Be careful not to be like those who do not train sufficiently,
yet become “masters” because their talk resembles that
of the experts. From olden times, these men have been
called kuchi bushi (mouth warriors). Even today, these
mouth warriors are as common as grains of sand on a beach.
Gichin Funakoshi
As Master Funakoshi stated years ago, the martial arts world has had an over-abundance of mouth warriors for decades, if not centuries, and it certainly has not gotten any better today. In fact, if anything, it has gotten much worse, as technology has enabled these frauds to easily produce fake documents in an effort to support their false claims.
In addition to the ease of falsifying documents, these mouth warriors also have little problem finding other kuchi bushi to support them, and even honor them, in various martial arts federations, organizations, and fake martial arts halls of fame.
Mouth warriors can frequently be found in large groups at martial arts hall of fame gatherings where they managed to take photos with martial arts celebrities and a few true martial artists who have been invited to take part in these shams. They then present these photos as further proof that they are true martial arts “masters.”
And the icing on the cake for the kuchi bushi is that since our culture has matured, for the most part, to a place where real fights are fairly rare, these mouth warriors are rarely, if ever, forced to back up their claims in a fight against a true warrior. Therefore, they can safely protect their false claims with little to no risks.
A century before Master Funakoshi’s time, these mouth warriors would have been called out and would have been lucky to have escaped with their life, much less been able to continue with their fraud. In today’s culture, on the other hand, they pretty much skate by untouched and, for the most part, their claims go unchallenged. But that doesn’t change the fact that the attention whores still cannot fight their way out of a wet paper bag, even if their life depended on it!
The modern kuchi bushi is much more interested in hollow appearances and self-promotion than in developing any martial arts skill. His weapons are slander, libel, the telephone, and the computer keyboard, instead of his hands and feet. He has no clue how to wield a blade, but his tongue is as sharp as the finest honed steel.
Whenever he is asked to prove his claims, he turns to the mounds of certificates he has acquired from fraudulent federations or organizations, or which he has printed for himself, and of course his cheap martial arts hall of fame trophies which he paid top dollar for in order to honor himself. He is also quick to drop the names of famous martial artists who, in reality, he barely knows, as proof of his standing in the martial arts world.
The kuchi bushi is also quick to point out that he is a grandmaster, a senior grandmaster, or even a supreme grandmaster, and of course, he has all the certificates to “prove” that he deserves his titles. It doesn’t matter that he may not have even trained to the level of first degree black belt in the art which he has chosen to be a paper tiger grandmaster. After all, there are plenty of other paper tigers who will back up his false claims.
These mouth warriors tend to stick together, because once one of them is exposed, they start to fall like lined up dominoes. None of them can afford to let their “brother” down, because they are all connected in their webs of deceit. If one “brother” is exposed, the whole web starts to unwind, and they absolutely cannot have that!
Today’s mouth warrior absolutely does not stand alone; he has an army behind him. And if you expose him, he immediately calls his troops to the rescue. They will attack you like a pack of mangy, rabid dogs, but these dogs are all bark and no bite. They will never confront you face-to-face; but they will pull out all of their weapons in which they are proficient (libel, slander, defamation of character, and lies) and try their best to mangle your reputation for having dared to tell the truth about one of their pack.
In this way, they keep each other, and their own lies, safely hidden. It is fairly easily done, and all they have to do is sell their honor and integrity in order to keep the charade going. This is a small price for them to pay, for they do not value honor, and their integrity is meaningless to them. They are, as Master Funakoshi stated, as common as grains of sand on a beach in today’s martial arts world, which is indeed very sad.
The good news is that they are easy to spot. Just look for all the photos posted on social media. They will out themselves by proudly holding up fake championship belts, giant hall of fame trophies, or proudly standing in front of fake hall of fame banners. They love to wear obnoxiously wide belts, with as many stripes as they can fit on them. And when they shake your hand, you may even notice a big hall of fame ring which they paid dearly for.
The bad news is that these mouth warriors are here to stay. They have the same character flaws as the kuchi bushi of Master Funakoshi’s time, and I see no sign of these flaws being extinguished from human nature. They have deeply imbedded themselves into the martial arts world. They run some of the biggest martial arts events in the country, have well-known website, and have the resources to protect themselves against any attempt to expose them or their scams.
True warriors simply look at these clowns and laugh, as they know what a bunch of frauds they truly are. To real warriors, these people are nothing more than pathetic wannabes who desperately want attention, but know deep inside what they truly are – desperate wannabes and pathetic clowns.
The true warrior simply laughs at them, as he continues to improve himself in every way, each and every day, knowing that these clowns will never be anywhere close to the man he is – they will never be a true WARRIOR.
