Caveat: Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented.
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Funakoshi Gichin Sensei created this list of principles to guide practitioners in their system of “Shotokan” karate-do. I bought his short book on this subject and cannot really remember if he gave any sort of philosophy that explains his reasoning in creating the principles. They are widely available on the Internet and were published in a few books over the years.
Some tend to use them as sound bites and those are seldom explained. The reason given is that one should contemplate and meditate on them to achieve understanding and enlightenment but that kind of triggers my resistance response. The following are just one version of the twenty and they each have my personal interpretation/philosophy attacked. This list was stolen, ops borrowed, from the article written by Jesse Encamp (
http://www.karatebyjesse.com/the-20-precepts-of-karate-shotokan-jungle-trip/).
1. Karate-do wa rei ni hajimari, rei ni owaru koto wo wasuruna.
Karate begins and ends with courtesy.
It could be said that in his efforts to gain acceptance for Okinawan karate by his Japanese contemporaries he accepted this courtesy, reishiki, as dictated by Japanese feudal era shikata and bushido concepts. Regardless, having a philosophy toward deeds and actions based on a type of courtesy to one another promotes that fundamental principle of philosophy toward a more humane application of the skills one develops in the martial disciplines.
As practiced in a dojo it reminds us of this and promotes that kind of moral turpitude in each practitioner and that is a good thing. It does not hide or block or dissuade us from seeing, feeling and hearing those human frailties from the instinctual natural need of conflict and violence. It has become about regulating how we exercise such violent practices.
2. Karate ni sente nashi.
There is no first attack in karate.
This quote tends to be taken literally when it is not meant to be. It first must be understood that almost all violent conflicts are preceded by stages with definite warning signs. For instance, what is coined now as the “Monkey Dance,” as it applies to social violence you will find that it goes through the following stages until the fight is on, i.e., “Hard aggressive stare, a verbal challenge, closing the distance while showing signs of adrenal stress such as are swinging or chest bobbing or bumping, change in color or flushing skin, hand shaking, knuckles white, licking lips, and so on.”
Even before those warning signs appear there are things that occur that if you are situationally aware you can see what is coming. Even the asocial predatory violence has signs, different, such as the five stages of the attack, i.e., “Intent, the interview, positioning and then the attack and reaction.”
If you are aware of what to look for you can avoid violence almost all the time. How does this apply to the quote, “Karate ni sente nashi?”
First, avoidance is the hallmark and cornerstone of self-defense be it through karate or some other form including how you use verbal skills, etc. Most assume that you must to apply your physical skills against your adversary first or preemptively. Both the quote and the phrase/term preemptive are misunderstood in the application.
When you consider things like attack tells, i.e., stages along with using JAM or Jeopardy, ability and means, along with the stages of an attack or the signs of social conflict you can see, i.e., think of the gokui to see all sides, what is coming and therefore avoid using those physical techniques and avoid, deescalate, etc. therefore living up to the maxim of karate ni sente nashi.
Another way to see this is if JAM is met, you failed the interview, he has positioned himself to attack - you saw it and failed to deter and avoid then you hit first, hit hard, hit often and do so until the threat is removed then you leave (assuming running away is unavailable that is). You are not violating the maxim of karate ni sente nashi because the actual attack was on way before you acted and because of your awareness you we able to attack before the attack thus utilizing your OODA loop, i.e., you shortened you line principle works, hitting the A part of the loop while your attacker is still in the positioning stage gearing up for the attack.
Second, some believe that is why there is the rei or bow before each kata along with the first move being a defensive one. That too is a misnomer as those actions are more about the educational versions of karate created for the school systems in the early 1900’s, It is about the adaptation of Okinawan karate to the Japanese so it would be accepted and then utilized to prepare young adults for the upcoming WWII. The bow or rei comes from the concept of “Shikata” when karate was adopted and accepted by the Japanese culture. Things were added to make things culturally acceptable and as to implementation into the school system both that cultural aspect along with dumping it down to make it acceptable for training young adults ended up changing karate and the concept of there is no first attack in karate.
It is not about taking an aggressive pre-emptive attack but simply achieving awareness so that you can avoid having to use karate first and preemptively because you wouldn’t use it that way unless you were already under attack and take this seriously when the first blow comes your way you can be assured that the attack was on long before that haymaker punch and that is when you counter-attack.
