was an Okinawan karate

Karate

is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...

 master and elder brother of karateka Motobu Chōki

Motobu Choki

The Okinawan karateka , younger brother of karateka Motobu Chōyū, was born in Akahira Village in Shuri, Okinawa, then capital of the Ryūkyū Kingdom....

.

Motobu Chōyū was born in Akahira village in Shuri, Okinawa. His father, Anji

Anji (Ryukyu)

thumb|AjiAn aji, anji, or azu was a ruler of a petty kingdom in the history of the Ryukyu Islands. The word later became a title and rank of nobility in the Ryūkyū Kingdom. It is said to be related to the Japanese aruji , and the pronunciation varied throughout the islands. It ranked next below a...

(Lord) Motobu Chōshin was a descendent of Prince Shō Kōshin (1655-1687), the sixth son of Okinawan King Shō Shitsu

Sho Shitsu

' was a king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom who held the throne from 1648 until his death in 1668.The fourth son of King Shō Hō, he was named Prince of Sashiki in 1637, at the age of eight, and was granted Sashiki magiri as his domain...

 (1629-1668).

Chōyū first learned the art of Te

Okinawan martial arts

Okinawan martial arts refers to the martial arts which originated among the indigenous people of Okinawa Island in Japan, most notably karate, tegumi, and Okinawan kobudō....

(the precursor to modern karate), which was passed down within the Shō royal family from father to eldest son. He then studied Shuri-te karate and koryū

Koryu

is a Japanese word that is used in association with the ancient Japanese martial arts. This word literally translates as "old school" or "traditional school"...

("old school") Japanese martial arts

Japanese martial arts

Japanese martial arts refers to the enormous variety of martial arts native to Japan. At least three Japanese terms are often used interchangeably with the English phrase "Japanese martial arts": , literally meaning "martial way", , which has no perfect translation but means something like science,...

 under the legendary karateka Matsumura Sōkon. He later combined all these arts he had learned to create the Motobu-ryū

Motobu-ryu

is a school of karate founded by Choki Motobu in 1922. The official full name is Nihon Denryu Heiho Motobu Kenpo ., a Motobu family style of Karate, is also sometimes called Motobu-ryu or Motobu-ryu Udundi...

 style of karate. In his final years, he was the head martial arts instructor to the last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom

Ryukyu Kingdom

The Ryūkyū Kingdom was an independent kingdom which ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th century to the 19th century. The Kings of Ryūkyū unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan...

, Shō Tai

Sho Tai

was the last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom . His reign saw greatly increased interactions with travelers from abroad, particularly from Europe and the United States, as well as the eventual end of the kingdom and its annexation by Japan as Okinawa Prefecture.In 1879, the deposed king was forced to...

 (r. 1848-1879), succeeding Matsumura in that position.

External links

• Motobu-ryu