Street Fighting Man

The late Lyle Alzado, the football legend from the 70s, once quipped to an interviewer that he never met a man he didn't want to fight. The same could be said for another legend - one who didn't hone his skills on the gridiron, but initially on the streets of Okinawa. His name was Choki Motobu. Motobu (b. 1871) was not your ordinary karate-ka; he liked to field test his learned abilities in Tsujimachi - Okinawa's infamous red light district, against thugs and anyone else who had the misfortune to cross his path. Because of his reputation as a troublemaker, he resorted to using an assumed name to gain entry into prominent dojos, only to be thrown out once his real identity was learned. He would often pay his tuition with the unlikely offering of awamori (rice liqueur) when he couldn't afford any other means. Money was something he had no real understanding or appreciation for - a common trait for men of Motobu's ilk.

Motobu defeated a European prizefighter in a boxing ring when he was in his fifties, bringing him much popularity, and eventually students. Some of his disciples went on to create their own ryu (feudal term for school), but Motobu himself was never affiliated with any particular style, as he himself was never anyone's disciple - truly a modern day ronin. Motobu's approach to karate flew in the face of the conventional wisdom of the day, and like Sinatra, he did it his way.