Was Baron Münchhausen a Karateka?

I recently had a conversation with a friend about a topic that led us to notice something curious: some Western karateka tend to exaggerate their own karate history, a phenomenon that’s not entirely new. Unfortunately, we encounter this behavior occasionally even among so-called karate historians, who claim to have conducted extensive interviews with certain masters.

Baron Münchhausen as a karateka (Created with ChatGPT)

I also recently found that research trips to Okinawa are sometimes inflated as well. A journey that involved merely six days of research was stretched into nearly a month. The reasons for this remain somewhat unclear to me… Is it an effort to cultivate an aura of expertise, or perhaps a way to appear more professional?

In the past, people often claimed to have obtained information from a particular master, most of whom, unfortunately, have since passed away, making it impossible to verify these claims. But now, it seems these „Münchhausens“ are not even afraid to use this tactic with living masters. Oh yes, there are people who ask questions, and the answers they receive often differ greatly from the stories told by our „Münchhausens.“