One Punch Karate Foul Replaces Japanese Martial Arts!

One Punch Karate Foul Replaces Japanese Martial Arts!

A student recently asked me why Karate became popular in Japan, when the Japanese had their own Martial Arts. The answer to this question is in an historical incident. And, the answer reveals something rather sordid about the human nature.

If you've ever watched a Shaw Brothers Kung Fu flick, the plot will invariably turn to the infamous western boxing match. Boxing matches of this type did occur about 1900, though the results were usually not as the films would have you believe. Indeed, the whole incident merely takes advantage of the common mans need for myth and legend, and a way to bolster up a sagging belief in self.

That said, one of these infamous contests did happen in Japan around 1921. An Okinawan, Choki Motobu, was visiting Japan. He was of royal Okinawan descent, had been a ruffian in his youth, but had studied much Karate over the years.

Motobu was not too good at business, for accounts have it that he was out of work and out of money. A friend, possibly to garner him some bucks, convinced him to enter a Western Boxing contest which had been opened to all challengers. Motobu was fifty-two years old.

Accounts of how the match proceeded vary. Some have Motobu evading the taller western boxer during the early rounds, then pouncing in and knocking out the Russian strong man with one Karate strike. Other accounts claim Motobu delivered a kick to the groin, and when the boxer bent over in agony, Motobu delivered an illegal strike.

Whatever the truth, Motobu was the winner, and the crowd went wild. The press, anxious to report on this upset and vindication of race, searched frantically for an image to run with the story. They came up with an old file image of...Gichin Funakoshi.

Thus, the story of why Japan became enthralled with Karate may have more to do with illegal strikes, bad reporting, and a people in need of a superior racial identity, than with any superiority of art. That said, this writer makes no indictment of Karate, nor does he hold any martial art over another. That is not the point to be made in this article.

This is merely a lesson based in history and folly, and a revelation concerning mans need to make himself look better. When you hear some budding martial arts practitioner claim that one art is superior over others, one should consider the tale of Motobu Choki and why Japan chose Karate for their 'national art.' And that is the story behind how Japanese Martial Arts were Defeated by a One Punch Karate Mistake.

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