Counter-attack is a reaction and we all know that action is faster than reaction except in the case of awareness of the pre-attack tells or indicators. When you know that avoidance is not possible, when you know you have exhausted all the options including escape and when you know your adversary is getting into position to launch an attack by positioning then you attack preemptively, kinda since the attack was already on, making your actions actually actions over reactions therefore forcing the adversary into a reactive state or even better, causing them to jump back to the observe and orient stage of the OODA causing a freeze making your actions even faster.
Karate ni sente nashi is not about the physical action or reaction, attack or counter-attack and it does mean more than the literal and understanding conflict and violence in all its forms along with the stages and signs preceeding any physical violence is what it is about. There is only one instance that defies this logic and that is the predatory process/resource surprise attack from the rear or back-side blitz where you will be reacting. That also is avoidable if situation awareness is not lost or temporarily distracted allowing the predatory to get at you, i.e., that made sure you passed the interview so he can attack, etc.
Not a simple quote or maxim but then again conflict, violence and self-defense are a very deep space type thing and goes way beyond the basics of karate, etc.
3. Karate wa gi no tasuke.
Karate is an assistance to justice.
Justice is subjective but in a modern society that comes from the laws, rules, ordinances, procedures and process that govern while maintaining the cultural belief systems integrity. A part of the awareness of a practitioner must be the ability to see and hear how those variables of justice change according to location, society, culture and belief systems and how we blend in, adjust and follow the requirements to successfully travel through or live in that world.
4. Mazu jiko wo shire, shikoshite tao wo shire.
Know yourself first, before you know others.
Self-awareness from attaining, studying and understanding concepts of human behavior as driven by those social, cultural and beliefs created toward tribal or social survival. You have to see what you see within and make those perceptions, perspectives and beliefs pliable toward acceptance, tolerance and change so we can achieve a balance where the knowledge and application of violence and violent conflict become unnecessary. It is about morality as dictated by the social norm, rules and requirements across boundaries of the same social tribal like socially accepted humans.
5. Gijutsu yori shinjutsu.
Spirit before technique.
Spirit is often misunderstood as an aggressive application of martial disciplines where such spirit is necessary as a thermometer to measure the need for conflict and violence, i.e., conflict and violence inherent within each human therefore giving credence to the previous principle so that one can judge properly those same prinicples to those who are members of the tribe or tribes as a collective social tribe,
6. Kokoro wa hanatan koto wo yosu.
Be ready to free your mind.
Freeing your mind from the obstacles created by the mind of emotional actions and reactions toward a more human mind with logic and acceptance of self as well as others. The creation of a mind-set/mind-state that allows us to survive all of the obstacles that come from conflict and violence and violent conflicts. The mind must be free from past regrets and thoughts of doubt and it must not even allow any assumptions of future possibilities to muddy the waters of that present moment mind. Only the present and present moment mind from the effects and influences of the ego and emotions, something called the monkey brain, remaining present and in a state of “Mushin and Zanshin.”
Only when the mind is free is one able to move freely in the mind, body and spirit and only in this way is one able to achieve master of the fundamental principles of the martial systems underlying all martial disciplines.
Morpheus told Neo in the Matrix that he must, “Free his mind.” He was emphasizing that in the Matrix one has not limits if his mind is free, free from distractions, doubts and self-imposed limitations. Now, this is just a movie but the concept is a good one. When the mind is encumbered with doubts, distractions both external and self-imposed, and other self-imposed limitations on the physical and more importantly the mental then we experience defeat, defeat in all that we do.
7. Wazawai wa getai ni shozu.
Accidents come from laziness.
Throught the mental, phsical and spiritual study and practice do we achieve a state of moving meditative mind-set/mind-state allowing us to see that continuous, diligent and hard effort are the way to achieve mastery in any endeavor and no other discipline achieves these goals as well as the martial systems if for no other reason than they often expose a practitioner to the conflict of violence where one can be gravely harmed and even killed.
In violent conflicts one is exposed by a lack of awareness, knowledge and experience that can only be attained, gained and achieve progress by the effort and diligence applied in the trinaing, practice and application of martial prowess and this means from the moment of perception where one can avoid or use deescalation to the moment when actual physical levels of force are necessary to stop the threat, the adversary and the damage, i.e., the psychological, physical and economical.
8. Dojo nomino karate to omou na.
Karate training goes beyond the dojo.
