Choki Motobu, Boxing, and Jen Kentel - 1 (A)

[emattson]

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By Graham Noble

Although well known in his day Choki Motobu didn’t really found a formal style of karate, a ryu, so the transmission of his karate was fragile and so for a long time, as the art spread, the detail of his methods and technique remained little known. The two small technical books he wrote had been almost completely forgotten, and the second one, the 1932 “My Karate Jutsu”, didn’t even appear in standard bibliographies of the art.

But he had made an impression, and his memory, even if it was just his name, lingered . . . in the absence of any real information, though, stories and myths came to fill in the gaps. Strangely, in James Mitose’s 1953 book published in Hawaii, (“What is Self Defense? (Kenpo Kiu-Jitsu)”) there was a single photo of Motobu with the caption “Choki Motobu. The great master of Karate Kenpo”, but nothing more. His name appeared in a very brief mention in the history section of Mas Oyama’s 1959 “What is Karate?” where Oyama wrote of the introduction of karate into the Okinawan school system that “From this time on Karate became open to the public and developed quickly veterans Gichin Funakoshi, Chotoku Kyan, Kenwa Mabuni, Choki Motobu, Uden Yahiku, Chojo Ogusuku, who developed its study.” Motobu, and his aborted 1932 visit to Hawaii, were also briefly mentioned in Bruce Haines’ 1962 University of Hawaii thesis (“Karate and its Development in Hawaii up to 1959”), and the book which followed it a few years later, “Karate’s History and Traditions” (1968). Haines wrote that “Motobu’s history reads much like a Hemingway characterisation. He was reputed to have defeated Russia’s heavyweight boxing champion in a bare handed contest in 1924. Athough documentation for this bout is lacking, Motobu’s reputation as a strongman and fighter is legendary among contemporary Okinawan and Japanese peoples.”

In 1967, just a year before Haines’ book was published, Peter Urban also referred to ‘Choku Matobu’ in his romantic “Karate Dojo,” but characteristically Urban got carried away with the stories and wrote that the Okinawans believed that Matobu, a peasant farmer seven foot four inches tall, was “the greatest living barehand fighter.” Urban described him as a giant who had hands and feet “like monstrous hams” and who stood in the “naihancheen” stance to grab his enemies and “chop then to death.” Urban added that Matobu was insane when he died, having proclaimed himself “eleventh dan and the greatest warrior on the planet.” His temperament meant that he could never have gone to mainland Japan to teach karate because “he didn’t bow or kneel to Japanese people under any conditions”, and “The Japanese would probably have had to shoot him down if an incident had taken place.”

Well . . . Urban’s book remains a favourite of mine but as a reliable historical source it is almost worthless, and this portrait of Motobu is simply a fantasy, although it does contain a few grains of truth: Motobu’s favourite kata was Naihanchi, (“naihancheen”), he did have a reputation as a fighter, and he didn’t speak mainland Japanese very well - but otherwise it’s a fiction. Motobu actually came from an upper class family, he did not grab his opponents and “chop them to death”, he did go to Japan, in fact he lived there for twenty years . . . and he wasn’t 7 foot 4 inches tall, or anything like it.

Seven feet four inches tall sounded ridiculous and perhaps the American karate teacher Robert Trias was trying to inject a note of reality (?) into the subject when he told “Official Karate” magazine (April 1972) that although there were “legends that Motobu was 7, 8 or 9 feet tall” he was actually “6 feet 10 inches, which is considered a pretty big fellow in Okinawa.” “Pretty big”? That would have been colossal in an Okinawa where the average male height was around 5 foot 2.

But actually, when I eventually found a photograph of Motobu, in Kenwa Mabuni’s “Sepai no Kenkyu”, sitting between Mabuni and Yasuhiro Konishi, those heights, or in fact anything much over 5 foot, seemed way too high and so I wrote to Richard Kim enclosing that photo of Motobu, Mabuni and Konishi and querying Motobu’s size. At that time, the mid-1970s, Richard Kim was probably regarded as the leading authority on karate history in the West.

In a letter dated 27 March 1974, Kim replied that “Motobu was over two hundred pounds and quite taller than the photos would indicate, but it is he. I am a little over 5’ 11”, almost six feet and he was just a little taller than I was, but round of build. My observation was visual as I stood next to him at different times, although I was in my youth and he was an old man.”

Richard Kim was saying that he had actually met Choki Motobu? Apparently so, although in a subsequent letter on the subject he seemed to backtrack on this and reduced Motobu’s height by two or three inches: “The exaggerated height of Motobu was result of fact being mixed with fantasy as the years developed the legend – albeit Paul Bunyan. He was, as I once wrote to you, under six feet and around 200 pounds. A student of his, who I knew really well, said that Motobu was about his height, 5 foot 9 – 10, and 24 kan in weight(1) – 200 pounds. The photographs that you saw were taken with some person at least six feet in height.

