The People of Motobu Town Skilled in Martial Arts

Photo by Masaaki Komori on Unsplash

The following passage is from the Ryūkyū Shimpō article titled “Sports Fudoki: Motobu Town — Defiant Spirit Forged by the Sea” (April 30, 1962):

Karate masters are born The nickname Bu Mutobā (ブ・ムトバー) succinctly captures the competitive spirit of the people of Motobu. Bu Mutobā means “Martial Motobu people,” and about 450 years ago, when King Shō Shin of the Second Shō Dynasty abolished various districts and consolidated them in Shuri, the brothers Motobu Chōshō and Chōki, who ascended to Shuri as important figures of the Motobu Udun, were renowned as karate masters. In particular, the younger brother Chōki was known for his agility to the extent that he was called Mutobu Zāru (“Motobu the Monkey”), and he was no less a formidable martial artist than his brother Chōshō.

Since then, people have praised the martial prowess of the Motobu people, bestowing upon them the title Bu Mutobā. The love of sports inherited from these ancestors shows no sign of fading in the Motobu people even today.

Motobu was pronounced Mutubu in the Okinawan dialect. Mutobu is an intermediate pronunciation between the two.

The article highlights that many people from Motobu Town have achieved success across various fields. This is because the people of Motobu possess a competitive spirit and fear no rivalry. Many individuals also thrive in the world of sports.

Where does this spirit come from? As the term Bu Mutobā (“Martial Motobu people”) suggests, the people of Motobu Magiri, which later became Motobu Town, have long excelled in martial arts. The brothers Motobu Chōshō and Chōki were particularly renowned as karate masters.

Although Chōshō is a mistaken reference to Chōyū, these two brothers did not live 450 years ago. Furthermore, during the reign of King Shō Shin (1477–1527), Motobu Magiri did not yet exist. Motobu Magiri began in 1666 when King Shō Shitsu divided Nakijin Magiri to create Inoha Magiri for his son, Prince Motobu Chōhei, and renamed it Motobu Magiri the following year.

Despite these chronological inconsistencies, the central idea remains: the people of Motobu earned a reputation as Bu Mutobā, skilled in martial arts.

Incidentally, the brothers Chōyū and Chōki were not from Motobu Town but from Shuri, and the first Prince Motobu Chōhei was also born in Shuri. Although Motobu Town (formerly Motobu Magiri) was part of the Motobu Udun’s domain, its administration was generally entrusted to officials known as Aji-uchi (按司掟) or Jitō-dai (地頭代).

However, the fact that the Nakazato brothers, who served at the Motobu Udun in Shuri, returned to their hometown and performed the Kame-no-kō-odori, a karate dance incorporating Passai, which still exists today, suggests that the martial prowess of successive generations of Motobu Udun contributed to the spread of the Bu Mutobā spirit through their service at the Motobu Udun.

Since Uechi Kanbun was also from Motobu Town, the title Bu Mutobā does not seem to be unfounded.

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