Dotokushin Kai
Tracing the Circle – Weekly Meditations
on the Practice
“Karate ni
sente nashi" = “There is no ‘sente’ in
Karate”
In the Japanese game of ‘Go’, A 'sente'
placement of a stone is one that requires your opponent to respond to the
implications of the stone you placed, ignoring it only at peril.
This could be thought of as asserting
initiative or creating provocation for a response. The opponent realizes, of
course, that the possible outcome of ignoring the sente move is
"death".
It would be preferable to render "karate ni sente nashi" as something more on the line of "In karate, we don't incite others to fight with us, provoke others to fight with us, leave others no choice but to fight us."
This, of course, is not the same as "there is no first
attack". If that were true, studying or training in karate would be
useless to anyone whose profession sometimes required the initiation of
violence.
Since we know that such training is not
useless, it seems more likely that "karate ni sente nashi" represents a polite, politically
correct way of assuring authorities "Yes, we
ordinary subjects of the Emperor practice arts that can kill and maim but don't
worry because we wouldn't threaten you."
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