The driving principles and well as cultural beliefs created by practice, training and application of principles in actions and deeds must extend past the dojo walls as only in total immersion can one achieve the goals of the philosophy as well as perceptions, perspectives and beliefs necessary for survival in all aspects of life from the minor verbal disagreement to the full fledged all out blitz attack of surprise from a predator of process and resource asocial nature.
9. Karate no shugyo wa issho de aru.
You will never stop learning in karate.
There is truly a limit to what you can learn physically. The physical of martial disciplines is where one sets limits on their ability because there are only so many ways that the human body can be applied in a physical violent encounter. When you consider the principles of both physiokinetics and techniques there are only so many although we practitioners tend to confuse those with variations on the same principle(s). A bit like the differences in styles, i.e., there is only karate, empty-hand, and the styles are created by the needs, wants and desires of the human practitioner. When one finds a way they can apply toward a philosophy, personal, and belief they find the applications take on a personal presentation and when ego enters the picture they create a style to make it unique to their training, practice and teachings. This attitude puts limits on learning by stifling creativity through dogmatic adherence to said Style.
The true learning comes from living a life under the teachings of martial disciplines, i.e., through theory where the limits are only limited by the expanse and openness of one’s mind, through physiokinetics applied in a chaotic ever-changing fluid dynamic application, the techniques that come from experience and the philosophy derived through a life time of study be it academic in nature while application toward the implementation of the mental, physical and spiritual growth of each moment experienced that creates and grows and prospers as a personal ever changing philosophy.
10. Arai-yuru mono wo karate-ka seyo, soko ni myo-mi ari.
Apply karate to everything. Therein lies it’s beauty.
When exposed beyond the obvious and the literal one begins to expand the mind beyond the immediate perceptions, beliefs and perspective limited by not exposing oneself to the world beyond the immediate mind state, environment and experiences. The experiences of other environmental, cultural and beliefs of those environments and humans beyond our tribal influences and experiences.
11. Karate wa yu no goto shi taezu natsudo wo ataezareba moto no mizu ni kaeru.
Karate is like boiling water. If not given heat, it will go cold.
Energy is necessary and the expenditure of energy generates heat and heat generates power and force. If the principles are given merely lip-service then like the water on the stove will not begin to heat and boil if the energy or fire or ki is not ignited by the mind and spirit. All the principles as driven by the mind, the spirit and the body give correct pathways to allow energy to flow, the flow of energy without obstacles and restrictions provide us with limitless power and force. It is this power and force that allows us to apply our martial prowess, i.e., applications in awareness, avoidance, deescalation and levels of force also being how we communicate, control our minds toward a logical human way over the monkey brain emotional irrationality to achieve great things.
12. Katsu kangae wa motsu na makenu kangae wa hitsuyo.
Do not think of winning. Instead, think that you must never lose.
It is not about winning and it is not about losing, a misconception due to the times, culture, environment and beliefs of the person writing the principles. Forms of articulation, a very critical part of martial arts and self-defense, were limited for a variety of reasons of one which was a lack of education resulted in the best that could be conveyed at those times. Modern times has created a more articulate teaching that are enhanced by visual, auditory and tactile forms of learning, teaching and understanding.
When conflict and violence are involved it is not about winning and losing but about survival, the survival of both parties. It is about freeing the mind from strategies and tactics that will only apply toward winning. It is about our concept of what a win is and that limits our options as well. It falls toward our mind-set and mind-state so that our actions are driven by our goal of survival. Running away is often never considered as a tactic or strategy because of its conception of not winning but losing, but what. If one survives, lives and can continue then running away, when possible and available, is a solid goal, a solid strategy and a solid tactic. Never limit options by labeling our goals, tactics and strategies by a mind-set/mind-state that conceives winning in a specified way but rather a way open to all possibilities. A kind of win-win strategy with no limits or restrictions as long as you “get-r-done.”
13. Tekki ni yotte tenka seyo.
Make adjustments according to your opponent.
Fluidity, acceptance of all things as fluid, not hindered or restricted by anything but of the nature that allows us to create dynamically what is needed to achieve ending the threat. No one person acts the same way every time, no one way will get the job done and all ways are subject to both success and failure that is determined by pure chaotic chance. We can limit that by our diligence, effort and application of goals, tactics and strategies as long as we don’t fall for that comfort through familiarity, rhythm and set patterns, i.e., great as an introduction but a killer if you dogmatically stay there and fail to achieve shu-ha-ri.
