 Drama and the martial arts? Who would have expected that? Today we're looking at a famous rivalry between two historical karate masters. But why should you give a flip? Well, whether you're a traditional martial artist, or a contemporary competitor, we're going to show you why their conflict is still relevant today. Ichin Funakoshi is one of the most famous karateka in history. His art of shodokan is the foundation for many derivative styles, and he is known as the father of modern karate. Then we have Motobu Joki, an Okinawan master that put karate through some serious pressure testing and created the basis of his own art, known as Motobu Ryu. Now, these two men cannot be any further apart in their ideals. This was a time when karate was spreading internationally. Both of these men came from very different backgrounds, and interestingly enough, I believe that their differences actually justify each other. So, how does this 100-year-old beef actually affect you? Well, there's actually three key aspects of this rivalry we need to understand. And at the end of this video, we're going to go over an original karate freestyle technique that I think you should probably be incorporating into your training. Okay, first, we need to understand who these men were, what they believed, and why they had the perspectives that they had. Both were from Okinawa, and both had a foundation in Shurite, one of the original and oldest karate systems. Ichin Funakoshi was born to a well-to-do family, although as a child, he was sickly and weak. While attending school, he became friends with the son of Anko Asato, a well-known master in Shurite. Through these early years of training, Funakoshi was able to build up his strength and his health. He was educated, an accomplished poet, and he took the arts of Shorenryu and Shureiryu, the senate arts of Shurite, and combined them into what became known as Shotokan Krate. Now, Shotokan Krate has a fascinating history, and we did an extensive look at its origin. I'll link it down below. But what really put Funakoshi on the map was when he brought this karate to Japan, and he conformed his martial art into a system designed to teach the masses. It wasn't long until Funakoshi became an international figurehead of karate. However, even though Shotokan provided the foundation for several other arts, and is one of the most competitive styles of tournament fighting, Ichin Funakoshi did not view karate as a system of combat, but rather a way of life. He was quoted as saying, The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants. He was against the competitive application, and he prohibited sports sparring. This is in contrast to his own son, Gigo, who advocated the opposite. Now, sliding to the other end of the scale, we have Motobu Choki. He was born in Okinawa to a family of Ryukyu royalty. However, he was the third child in the family, and did not receive the education and upbringing that was traditionally reserved for the firstborn son. Both Choki and his older brother Choyu trained in karate under master Anko Itosu. However, Choki found himself unable to defeat his brother in sparring. This led him to seek out other, further teaching under Sokan Matsumura and Sakuma Sensei. Under their tutelage, Motobu focused on fine-tuning the combat application of the art. Pretty soon, he stopped losing to his brother. It's also said that Motobu, feeling a new sense of accomplishment, even ventured into the red-light districts looking for trouble so that he could test his skills in real street fights. When he was 51 years old, Motobu moved to Osaka, Japan, where he was relatively unknown. Now, this changed, however, after he defeated a much larger and younger Western boxer in a high-profile exhibition. This put a spotlight on Motobu, and he went on to open up his own dojo in Tokyo and even published his own books. We're going to come back to this match in a minute, because there's some bulls*** that happened that only fueled the feud. To Motobu Choki, karate was a means of fighting, and he is well-known for the quote, that thing is more harmful to the world than the martial art that is not effective in actual self-defense. So we have one master who views karate as a means for peace and respect, and another master who feels karate's first, second, and third focus should be directly on fighting. We could probably guess what happens when these two meet. Speaking of grandmasters, we are proud to announce that our four father series of shirts is now available in Kama's prints. Each master is beautifully and digitally restored along with a line of wisdom. Now, these are perfect for your school, or home dojo, or as a gift to somebody in the arts. Use code father23 to get 10% off for the month of September. Now, if you find value in our content, then this is a great way to help us so that we don't have to rely on outside sponsors, and you get a really cool souvenir to show for it. So, check them out in the description down below. So, now we have Motobu in Japan teaching the martial arts, when he catches wind of another Okinawan teaching the derivative of shirite. Naturally curious and possibly hoping to unexpand his own training, Motobu visited the dojo run by Funakoshi. Motobu was not impressed. He felt there was far too much emphasis on kata and not on fighting, and he did not like Funakoshi's approach to teaching so much that he allegedly told himself in the middle of class. As the story goes, Motobu grabbed Funakoshi's wrist, put him on the kakekumite stance, and said, what will you do now? Now, supposedly, you know, Funakoshi hesitated, and Motobu put him in a wrist lock and threw him to the ground. Funakoshi got up, dusted himself off, and angrily said, you don't try that again. So, Motobu did. Grabbed his wrist and threw him to the ground. And then, he did it for the third time. At this point, Motobu felt that he had proved his point, and he vacated the dojo leaving behind a fuming and humiliating Funakoshi. Now, dojo storming was very common at this time, though there was typically a