Why do Karate?

As well as being a fun way of exercising, the main benefits are improved fitness and an increased self-awareness. These two attributes can increase your ability to defend yourself and to lead a healthier lifestyle. Children benefit from the discipline, confidence building, social interaction and their ability to defend themselves.

Anyone can take part in karate - you don't have to be super-fit or flexible - people who kick low are just as effective as people who kick high.

Itosu's 10 Precepts

In 1908, one of the one of the men who shaped modern Karate - Itosu - wrote a letter outlining his views on karate and explaining why he felt karate should be introduced on to the Okinawan school system.

This letter, translated below, gives an excellent introduction to Karate, it's benefit, principles and approach. The emphasis on it's martial elements may have now moved to an emphasis on karate as a sport, but many of the thoughts Itosu put into his letter are still very relevant. I cetrainly think my circulation and digestion have improved since taking up Karate :-)

(Translation commissioned by Iain Abernethy, and reproduced with kind permission. Please see www.iainabernethy.com for further information, including a podcast and discussion forum which looks at this subject, and much much more)

Karate did not develop from Buddhism or Confucianism. In the past the Shorin-ryu school and the Shorei-ryu school were brought to Okinawa from China. Both of these schools have strong points and I therefore list them below just as they are without embellishment.

1. Karate is not merely practiced for your own benefit; it can be used to protect one's family or master. It is not intended to be used against a single assailant but instead as a way of avoiding injury by using the hands and feet should one by any chance be confronted by a villain or ruffian.

2. The purpose of karate is to make the muscles and bones hard as rock and to use the hands and legs as spears. If children were to begin training naturally in military prowess while in elementary school, then they would be well suited for military service. Remember the words attributed to the Duke of Wellington after he defeated Napoleon, "Today's battle was won on the playing fields of our schools".

3. Karate cannot be quickly learned. Like a slow moving bull, it eventually travels a thousand leagues. If one trains diligently for one or two hours every day, then in three or four years one will see a change in physique. Those who train in this fashion will discover the deeper principles of karate.

4. In karate, training of the hands and feet are important, so you should train thoroughly with a Makiwara. In order to do this, drop your shoulders, open your lungs, muster your strength, grip the floor with your feet, and concentrate your energy into your lower abdomen. Practice using each arm one to two hundred times each day.

5. When you practice the stances of karate, be sure to keep your back straight, lower your shoulders, put strength in your legs, stand firmly, and drop your energy into your lower abdomen.

6. Practice each of the techniques of karate repeatedly. Learn the explanations of every technique well, and decide when and in what manner to apply them when needed. Enter, counter, withdraw is the rule for torite.

7. You must decide if karate is for your health or to aid your duty.

8. When you train, do so as if on the battlefield. Your eyes should glare, shoulders drop, and body harden. You should always train with intensity and spirit as if actually facing the enemy, and in this way you will naturally be ready.

9. If you use up your strength to excess in karate training, this will cause you to lose the energy in your lower abdomen and will be harmful to your body. Your face and eyes will turn red. Be careful to control your training.

10. In the past, many masters of karate have enjoyed long lives. Karate aids in developing the bones and muscles. It helps the digestion as well as the circulation. If karate should be introduced, beginning in the elementary schools, then we will produce many men each capable of defeating ten assailants.