20th Century Masters

Hironori Ohtsuka, aged twenty-nine, already a Menkyo Kaiden in Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu had become involved in Okinawan karate after a meeting with Okinawan master Gichin Funakoshi. Very quickly Ohtsuka is able to absorb the techniques and katas taught to him by Funakoshi, but he still feels that he is not getting the answers he needs. He then approaches Kenwa Mabuni, Okinawan master of Shito Ryu karate, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of kata taught to him by his first teachers, Itosu from the Shorin line and Higashionna from the Naha-Te line. After meeting Mabuni he realizes that the kata and techniques taught to him by Funakoshi fall short of the full depth of knowledge available and he had to basically relearn his katas. (Interestingly, when Ohtsuka chose to formulate his own syllabus he kept to katas primarily of the Shorin Ryu lineage.) [See another article by the same author "Hironori Ohtsuka 1892 - 1982 the founder of Wado Ryu".]

The principle kata in the Shorin Ryu was Naihanchi. In the early days it was Naihanchi that was taught first to new students. Not because it was a basic form, but, as is the tradition within the martial arts, the most important and challenging principles were taught first, unlike in the west, where we learn simple techniques and then progress gradually towards the more difficult ones.

Ohtsuka and Konishi befriended and supported another Okinawan karate master, Choki Motobu (1871 - 1944). It is generally accepted that Motobu had the biggest influence on Ohtsuka's interpretation of Naihanchi.


Choki Motobu

Choki Motobu was quite a character. Younger son of a noble Okinawan family with its own tradition of empty hand fighting (understood to be a style referred to as "Ti"), a tradition largely passed on to Choki's elder brother Choyu. He had a rough and tumble upbringing and fighting was in his blood. Although he learned his skill with numerous masters he never really settled with any particular lineage, but he tested his skills in street battles and was renown for his brawling and his agility. The most famous reported incident in his martial career was his very public clash with a western boxer at an exhibition bout. This occurred in Kyoto in 1921, when it could be assumed that Motobu, at fifty years of age, would be past his athletic physical prime. Motobu was able to knock the boxer out with one blow.

It has been suggested that Motobu only taught two katas, Passai and Naihanchi (although, according to his son, Chosei, he would also teach Seisan, and in the lineage inherited from his father the modern day Motobu Ryu also train in Naihanchi Nidan.)¹⁰

To gain any insight into Motobu's utilization and understanding of Naihanchi it is perhaps worth examining his formal karate instruction, i.e. who he trained with.

Motobu first trained with Anko Itosu. It is said that his sponsorship by Itosu did not last, as his rough character and boastful attitude were not tolerated by the master and he was expelled. He also trained with Kosaku Matsumura, as well as a Shuri-te master called Sakuma.

Motobu had some tuition from Tokumine Pechin, but this was cut short when Tokumine was banished to the Yaeyama Islands after demolishing thirty constables in a fight.


Motobu and Naihanchi

Firstly, it was Ohtsuka together with Yasuhiro Konishi (founder of the Ryobu-Kai) who supported and sponsored Motobu during his time in Japan and helped him to establish himself within the martial arts community. There seems to have been some exchange of ideas between Hironori Ohtsuka and Motobu.

It has been suggested that Motobu was very interested in traditional Japanese Jujutsu and that there was an arrangement with Ohtsuka to teach Motobu elements of Jujutsu while Ohtsuka was able to work with Motobu on the finer points of Okinawan karate. It is intriguing to speculate how much Choki Motobu actually influenced Ohtsuka in the development of what was to be the Wado Ryu. Motobu certainly had the opportunity to see Ohtsuka in action, when he mischievously lured Gichin Funakoshi into a challenge with a Judo-ka, in an attempt to humiliate him. Funakoshi failed the challenge and then Ohtsuka, who was present, was invited to prove his ability, which he did with ease.

Motobu is quoted as saying, “The only kata that was necessary for one to be a good fighter was Naihanchi”. This is because he believed that the Naihanchi Kata was also to teach how to enter the opponent’s space, get in close and defeat him decisively with one technique.