“Take a good look at the bulk of his legs. My student who is only 5 feet 2, Mr. Robert Leung, built like Motobu but with slightly thinner legs was 180 pounds. Now at age sixty two only 170 pounds.”

Richard Kim had lived in Japan for years, but I question whether he had ever actually met Choki Motobu, although of course as a student of karate history he would have heard of him. When Kim wrote that “The photographs that you saw were taken with some person at least six feet in height,” well, the persons in the photograph I sent to him were Mabuni and Konishi, neither of whom were much over 5 foot tall.

Other photographs, such as ones of Choki Motobu standing (not sitting) beside Konishi, show that actually Motobu was not that much taller. He was maybe 5 foot 2 or 3, and that is the height given in contemporary articles such as in ”King” magazine and a 1936 “Ryuku Shimpo” article. Motobu was therefore of average height for an Okinawan of the period, or maybe just a little taller.

Even in Japan little was remembered about Choki Motobu. In his 1953 book “Karate Do”, Hisateru Miyagi wrote that “Motobu Tanme, nicknamed Saru (Monkey) . . . . was a legendary fighter. Motobu was so famous that everyone on Okinawa knew his name. (Gichin) Funakoshi Sensei told me that he had known Motobu Tanme from his childhood. . . . Motobu was from an aristocratic family, but it was rumoured that he excelled in his karate to the detriment of scholastic studies. ‘King’ magazine reported that Motobu Tanme had killed a Russian boxer in a match, but whether this is true or not, I don’t know. If this is true it proves that karate is not something for meaningless display, but that karate is meant for serious confrontations and that Motobu Tanme was blameless. It shows that one of karate’s strongest points is its use in serious confrontations. Wearing boxing gloves and striking at each other defeats the real purpose of karate.

“There are people who say that among the karate men of old, Motobu Tanme and Yabu Sensei killed many people, but I believe Yabu Sensei never did anything like this. There is no doubt that Motobu Tanme was skilled and often fought in his youth, but there is no way to know if he killed someone.”

Reikichi Oya wrote that Motobu “took part in contests with foreign boxers and the story has been handed down that he either knocked them out or killed them.”

Hisateru Miyagi was right in saying that a match between Motobu and a boxer had been featured in “King” (“Kingu”) magazine, but that too had been long forgotten . . . except by a very few, such as Hiroyasu Tamae who, in the chapter he wrote for the 1977 compilation “Karate Do” gave the date of the magazine as September 1925. Using that information I made an enquiry to the British Library’s Oriental Section, which has an almost complete collection of the magazine. Deputy Keeper K. B Gardner sent me a photocopy of the article, ((1 November 1984) and in his accompanying letter advised me that the article - which was was “written in a lively style, mostly in the form of imagined dialogue . . . to heighten the dramatic effect” - was titled “Great Contest Between Karate and Boxing, as Human Bullets Clash” (“Nikuda ai-utsu karate kento ojiai”) and that the author was “someone using the pseudonym Meigenro Shujin.” Mr. Gardner noted that “Throughout the article the foreign boxer is referred to as ‘George’, but his nationality does not seem to be disclosed. Whenever the Okinawan karate master is mentioned, his name is spelt out in hiragana beside the Chinese characters as Motobe Asamoto (ie using the Japanese pronunciation of his personal name rather than the pseudo-Chinese Choki). In the extract from a 1977 book which you enclosed, however, his family name is given in hiragana with the pronunciation Motobu.”

Kenji Tokitsu did a translation of the article, and the following is a summary, (Tokitsu’s full translation is included as an appendix to his 1993 “Histoire du Karate Do”).

In Taisho 11 (1922) in Kyoto a series of contests was held between boxers and judoka. These gave rise to much discussion and drew many enthusiastic spectators. The fights were often extremely violent and surprised even those onlookers who regularly attended the annual contests of judo and kendo at the Butokuden.

During the action someone with the appearance of an old countryman went to the organisers and asked if a late entry to the fighting would be allowed. The following conversation occurred.

‘Mmmm. Who is it you wish to enter?’

‘Myself’

‘What? You? . . . . Are you a judoka, then? Or a boxer?’

‘No.’

‘Well, what have you trained in then?’

‘Nothing special, but I think I could manage this type of contest – So will you let me enter?’

‘Yes, let him enter!’ cried the onlookers who had been following all this with interest. ‘Everyone would like to see a surprise entrant.’

