Japanese Martial Arts Replaced By One Punch Karate Mistake!

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 Chinese Kung Fu movie, the plot will invariably turn to the infamous western boxing match. The boxing match did occur about 1900, though the results were invariably not as the movies would have you believe. Indeed, the whole incident actually exploits the common mans need for myth and legend, and a way to bolster up a sagging belief in oneself.

That said, one of these infamous boxing matches occurred in Japan in 1921. An Okinawan by the name of Choki Motobu was in Japan. He was descended from a royal family, was a brawler in his youth, but had studied much Karate.

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.

Reports of how the contest proceeded vary. Some have Motobu evading the taller Russian boxer during the beginning rounds, then pouncing in and knocking out the Russian strong man with one powerful Karate Fist. Other accounts claim Motobu kicked his opponent in the groin, and when the pugilist bent over in agony, Motobu delivered an illegal strike.

Whatever the truth of this affair, Motobu was the one left standing, and the crowd went wild. The press, anxious to report on this victory of one race over another, searched frantically for an image to run with the headlines. They finally found an old file image of an Okinawan fellow who wasn't really much of a fighter...Gichin Funakoshi.

Thus, the story of why Japan became enthralled with Karate may have more to do with dirty fighting, lazy reporting, and a people in search of a superior identity, than with any superiority of art. That said, however, this writer makes no indictment of Karate, nor does he hold any martial art as superior. That is not the point to be made here.

This is merely a history lesson, and a revelation concerning mans poor self image of himself, and how that image can be exploited. When you hear somebody claim that one art is better than another, one should consider the tale of Motobu Choki and why Japan chose Karate as a 'national art.' And that is how Japanese Martial Arts were supplanted by a One Punch Karate Mistake.

The One Punch One Kill technique is real. Head to Monster Martial Arts.