The Methods of Choki Motobu: Part 8
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- iainabernethy.... This series of fifteen videos covers my take on the methods of Choki Motobu (1870-1944). We will cover his thinking, a little of his history, his twelve two-person drills, some of his anti-gripping methods, and the kata I created for my personal practise of his methodology (Seinipo). A new episode will go live each week until the series is completed.
This video series first appeared in the iain abernethy app (available from Google Play and the Apple App Store). If you are serious about pragmatic karate, then the hundreds of hours of instructional information in the app provides an in-depth and ever-growing resource (the app is updated with new material each week):
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Motobu’s methods provide an interesting contrast to some of the questionable practises of modern karate (i.e. things like three-step and five-step “sparring”). He is also one of karate’s more “colourful” characters and his methods are entirely congruent with the methodology of the traditional kata
It is my view that all pragmatically minded karateka should have some familiarity with his thinking and methodology. Whist Motobu is a key part of my own personal karate lineage, I have found his methods resonate with karateka of all styles. I have shared these drills with practitioners of Shotokan, Shito-Ryu, Goju-Ryu, Wado-Ryu, etc and even non-karateka. All of them have found recognisable commonalities with their existing practise.
In is my opinion that Motobu’s methods are often negatively influenced by the practices of 3K modern karate; including a lack of flow, overly-formal attacks and an exaggerated distance. This has been avoided in what is shared here.
NOTE: In some cases, I have tweaked the methods to be more inline with the wider practises of myself and students. These instances are made clear within the video series.
I hope that you enjoy this series. As mentioned above, if you do like it, and want to see more, then please check out the iain abernethy app for well over one-thousand hours of in-depth instruction on a whole load of practical karate topics.
All the best,
Iain
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Very nice application of the "reinforced block" 👊
At around 3:00 : I learned an identical takedown in Silat( It such a great one most arts have a version) and found if I grabbed them with my rear hand at the waist they couldn't bounce away or step back before the compression/sweep motion . As I was showing some students I looked up at a mirror and there was that same exact posture you are showing and I remember going "Well look at that ....those guys were grappling! " . In hindsight I was just late to the game but it made me look entirely different at the Okinawan arts and the few pieces that had drifted into the unfortunately watered down version of Karate I had started in in the 80's and eventually become disillusioned in . But all the stances and structures were there the whole time , by rote , they were just being mis-used or misinterpreted . I just needed to look at them all from a different perspective. So needless to say this whole series has been of great interest to me . Happy Holiday from the U.S. !
thanks Iain !!!
So interesting!! I think I will need to go back through the individual videos, once you have finished, to see these all front to back.
Awesome!
Thanks Sensei Iain for the instructive video on your series on the techniques of Choki Motobu. It is great to see the block and strike with the same hand, and the “sticking” of the blocking hand with the opponents arm so you know where it is without having to look. So much has been lost from “Old School” Karate. But as you perfectly illustrate, some of these moves are included in the katas!
The OG karate. How do I punch the guy without him punching me.