14. Tattakai wa kyo-jitsu no soju ikan ni ari.
The outcome of a fight depends on how you handle weaknesses and strengths.
Let is start with the greatest weakness of all combatives, fighting and self-defense. Reality, a reality based adrenal stress conditioning program that must exist within any martial effort, training and practice. Only a few can actually achieve and accumulate the experience necessary to deal with the adrenal stress chemical flood experienced in violent conflicts so exposure becomes critical in the training and practice stages. This leaves one final step, the step each individual has to make to leap across the chasm that divides theory from reality where one earns and gains experience.
15. Hito no te ashi wo ken to omoe.
Think of hands and feet as swords.
In reality we must think, believe and trust that our minds are our swords and that we must keep the mind sharp and open and present. Our hands and feet become tools and extensions of the mind be it assuming a body posture that is non-threatening yet conveys ability and commitment so that the mind can cut deeply into the conflict and possible violence in achieving avoidance and/or deescalation. The goal is to survive and go home safe and that is the best weapon, the mind, we can apply as to strategy and tactics to end a threat. We see this when one FAILS the interview process and the predator veers off looking for easier prey, that is mind power.
The hands and feet can also assume positioning that states emphatically that you are ready, able and committed yet allow the mind to strike out using verbal skills in conjunction to covey a face saving out for both the attacker/adversary and yourself, a win-win outcome, this is how one thinks when practicing karate.
16. Danshi mon wo izureba hyakuman no tekki ari.
When you step outside your own gate, you face a million enemies.
In truth a bit hyper as creating a mind-set/mind-state that relies heavily on hyper-vigilance, Such a state is exhausting, inappropriate and debilitating in time leaving one vulnerable. When you leave your environment with all the principles intact and in play you remain vigilant in a state dependent on environmental conditions and your awareness levels where a more pleasing vigilance prevails until alarms are triggered where the ability to switch to a more combat vigilance takes command. In the times facing enemies outside your gate may have applied but in modern times it is more about an ability to perceive danger and safety on the fly. The only true constant enemy is yourself, your mind-set and your mind-state - if balanced then it is productive toward safety, security and ability.
17. Kamae wa shoshinsha ni ato wa shizentai.
Fixed positions are for beginners: later, one moves naturally.
There are three phases or stages of practice, training and application of martial arts in self-defense called, “Shu-ha-ri.” Shu stages are where one learns all the intricacies and principles to make things work and those intricacies are atomistic in nature. One will be overwhelmed and overcome by the amount of teachings but with diligence, patience and time one leans and encodes such things where in the next stage, the “Ha” stage, one starts to blend, mix and create from that base of knowledge and experiences. This leap from shu to ha is the most difficult leap one will need to make in order to truly learn and apply martial disciplines in life let alone in a violent conflict.
The idea conveyed here is a terse form that one must study like Zen koans to understand and achieve levels of enlightenment. It supports and validates all the principles because without that patience, effort, diligence, sweat, etc. one will fail to make the leap for that chasm will remain too far and wide to cross.
18. Kata wa tadashiku jissen wa betsu mono.
Kata is practiced perfectly, real fight is another thing.
Basics, kata and even sparring, as well as the various drills, are about the shu levels of teaching and learning. It is about practicing those fundamental principles of martial systems so that they are applied naturally and with efficiency. These practices are about feeling and applying principles where actual combatives will derive from those leanings, understandings and applications of a dynamic nature. The perfection at this level encodes the mind and body into a symbiotic holistic one like yin-yang in balance.
Actual self-defense, the fight, must be able to trigger the lizard brain, instincts, that are trained in this fashion where the missing link in most systems is implemented toward redirecting instincts toward proper applications from reality based adrenal stress conditioning type of programs. That actually sets things in stone so they work at the worst possible time and will actually draw from training rather than defaulting to the freeze, flight and resist model, etc.
19. Chikara no kyojaku, karada no shinshuku, waza no kankyu wo wasaruna.
Hard and soft, tension and relaxation, quick and slow, all connected in the technique.
Merely describes what was once indescribable or articulable now refereed to as physiokinetics (in the early days it was referred to as body mechanics, etc.).
20. Tsune ni shinen kufu seyo.
Think of ways to apply these precepts every day.
A repeat of another principle, i.e., where emphasis switches to the twenty guiding principles of karate as stated by Gichin Funakoshi Sensei of Shotokan karate-do.
