Kategorie: Allgemein

It is impossible to write a well-founded article without following in the footsteps of other authors who have already written on the topic, trying to gain new insights and then connecting these with previous knowledge. That is exactly what I did with my latest article.

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to the late Kinjô Hiroshi sensei and the late Yamauchi Seihin sensei, who wrote an article back in 1956, also discussing the figure of Yabiku Môtoku sensei, a person who is now relatively unknown even on Okinawa.

Further thanks goes to Chinen Yudi sensei (the grandson of Kokuba Seitoku), who shared the video of the 1951 demonstration on his YouTube channel in 2016. It was Motobu Naoki sensei who revisited the report by Kinjô Hiroshi sensei and Yamauchi Seihin sensei and connected it to the video published in 2016, documenting the demonstration. He was also able to establish contact with Yabiku Marcelo at that time.

I also owe a special thank you to Yabiku Marcelo, the great-grandson of Yabiku Môtoku sensei, who has always been willing to answer my numerous questions, sent me a copy of the demonstration, and provided me with 14 photos for my research.

The almost exclusive credit for the research in Hawai’i goes to Charles Goodin, who, as far as I know, spent countless hours in libraries, sifting through endless newspapers. Even more importantly, he spoke with the children of the demonstrators from that time and was able to gain significant insights. I discovered an error in one of the newspapers, which I corrected to create a clearer picture. I also extend my gratitude to the staff at the Hawaii Karate Museum, who allowed me to use four photos that Mr. Goodin had found, which are currently housed at the University of Hawaii.

From my newspaper research in Germany on German Jiu-Jitsu, I’ve learned that with enough searching, you can almost always find a program, report, or something similar for a demonstration. In this case, I was also able to find a program of the 1951 demonstration in São Paulo, which my wife and I translated after many hours of character search.

A special thanks goes to the BAB (Gekkan Hiden) publishing house, which allows us to publish our research findings. For this article, we took on the challenge of translating it into English and also publishing it in Portuguese for the first time. A huge thank you to Thomas Krekel for proofreading the English version, and an even greater thank you to Lucas Barboza for the wonderful Portuguese translation.

Thank you so much.

Without all the help, this article would not have turned out as well as it did.

I wish I could have expressed my gratitude to everyone directly in the article, but we were limited to just 6 pages in the magazine, even though we could have easily written 15. So, the only option left was to dedicate a few lines on my blog.

An in-depth exploration of the karate history of Yabu Kentsū necessitates working with Japanese primary sources and analyzing them in great detail. Only in this way can discrepancies be uncovered and corrected, even if they pertain to seemingly minor details. Otherwise, there is a risk that errors will be perpetuated or false information will be regarded as truth, which can significantly undermine historical accuracy.

My second volume was something like a mammoth task… it pushed me to my limits many times and also earned me quite a few air miles.

I hope to have the book finished in the next few weeks.

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.“

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Ikeda Jūshū 池田重秀, the 4th Sōke of Tō’on-ryū. Without karate training, it is almost impossible to write an academic paper on a karate figure, a karate kata, or even a karate anecdote. In this process, it is not only important to consult written works but also to speak with karateka within a karate lineage. Without taking these steps, the expected research results cannot be achieved.

The Jion kata was already my favorite kata during my Shōtōkan days, and I still focus on it. This led to the decision that Ikeda Sensei showed me „Yabu no Jion,“ even though this kata was planned for a later visit. Since I was already familiar with a version of Jion, I was able to quickly adapt Yabus version of Jion – of course, there are still many things that need Ikeda Sensei’s corrections.

I am deeply grateful to Ikeda Sensei for teaching me „Yabu no Jion“ and for allowing us to include two photos with him in the article. A special thanks also goes to my wife, who took the fantastic pictures.

A small note about the photos: we chose identical movements that were also performed by Funakoshi Gichin (1925) and Hanashiro Chōmo (1938).

Ikeda senseis words are as follows:
Yannick, a member of Tō’on-ryū, published his research findings on Jion in [Gekkan] Hiden. I consider the research content to be excellent.

Wow—Motobu Naoki Sensei has already reviewed my second article. After reviewing my first article on Yabu Kentsū (Gekkan Hiden 7/2024), this time he discussed my article of the Jion Kata.

The review can be found on both Patreon and Medium. Additionally, there is a Japanese review on Motobu Sensei’s Note blog.

Thank you very much for featuring my article and for the kind words—it made me very happy.

Both the Yabu article and the Jion article will be translated into English and will be published next year as part of a book containing many other informative articles.

I would like to draw your attention to a small update. I am proud to announce the beginning of our interview series with Okinawan Karate masters.

In Toshiya Issue No. 103, our very first interview with Shimabukuro Zenpo Sensei (10th Dan Shōrin-ryū Seibukan) has been published. In addition to 40 questions for Shimabukuro Sensei, the interview also includes 10 questions for the German representative of Shōrin-ryū Seibukan, Jamal Measara Sensei (9th Dan Shōrin-ryū Seibukan).

My wife and I conducted these interviews during our last trip to Japan, which was more of a research trip—no, not just three days, but almost the entire journey. During this time, we had the opportunity to conduct several interviews, which will also be published in upcoming issues of Toshiya. They may not appear consecutively, as there will be a rotation, and other interviews with German Karateka, not conducted by us, will also be featured.

So, it might be a good idea to subscribe… there are still many interesting interviews to come.

And if anyone would like to have an interview conducted with their Sensei, feel free to contact us… we will try to make that interview happen as well.

I was once asked by a German writer why I publish in a Japanese medium, and at the same time, I was told that no one reads it anyway. This was before my first article had even been published (December 2023).

The answer is actually quite simple: for the same reason that I travel to Japan to explore the culture and decipher parts of Karate history in order to preserve them for future generations.

In the meantime, we are about to publish our third article, and the response we have received in Japanese circles has been overwhelming. We also gifted magazines to our interview partners, and the feedback was very positive there as well—the Gekkan Hiden magazine is indeed read in Japan and has been in publication since 1993.

For this reason, we will continue to work intensively with Gekkan Hiden, and we have already submitted two more articles that will be published in mid-October and mid-December. These articles will very likely be read in other countries as well.

There are different types of karate historians. There are some who mostly work from home, many who buy their own sources, and then there are those like Andreas Quast, who has spent countless hours, if not days, in archives and various libraries. In this way, he was able to build up a comprehensive, small private archive from which he can still draw today.

Over the years, he has published many books, articles, etc., and is always helpful, leaving behind a clear trail that one can follow to continue working on his research in the future.

We can say THANK YOU or support him by purchasing his books, something I have been doing since 2007.

Or we can follow him on Patreon and support him in his further research projects – which are definitely worth supporting.

My first book will cover a mostly unknown student of Yabu Kentsu. I will write several pages about him and attempt to explore his karate in more detail.

Attached is a photo of the widely unknown person.