motobu grew spiritually and matured in his later years. His goal was to
teach and train in Karate as it should be, as a form of Jissen Kempo, real
fighting martial arts. In time he realized that he did not have to fight
others to reach the true depths of the martial arts, but rather he had to
practice his skills in Kata and in his own unique Kihon Kumite to open his
spirit to the highest levels of development. In the end, he finally
conquered his greatest enemy, his own insecurity, which kept him fighting
in his youth to uphold an honor which was never tarnished
