Motobu Choki | |
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Motobu Choki
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Born |
Akahira Village, Shuri, Ryūkyū Kingdom |
April 5, 1870
Died | April 15, 1944 Shuri, Japan |
(aged 74)
Style | Shuri-te and Tomari-te |
Teacher(s) | Sōkon Matsumura, Sakuma Pechin, Ankō Itosu, Kosaku Matsumora |
Rank | Sōke, Founder of Motobu-ryū |
Notable students | His son Chōsei Motobu, Tatsuo Yamada, Sannosuke Ueshima, Yasuhiro Konishi, Hironori Ōtsuka, Tatsuo Shimabuku, Shōshin Nagamine, Katsuya Miyahira |
Website |
Motobu-ryu Okinawan Karate and World Peace The Hawaii Karate Seinenkai Salutes: Shoshin Nagamine Techniques of the Masters: Shoshin Nagamine Akari-ki Karate: Nagamine Shugyokan Shorin Ryu Dojo “Karate Ni Sente Nashi” á la Motobu Choki |
Motobu-ryu Okinawan Karate and World Peace The Hawaii Karate Seinenkai Salutes: Shoshin Nagamine Techniques of the Masters: Shoshin Nagamine Akari-ki Karate: Nagamine Shugyokan Shorin Ryu Dojo
Motobu Chōki (本部 朝基?, 1870-1944) was an Okinawan karateka from Akahira Village in Shuri, Okinawa, capital of the Ryūkyū Kingdom when he was born. His older brother Motobu Chōyū was also a noted karateka.
His father, Lord Motobu Chōshin (Motobu Aji Chōsin) was a descendant of the sixth son of the Okinawan King, Shō Shitsu (1629–1668), namely Shō Kōshin, also known as Prince Motobu Chōhei (1655–1687). Chōki was the third son of Motobu Udun ("Motobu Palace"), one of the cadet branches of the Ryūkyūan royal family.
As the last of three sons, Motobu Chōki was not entitled to an education in his family's style of Te (an earlier name for karate). Despite this Motobu was very interested in the art, spending much of his youth training on his own, hitting the makiwara, pushing and lifting heavy stones to increase his strength. He is reported to have been very agile, which gained him the nickname Motobu no Saru, or "Motobu the Monkey." He began practicing karate under Matsumura Sōkon and continued under Ankō Itosu, Sakuma Pechin and Kōsaku Matsumora.
Although he was reputed by his detractors to have been a violent and crude street fighter, with no formal training, Motobu was a student of several of Okinawa's most prominent karate practitioners. Ankō Itosu (1831–1915), Sōkon Matsumura (1809–1899), Sakuma Pechin, Kōsaku Matsumora (1829–1898), and Tokumine Pechin (1860–1910) all taught Motobu at one time or another. Many teachers found his habit of testing his fighting prowess via street fights in the tsuji (red light district) undesirable, but his noble birth (as a descendant of the royal Okinawan Shō family) may have made it hard for them to refuse.