Excerpts From The Collected Sayings of Motobu Choki
By Marukawa Kenji
1. Everything is natural and changing.
2. Kamae is in the heart, not a physical manifestation.
3. One must develop the ability to read how much striking power someone has at a glance.
4. One does not have to take care to block every single attack by an opponent with weak striking power.
5. In a real confrontation, more than anything else, one should strike to the face first, as this is the most effective.
6. Kicks are not all that effective in a real confrontation.
7. Karate is sente (first strike).
8. The position of the legs and hips in Naifuanchin No Kata is the basics of karate.
9. Twisting to the left or to the right from Naifuanchin stance will give you the stance used in a real confrontation. Twisting one’s way of thinking about Naifuanchin left and right, the various meanings in each of movement of the kata will become clear.
10. One must always try and block an attack at the source.
11. The blocking hand must be able to become the attacking hand in an instant. Blocking with one hand and then attacking with the other is not true bujutsu. Real bujutsu presses forward and blocks and counters in the same motion.
12. One cannot use continuous attacks against true karate. That is because the blocks of true karate make it impossible for the opponent to launch a second attack.
13. I still do not yet know the best way to punch the makiwara.
14. It’s interesting, but when I just think about performing a kata, when I’m seated, I break a sweat.
15. When punching to the face, one must thrust as if punching through to the back of the head.
16. When fighting a boxer, it is better to go with his flow, and take up a rhythm with both of your hands.
17. It is necessary to drink alcohol and pursue other fun human activities. The art of someone who is too serious has no flavor.
18. It is okay to take two steps forward or backward in the same kamae, but over three steps, one must change the position of their guard.
19. When I fought the foreign boxer in Kyoto, he was taller than me so I jumped up and punched him in the face. This is effective against people who are taller than you.
20. I started having real fights at Tsuji when I was young, and fought over 100 of them, but I was never hit in the face.
21. When I was four, I was made to go to a school, but I hated studying, so I often skipped class and played somewhere with my friends.
22. When I was still in Okinawa, Kano Jigoro of the Kodokan visited and asked to talk with me, and through a friend we went to a certain restaurant. Mr. Kano talked about a lot of things, but about karate, he asked me what I would do if my punch missed. I answered that I would immediately follow with an elbow strike from that motion. After that, he became very quiet and asked nothing more about karate.
23. There are no stances such as neko-ashi, zenkutsu or kokutsu in my karate. Neko-ashi is a form of “floating footâ€
Excerpts From The Collected Sayings of Motobu Choki
Excerpts From The Collected Sayings of Motobu Choki
"Remember that you have no companion but your shadow." -Genghis Khan
