Drama in 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 Funikoshi is one of the most famous karate in history. His art of Shodokan is the foundation for many Gerotor styles and he is known as the father of modern karate. Then, we have Motobu Joki, an Okinawa 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 Shiritae, one of the original and oldest karate systems. Ichin Funikoshi was born to a wealthy new family, although as a child, he was sickly and weak. While attending school, he became friends with the son of Uncle Asato, a well-known master in Shiritae. Through these early years of training, Funikoshi was able to build up his strength and his health. He was educated and accomplished poet, and he took the arts of Shorn Ryu, and Shere Ryu, the set of arts of Shiritae, and combined them into what became known as Shota Konkrate. Now, Shota Konkrate has a fascinating history, and we did an extensive look at its origin all they get down below. But what really put Funikoshi 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 Funikoshi became an international figurehead of karate. However, even though Shota Kon provided the foundation for several other arts, and is one of the most competitive styles of tournament fighting, Ichin Funikoshi 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 a 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 Ryo-e-lse. However, he was the third child in the family, and did not receive the education and upbringing that was traditionally reserved for the first born son. Both Choki and his older brother Chou-yu trained in karate under Master Anko-itoshi, 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 true deluge, Motobu focused on fine tuning the Kabai application of the art. Pretty soon, he stopped losing to his brother. It's also said that Motobu, feeling, you know, a new sense of accomplishment, even ventured into the red light districts looking for trouble so 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 publish his own books. We're gonna come back to this match in a minute because there some bulls that happened that only fueled the feud. To Motobu Choki, Krate 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 Krate as a means for peace and respect, and another master who feels Krate's first, second, and third focus should be directly on fighting. We could probably guess what happens when these two meet. Speaking of Grand Masters, 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 the line of wisdom. Now these are perfect for your school or home dojo or as they 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 really cool souvenirs 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 Shurete. Naturally curious and possibly hoping to have unexpanned in his own training, Motobu visited the dojo run by Funikoshi. Motobu was not impressed. He felt there was far too much emphasis on Kata and not on fighting, and he did not like Funikoshi's approach to teaching, so much that he allegedly told himself in the middle of class. As the story goes, Motobu grabbed Funikoshi's wrist, put him in the kaki kumutai stance and said, what will you do now? Now supposedly, you know, Funikoshi hesitated, and Motobu put him in a wrist lock and threw him to the ground. Funikoshi 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 few men in humiliated Funikoshi. Now, dojo's storming was very common at this time, though there was typically a system to it. If you went to another dojo to challenge him, you know, you started off by facing off with the lowest rank 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, Funikoshi did have some competent and highly skilled black belts, so challenges likely didn't make it that far. And this was entirely possible that this was the first time Funikoshi 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. Motobu went on to spread word of this encounter and attempted to sell it for Funikoshi's teaching. He is quoted with saying, his demonstrations were simply implausible. This kind of person is good for nothing scallywag. Funikoshi, on the other hand, was equally upset and he engaged in a smear campaign to muddy up Motobu's character, calling him illiterate and an irreconcilable enemy. This played out 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 Funikoshi 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 covered in that fight. They got the names and details correct. However, they used the image of Funikoshi instead, most likely because he was a more recognizable face. This inadvertently gave Funikoshi credit for something he didn't do. Awkward! So, ultimately, who was writing this debate? Well, I'm going to have to resort to my cop-out answer and say, well, it depends on the perspective. That's a given. However, if I had to choose one, I would have leaned 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 Funikoshi either. I absolutely believe that there is a place for his methods and for Kata and non-combat of focus, but it all comes down to context. Look at their childhood. Funikoshi 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 each found a way for Kata to provide them with those solutions. And to elaborate, the way that they handled the situation, I think proved the other person right. You know, Funikoshi was his wisdom of, Kata begins and ends with respect. You know, 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 just fought for the Koshisans. He was brash, rough around the edges, and he never found the balance or success of life that Funikoshi had. He could even have been a little 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. Kata's crap, Kata'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 can teach a person how to fight? Yes, I do. But I also advocate martial arts for other non-combative goals too. We have Kata's examples on a channel alone, about training to help people in their health or their quality of life. If you're goal, so 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? F*** 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, Watobu and Funako Shichikopardin Kakekumete. 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 freestyle should be used interchangeably. Give it a try, and then come back and listen with what you thought. If you liked today's episode, and you want to support our efforts, please be sure to check out our story down below and get your own 4 Father Cameras print. Now, if you fancy the baits of touchy subjects, then this continues on with the Top of Kakaata and how you may hard to be training it without even realizing that you are. I'll just drop that little nugget and I'll wait for the fallout.