Funakoshi vs Motobu: Clash of the masters

[@erronwright3905]

Loved the Clash piece! Greetings from Missouri! Strong Goju influence in my dojos.

[@timthenunes]

That’s awesome! As a Wado practitioner, I find Goju has some of the most beautiful Kata (I really love Kururunfa)

[@botanicalbiohacking6065]

@@timthenunes Will Do, thank you

[@lynx8947]

Just a question I just wanna know if Motobu choki had any intentions to kill of Gichin funakoshi's legacy ?

[@timthenunes]

Good question. I don’t think Motobu had any mortal ill will against Funakoshi. I just think he hated either him, or he was envious of his success.

[@kyussbrooker1774]

The comment about Funakoshi's karate being hollow like a drum. Sounds great but empty inside. I feel that is referring to the understanding and practice of the applications in kata. If the katas make a pretty sound. Maybe it's a complement of Funakoshi for passing on the kata's.

[@timthenunes]

It was definitely an insult by Motobu towards Funakoshi. To Motobu, Funakoshi’s karate was all form and no function. It was a petty comment to make, no matter what we think about it. If this was the only comment he made about Funakoshi, it wouldn’t be so bad, but there is such a thing as the “Motobu precepts”, in which he basically disses Funakoshi in practically every precept. I’m probably going to make some videos on them too in the future.

[@kyussbrooker1774]

@@timthenunes Look forward to it 😀

[@timthenunes]

Thanks by the way for posting your video on our page! You are welcome in the Kani Uchi family 🙇‍♂️

[@danielyoung4843]

Love your content. Motobu was a gangster of his time and ready to fight fire with hell fire. He was real. Gichin seemed to be soft and their are many story's that he could not fight to well. Either way was not their but, thanks from Ohio. Ryukyu strong!

[@timthenunes]

Thanks 👍

[@chinolatino9663]

Funakoshi always avoided confrontations, thats what he learned from his two main senseis, on the other hand motobu was always seeking confrontations. Of course Motobu would have won, he trained for himself, Funakoshi trained others. On top of that motobu was a lot heavier which shouldnt be taken into consideration inside karate world, but you know if your harder and faster than your opponent and on top of that heavier, well you know the rest of the story...

[@Wwim58687]

Great work, funakoshi clearly was missing a lot

[@timthenunes]

Clearly… at least according to the written sources. We weren’t there of course… also (watch my video about Meiji)… Funakoshi didn’t have it too easy, we shouldn’t be too hard on him either. Anyway, thanks so much for your reaction 🙇‍♂️

[@ivanildocafu3452]

So Was Motobu undefeated?

[@timthenunes]

Great question! There is a mention in a book that tells he was once defeated when he was younger. I can’t remember of the top of my head, but it’s somewhere in my notes about Kyan Chotoku. You can imagine, it’s not easy to find stories of people like him being defeated, knowing much of what sources we have today are a combination of history and marketing, so grain of salt territory…

[@chinolatino9663]

His brother choyu sent him out flying with a goten te technique that he was not permitted to learn as this martial art by tradition was only taught to the oldest brother of the family. Another story says he was very impressed when he got beat in an okinawan bar at red district. However its just a story. True is that if you ran into him in a dark alley you better run!!!!

[@chinolatino9663]

So while in okinawa and exposed to karate circle there he never heard of the chairman of the shobukai?!!!! Tough to believe, not to mention he was a detractor to his own sensei itosu and talked trash on his back about his karate skills, for God sake we are talking about the great itosu!!!! It seems to me that as member of the royalty he felt he could behave the way he did and disrespect anyone. Even though a great and skillfull practitioner he lacked humbleness and texts portray him as a lier and a bully to his own peers. No wonder few wanted to teach him. Dont believe at all he did not know Funakoshi before!!! Where was he when Funakoshi demostrated karate to the crown prince in okinawa in 1921?!!!!

[@timthenunes]

I wasn’t there obviously, but this feud between these two men feels a bit childish. I don’t think either of them said things that were either true or fair when it came to the other. I mean Motobu’s criticism on the “weakness” of Funakoshi vs Funakoshi’s claims that Motobu was “dumb as a monkey”… But we shouldn’t forget, they were only human, and we can all make mistakes… we all have parts of our lives we aren’t proud of. Don’t be too mad at Motobu, after all it’s Funakoshi’s name that wound up way more influential, right? For my part, I think both of them were enormously important for me as a karateka, regardless of their petty feuding. Thanks for your comment! I appreciate your passion 👍🙇‍♂️

[@chinolatino9663]

@@timthenunes Great analysis bro!! Good luck in all your karate endeavors!!! Thanks for showig so much respect!!!