‘But he says he doesn’t do judo or boxing. I wonder if he does some form of provincial wrestling.’

‘It doesn’t matter. Since he wants to enter he must have learned something. If not, he’s an idiot. Let him enter.’

‘Well, ok,’ said the promoter. ‘Do you know the rules?’

‘The rules? What rules?’

‘It’s forbidden to strike with the fists and the feet.’

‘Hmmm. What about an attack with the open hand?’

‘That’s alright.’

‘Fine, let’s get on with it.’

‘Wait a minute. What uniform are you going to wear?’

‘I’ll just wear my ordinary clothes.’

‘Those you’re wearing now? You can’t do that. I’ll lend you a judogi.’

The promoter brought a judogi and looked at the man, still trying to make him out. As he stripped a murmur of surprise arose from the onlookers. Although his face was that of a man well over fifty, the muscular development of his arms and shoulders was impressive and his hips and thighs looked extremely powerful.

This old man was asked who he wanted to fight, a boxer or a judoka. He replied ‘Whoever you like.’ The organisers decided to send him in against a boxer named George: “When he fights seriously, no judoka can stand against him.”

“Good, it’s decided then.”

The director asked the name of the surprise entrant and announced the match: “George, the boxer, against a surprise participant, Choki Motobu”

As the contestants entered the arena, a cry arose from the crowd. ‘Look! A surprise entry.’ . . . ‘Who is this Motobu? I’ve never heard of him.’ . . . ‘He looks like an old man. What’s someone like him entering a contest like this for?’

The contrast between the two men was striking. Here was a boxer brimming with vitality against a man of fifty who stood only 5 feet 3 or 4 inches. As they began, George took up a boxing guard and moved about looking for an opening. Motobu lowered his hips, raising his left hand high with his right hand close to his right cheek. The spectators thought this looked like some kind of sword dance, but it was the opening position of the Pinan Yodan kata.’

George, the expert boxer, seemed surprised by the ability of his opponent whose guard presented no weak spot. He contented himself with searching for an opening, continuously moving his hands around and feinting. Motobu kept his position.

George’s breathing grew less steady and, realizing that he might tire himself out if things continued like this, he edged forward and sent out a fusillade of blows to the face. Everyone expected to see the end of Motobu but without moving his position he parried the blows with his open hand and forced his opponent back.

Growing more and more frustrated as the fight went on. George steeled himself for an all-out attack. He drew back his right hand and threw a punch with all his strength at Choki Motobu’s head.

Just at the moment when it seemed as if Motobu’s face would be crushed, he parried the punch with his left hand. The force of the parry unbalanced the boxer, forcing his hips to rise, and at that instant Motobu struck him in the face with the palm of his hand. George, struck on the vital point just below the nose with the rising palm strike, fell to the ground like a block of wood.

Everyone was shouting. What had happened?

The organisers went to look for someone to help George, who was still unconscious. ‘What a formidable old character!’

Various people who went to talk to Motobu were astonished by his hands, calloused and almost as hard as stone. Even a blow with the open hand would be terrible, they thought.

‘Ryukyu Karate,’ said one. ‘Hmmm. I didn’t know such an art even existed. In fact, you have such trained hands that you don’t need to be armed. The hands themselves are terrible weapons.’

Spectators and contestants continued to talk for hours about the events which had taken place.

Footnote:
1. 10, and 24 kan in weight - kan, is an old Japanese unit of weight, 3.75 kilograms.

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[emattson]

"there were 'legends that Motobu was 7, 8 or 9 feet tall'"

Bragging about height seemed to be popular. Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, challenged the Israel army. For 40 days, nobody wanted to fight him, they were too scared. He was about 3 meters high. (1 Samuel chapter 17) André the Giant was described, by the 1974 Guinness Book of World Records, as the highest-paid wrestler in history. He suffered from gigantism, which is caused by excess growth hormone.

But big height often caused big problems. André the Giant suffered from constant pain from his heavy weight stressing his bones and joints. He died young at a young age of 46 from congestive heart failure. Sultan Kosen, the tallest living man, requires crutches to walk.

[Demnolog]

The story is truly amazing, in the past and in our days tall people have always attracted attention, but there were also some difficulties behind it.

[emattson]

"karate is meant for serious confrontations"

Agree. People often say that Uechi-Ryu karate is not self-defense but self-offense. Many kata or strikes are meant to cause serious damage or even death. Some academies do not allow sparring. George Mattson's "The Black Belt Test Guide" states that candidates 35 year or older do not need to take the free fighting segment of the test. (Chapter 3).