Motobu called the techniques of the Naihanchi were called 'Jissen', which means to be able to use the techniques of the Kata in real fighting. Motobu believed that many of the Katas had lost their practicality (even back then!) and said that Naihanchi was practical because of what he had learned in actual combat.

Below are a series of quotes attributed to Choki Motobu which relate directly or indirectly to Naihanchi kata.¹¹

"The position of the legs and hips in Naifuanchin (the old name for Naihanchi.) no Kata is the basics of karate."

He expands on this theme by saying;

"Twisting to the left or right from the Naifuanchin stance will give you the stance used in a real confrontation. Twisting ones way of thinking about Naifuanchin left and right, the various meanings in each movement of the kata will also become clear."

Is this perhaps as clear a reference as we will ever have to be able to make some kind of connection between Ohtsuka Sensei's extension from Naihanchi dachi to Seishan Dachi (Yoko to Tate) and Motobu Sensei's working of Naihanchi kata? (Or at least one aspect of this.)

And intriguingly, this comment;

"The blocking hand must be able to become the attacking hand in an instant. Blocking with one hand and then countering with the other is not true bujutsu. Real bujutsu presses forward and blocks and counters in the same motion."

This final comment rings true to many Wado karate-ka. The modus operandi within the Ippon Gumite as practiced within the Wado Academy supports the particular strategy suggested by Choki Motobu. Perhaps it would be too much of a leap of logic to think that this was the source of Ohtsuka Sensei's emphasis on the blocking and striking with the same hand. All the same, a tempting thought.

Questions, speculations and mysteries regarding Choki Motobu

Choki Motobu only formed one official school, the Motobu-ryu Karate-Do Organisation now under the leadership of one of his sons, Chosei, although many key individuals in the history of modern karate claim direct influenced from the great man. Shoshin Nagamine (Matsubayashi-ryu), Tatsuo Shimabukuru (Isshin-ryu), Shiyei Kaneshima (Ishimine-ryu), Shinsuke Kaneshima (Tozan-ryu) and others all claim influence from Motobu.

Legend has it that Motobu’s teachings reached further shores. There is a story that suggests that he attempted to visit Hawaii in 1932, but was held by U.S. Immigration on the grounds that he was an undesirable. Apparently his reputation preceded him. It is said that while he was being detained in Hawaii he gave lessons to one James Mitose, considered by some to be the father of Hawaiian Kempo Karate. How this actual worked on a practical level is anyone’s guess. Mitose’s background and past have been objects of speculation for many years, how much he was able to learn over what time-span is open to question, if indeed this meeting ever took place.

With such a character as Choki Motobu, bearing such a reputation, it is easy to see how legends can attach themselves to his larger than life personal history. Another shadowy figure attaches himself to the footnotes of Motobu’s colourful life.

This time the story comes from the annals of Okinawan Isshin-ryu, by way of the late Robert Trias and his account of the history of his own branch of Okinawan/American Shuri-ryu.¹²

Robert A. Trias (1923 - 1989) first came into contact with the martial arts of the east while serving in the United States Navy during World War II. It was in 1942 when he was stationed in the Solomon Islands that he was to have a fateful encounter with a Chinese missionary named T'ung Gee Hsing.

Trias was at the time a middleweight Navy boxing champion and was in training for his next bout. He was amused to find himself being approached by the Chinese missionary requesting lessons in Western Boxing in exchange for training in Hsing-I Chinese Boxing. After much pestering Trias thought he would teach the missionary a lesson and invited him into the ring. To his amazement he was unable to land a single blow on his Chinese opponent! It was this experience that was to change the direction of the rest of his life.

While training and studying with T'ung he learned something of the missionary's background. He discovered that T'ung was the nephew of the great Chinese martial artist Sun Lu T'ang (1859 - 1932) and had learned the secrets of Hsing-I Chinese Boxing from his late uncle.