system to it. If you went to another dojo to challenge them, you know, you started off by facing off with the lowest ranked student. If you defeated them, moved on to the next rank, and then so on and so on, and you climbed the chain up to the sensei. That's how it was normally done, and in this context, Funakoshi did have some competent and highly skilled black belt so challenges likely didn't make it that far. And this was entirely possible that this was the first time Funakoshi himself was challenged. Motobu was brash and bold, and was out to prove a point. And it's fair to say he proved it. This left both gentlemen with a sourness for the other. Soobu went on to spread word of this encounter and attempted to sully Funakoshi's teaching. He is quoted with saying, His demonstrations were simply implausible. This kind of person is good for nothing scallywag. Funakoshi, on the other hand, was equally upset, and he engaged in a spear campaign to muddy up Motobu's character, calling him illiterate and an irreconcilable enemy. This played on Motobu's inability to speak Japanese. He had spent most of his life in Okinawa and only spoke his native dialect. It also impeded his ability to teach and instruct Japanese students. However, his publications proved that he could read and write, but it was not in Japanese, and Funakoshi leveraged that to break down his character. And to throw some salt on this wound, that match that Motobu had with that boxer? Yeah, well, a few years after the bout, Kingu, a popular Japanese magazine, ran a story covering that fight. They got the names and details correct. However, they used the image of Funakoshi instead, most likely because he was a more recognizable face. This inadvertently gave Funakoshi credit for something he didn't do. Awkward. So ultimately, who was right in this debate? Well, I'm going to have to resort to my cop-out answer and say, well, it depends on the perspective. I mean, that's a given. However, if I had to choose one, I would have to lean more towards Motobu. Now, I don't necessarily agree with how he did it, but he brings up a fair point that if you're going to teach a system of martial arts, then it should be effective. If students are going to learn how to defend themselves in fight, then the material in school needs to reflect that. But I don't want to dismiss Funakoshi either. I absolutely believe that there is a place for his methods and furkata and non-combat of focus, but it all comes down to context. Look at their childhood. Funakoshi was sick and he used karate to get stronger. He was well-off and had a good education, so it makes perfect sense from the focus on the self-development, fulfillment, and respectful side of training. That is his context. But Tobu, on the other hand, was neglected, didn't have the same education, and he had to literally fight his way to success. Their goals were 100% different, and he found a way for karate to provide them with those solutions. And to elaborate, the way that they handled the situation, I think proved the other person right. Funakoshi with his wisdom of karate begins and ends with respect. He broke his own ethics by spreading false rumors about Motobu's education. That was a bit of a dick move. And he proved Motobu right in that he was not able to use the system in self-defense in order to defend himself. But Motobu also justified Funakoshi's stance. He was brash, rough around the edges, and in his own life that Funakoshi had, he could even have been a little bit jealous. So why does any of this matter? Well, it matters because we still have this exact same debate today. In the five years of doing this channel and reading the comment section, I constantly see arguments about what works in the fight, what's worth learning, kato's crap, kato's great, and the like. It's been a hundred years, people, and we still haven't progressed past this. The answer is define your personal goal. Do I believe the martial arts Yes, I do. But I also advocate martial arts for other non-combative goals too. We have countless examples on the channel alone about training to help people in their health or their quality of life. If your goal is to learn how to fight, then look for a school that teaches how to fight. If you want to reap other benefits of training that isn't fighting, then find what works for you and honestly screw anyone else that tells you it's wrong. A couple of months back we had a viewer leave a comment that the martial arts is for fighting and fighting only. And if they're looking for health, strength, peace, enlightenment, rehab, or any other purpose, then they had no business being inside a dojo and they should just go take pills or go to church. Really? Fuck that noise. Know your goal and then fight for it. Nothing else matters after that. Now as far as the freestyle system that was used, Butobu and Funakoshi took part in Kakekumite. Now the definition and history of this word is an entire video on its own, but in short, it's a method of freestyle sparring in which both opponents start already making contact, typically right arms out, wrist to wrist. Now this is a dynamically different type of freestyle that promotes the engagement of close range combat. This is the sweet spot for self defense techniques, grappling counters, and takedowns. You still see it used today and honestly I feel this is something that everyone should incorporate into their own training, especially if your focus is on fighting. It helps refine different strategies and sensitivities that medium or long range doesn't. I believe that both methods of freestyles should be used interchangeably. Let's come back and let's know what you thought. If you liked today's episode and you want to support our efforts then please be sure to check out our store down below and get your own For Father cameras print. Now if you fancy debates of touchy subjects then this continues on with the topic of kata and how you may already be training it without even realizing that you are. I'll just drop that little nugget and I'll wait for the fallout.