Motobu Chōki, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Motobu Chōki

Okinawan karateka

Date of Birth: 05-Apr-1870

Place of Birth: Shuri, Okinawa, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

Date of Death: 15-Apr-1944

Profession: karateka

Nationality: Japan

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Motobu Choki (?? ??, 1870–1944) was an Okinawan karateka from Akahira Village in Shuri, Okinawa, capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom when he was born.
His older brother Motobu Choyu was also a noted karateka. His father, Lord Motobu Choshin (Motobu Aji Chosin) was a descendant of the sixth son of the Okinawan King, Sho Shitsu (1629–1668), namely Sho Koshin, also known as Prince Motobu Chohei (1655–1687).
Choki was the third son of Motobu Udun ("Motobu Palace"), one of the cadet branches of the Ryukyuan royal family. As the last of three sons, Motobu Choki was not entitled to an education in his family's style of Te (an earlier name for karate).
Despite this Motobu was very interested in the art, spending much of his youth training on his own, hitting the makiwara, pushing and lifting heavy stones to increase his strength.
He is reported to have been very agile, which gained him the nickname Motobu no Saru, or "Motobu the Monkey." He began practicing karate under Matsumura Sokon and continued under Anko Itosu, Sakuma Pechin and Kosaku Matsumora.