T'ung had travelled widely and at one time lived and worked in Kume Mura in Okinawa. It was there that he met Choki Motobu.

Researchers Corcoran, Farkas and Martinez expand the story by saying that T'ung trained and exchanged ideas with Motobu and that Motobu incorporated key principles and techniques into his training, based upon the Hsing-I techniques taught to him by T'ung. Their suggestion is that Motobu's Karate is a blend of the Okinawan Shuri-Te he'd previously learned (as well as the influences of Ti taught to him by his brother) and Chinese Hsing-I. Interestingly Trias describes his art (Shuri-ryu) as primarily Okinawan karate, while emphasising the cross-currents and influences of fighting arts from mainland China.

It is Javier Martinez who goes further, and says that the Isshin-ryu founder, Tatsuo Shimabuku (1908-1975), as well as being a student of Choki Motobu was contemporary with T'ung Gee Hsing and training alongside him in the presence of Motobu. Martinez suggests that Shimabuku's Okinawan Isshin-ryu is a mixture of Hsing-I and Okinawan karate and cites examples. Shimabuku's system also includes a very idiosyncratic version of Naihanchi, which curiously starts to the left instead of traditionally the right.¹³

He says that short stances and the vertical fist used by contemporary Isshin-ryu stylist come directly from Hsing-I. (Interestingly the vertical fist (tate-ken) used in Wado Ryu is, in some circles, credited as coming from Motobu's influence, but this is difficult to verify as Ohtsuka Sensei was familiar with a variety of strikes and hand forms from the pugilistic aspect of Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu.)

While it is fascinating to speculate on the circumstances surrounding these claims, I would suggest that any development of ideas based upon this information should proceed with extreme caution. It is too easy for researchers to get carried away. An obvious tendency is to go along the well-travelled route of putting everything down to the inclination of Japanese masters to deny, or play down the influences of the Chinese martial arts because of Nationalist feelings. This view is heavily traded upon by martial arts historians in the West. While this view may hold sway in some areas, it should not be used as a panacea to solve all such historical dilemmas.

This does not mean that we should avoid taking a few tentative steps in that direction, until of course some serious research is undertaken to verify the claims of Messrs. Trias, Martinez, and of course T'ung Gee Hsing (Incidentally, T'ung is believed to have died in Taiwan in 1955).

But where does all of this connect with the exploration of Naihanchi kata?
This short diversion will perhaps highlight some of the complications involved in unravelling the puzzle of Naihanchi, for the detail and relevant clues can perhaps be found in the personal story and background of Choki Motobu.

If we start with the premise that Motobu based his fighting strategies upon his study of Naihanchi kata. For him Naihanchi was a textbook of fighting techniques and principles. So really we need to have some reference to Motobu's fighting techniques.

For evidence of this, an obvious source would be his 1926 book "Okinawan Kempo" first published in May of that year by the Ryukyu Karate-Do Shihan-Kai. This book largely features fighting techniques and defences. A dozen hard-hitting responses to a variety of attacks and counters.

(If Motobu was influenced by T'ung Gee Hsing it would have been after the 1926 publication of the above mentioned book. In an article by Henk Goslinga published in 1999, he tells us that Tatsuo Shimabuku, alleged contemporary and training partner of T'ung Gee Hsing, only trained with Motobu from 1939 for about a year. This means that Motobu was at this time aged about 68 and only had four or five more years to live. How much he was able to develop his ideas between those years is questionable.)

But how different are the techniques illustrated from those of Motobu's contemporaries?

Again a difficult question. This was one of the first ever book published on the techniques of Okinawan karate, and the first book to show fighting applications. Funakoshi was also putting his ideas together for the publication of a book, but his particular contribution moved no further than a collection of kata. Very little in there on how the moves were applied, apart from sparse and very basic descriptions.

Any reference or parallels with Hsing-I Chinese Boxing?

