CHOKI MOTOBU (1871-1944)

Choki Motobu was born in 1871 in Akahira village in the Shuri region of Okinawa. He was the third son of Motobu "Udun", a high ranking aji or lord. The Motobu family were skilled at the art of Ti (a grappling art of the Okinawan nobility). Motobu did learn some of the techniques of his family's fighting system, but because of Okinawan tradition, only the first son, Choyu, was educated and choose to carry on the family's martial tradition. Because of this situation, he went looking for instruction elsewhere.

Choki began training extensively with makiwara and lifted heavy rocks to gain strength. He endeavored to become as strong as possible and trained with ferocity. He became known as "Motobu zaru" or Motobu the monkey because of his agility and speed.

Eventually, Motobu became the student of Anko Itosu (one of Mabuni's sensei). Now a young man, Choki spent a lot of time seeking out strong looking men to challenge on the street. He won most of his fights and learned much from these encounters. Itosu sensei was not impressed by the young man's bullying and promptly expelled him form the dojo.

Motobu's aggressive behavior soon earned him a bad reputation and many sensei would not teach him. Once man, however, liked the spirit he showed and accepeted him as a student of karate. This man was Kosaku Matsumura of Tomari. It was from Matsumura that Choki learned many Kata. Motobu still challenged others to fights often and was eager to develop and improve his fighting skills. He eventually asked Matsumura to teach him kumite, but Matsumura told him to continue to learn on his own. Motobu, however, was persevering and is said to have watched the kumite training through holes in the fence around Matsumura's dojo.

Motobu's street fighting served him well (to the detriment of many). He formulated his own formidable style of kumite and began to get much attention in Okinawa and in Japan on his trips to the islands. One day while in Kyoto he witnessed a contest where people were asked to match skills with a foreign boxer. A friend coaxed Motobu to give it a try.

The boxer was arrogant and goaded Motobu constantly. For two rounds Motobu just avoided the boxer's attacks. In the third round he had enough. He used a practiced technique and promptly knocked the boxer out. The crowd was quite taken aback. They had never seen this kind of fighting. Motobu had simply struck his opponent with a fore knuckle in the temple; a basic technique. Needless to say, Motobu quickly gained a reputation as a master and many curious people came to learn this mysterious new art. Soon, Motobu became a full time teacher.