Kodokai Dojo

Why We Switched from Karate to Motobu-ryu

I taught karate in northern Rhode Island for over thirty years. I liked it an awful lot. We practiced an authentic, powerful and diverse karate style that I learned on the island of Okinawa. Karate suited me well and many of my students developed powerful abilities. Always looking for ways to improve, I visited many schools both here and on the island of Okinawa. Then, one day....

I was visiting Okinawa for some training in 2002. I stopped by the home of Master Seiki Toma to pay my respects. After a glass of orange juice and an amazed study of his home (it was like stepping back in time) the visit turned into an impromptu demonstration of Motobu-ryu with me as the demonstration model. Toma sensei, with his cane in one hand and me in the other, opened my eyes to a different way of thinking. The rest is history.

Here is a short list of reasons why I, after decades of karate, switched from karate to Motobu-ryu:

• Provides greater fitness benefits and is easier on the joints.
  
  
• Offers a wider range of skills making a well-rounded martial artist.
  
  
• It is easier to learn.
  
  
• It is more practical for self-protection.
  
  
• Effective skills are developed quicker.
  
  
• It has a more developed philosophy for training the mind and spirit.
  
  
• Karate is new, and focused on one-against-one. Motobu Udundi has a long history and tactics that reflect it's applications in battle against a multitude of enemies.
  
  
• Karate focuses on forms or kata- fighting against imaginary opponents. Udundi doesn't require an active imagination because it is practiced against people.
  
  
• We waste no training time on point sparring.
  
  
• It is more fun, more relaxed, and not regimented.
   
  
• Because karate is standardized an 80 pound female and a 240 man are taught the same things and to move the same ways. With Motobu-ryu each person makes the art his own. They are taught to do what works rather than what is standard.
  
  
• Nothing in Motobu-ryu is based upon how it looks- only on how it works.

These are my personal observations. I do not wish to imply that karate is not good. It is good for some people- particularly the young and athletic. But, having extensive experience in karate, having been trained by some of the best teachers in the land where it was created, I don't practice it any more. I have no interest in ever practicing karate again.

I have Motobu-ryu.