Hsing-I as one of the Big Three Internal Boxing styles (the other two being T'ai-Chi Chuan and Bagua) is wrapped up in a very complex philosophical system that is threaded through the technical curriculum. There seems to be no evidence of the same philosophies within Motobu's teaching. The quotes mentioned above have practicality as their main theme and contain no references to principles found within Hsing-I.

I have found no references to the Five Elements, or Five Energies so important to the teachings of Hsing-I in any of the available material relating to the teachings of Choki Motobu. Neither have I found any direct reference to the Twelve Animals Forms, apart from the deep-rooted broad cultural references that are woven in to the fabric of the ancient Eastern martial traditions, originating from Shamanistic symbolism. (However, Robert Trias does refer to Animal Forms and characteristics in his description of his own system, Shuri-ryu.)

As regards the similarity of stances or fist forms, I would advise researchers not to get carried away with coincidental comparisons. For they may be just that - "coincidental". Because, how many variations on attack and defence are there? The human frame can only physiologically manoeuvre through a limited range of motions, so it is inevitable that the great minds, the great martial experimenters, would come up with the same answers!

As for Naihanchi - it is well known that Naihanchi (or Naifuanchin) was well established as the backbone of Okinawan Shuri-te well before the appearance of T'ung Gee Hsing on the Ryukyu archipelago. So unless T'ung could throw some previously obscured light on the functions of Naihanchi by connecting it directly to Hsing-I Chinese Boxing, it is unlikely that Motobu would have radically changed his understanding and interpretation of the kata.

To play Devil's Advocate on this point; perhaps Motobu experienced an aspect of Hsing-I through contact with T'ung that appealed to his practical nature? Hsing-I is known as the no-nonsense, no-frills, hard-hitting bridge between the Internal and the External Boxing systems. It is possible that Motobu chose to embrace this aspect, and not sign up to the more esoteric aspects of Internal Energy cultivation, Five Elements etc.? Who knows?

Motobu’s Kumite – Ohtsuka’s Kumite and Naihanchi

There are some similarities between Choki Motobu’s Kumite and some of Ohtsuka Sensei’s Kumite, but the modus operandi displayed by the inheritor of Motobu's teaching, namely his son Chosei, demonstrates within the applications to Naihanchi and within the twelve Motobu Kihon Gumite a very much more straight on and immediate approach. The Kihon Gumite of Motobu are very direct and also very accessible, whereas the Ohtsuka Kumite pairs exercises appear to have greater subtlety, betraying their Jujutsu and Japanese Budo roots.

Close examination of Motobu’s 1926 book shows the use of deflections, simultaneous parries and strikes, closing of distances and punches acting as deflections. Also some researchers have sought to identify movements and positions found within Naihanchi kata, and indeed they are there! Returning to Motobu’s previously mentioned quote;

"Twisting to the left or right from the Naifuanchin stance will give you the stance used in a real confrontation. Twisting ones way of thinking about Naifuanchin left and right, the various meanings in each movement of the kata will also become clear."

It is not difficult to see the applications within the 1926 book. In one example we see the attacker grabbed and pulled on to a strike which comes out of the side of the body, a clear and obvious application from Naihanchi.

As mentioned before, the key differences between the Kumite devised by the two masters are in Ohtsuka’s use of principles taken from his background in Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu, as well as techniques that relate closely to traditional schools of swordsmanship. But common ground can be found in engagement distances and the closing down of the opponent by crashing through the zones and distances. Motobu also periodically demonstrates the use of his legs to destabilize or limit the manoeuvrability of his opponent, this is also found in Ohtsuka’s Kumite, but is normally associated with the Kuzushi (unbalancing) found in schools of traditional Jujutsu. Here again we can make a clear connection between principles found in the Kumite of both Masters and Naihanchi. In Wado it is understood that the operation of the Naihanchi stance promotes easy use of the knees to destabilize while allowing the torso freedom to rotate. But if this is common to Motobu and Ohtsuka, who influenced who? Or is it just a coincidence? Whatever the answer is, Naihanchi seems to have been a common denominator.


credits, footnotes and sources
next: Origins

© WadoWorld/Tim Shaw