A Collection of advice from Karate Seniors. First of a series of posts

Karate Precepts and “Dojo Kun (part 1)

Matsumura Soken’s Advice to His Last Formal Student

Itosu Yasutsune’s 10 Precepts

Kiyan Chotoku’s Instructions

Kiyan Chotoku, “What to Know About Fighting”

Motobu Choki’s  “Rules of Quanfa”

Chibana Choshin’s Kojo Kun

Master Chibana’s advice

Nagamine Shoshin’s Precepts for Mastering Karate-do

Nakazato Shugoro’s Karate Principles

Seibukan Shorin-ryu of Hanshi Zenpo Shimabukuro

Shinjinkukan Shorin-ryu of Onga Yoshimitsu

Directions on Practicing Karate

Dojo Kun (School Principles of Shorinjiryu Kenkokan Karatedo

Okinawan Shorin-ryu of Matsumura seito Karate-do

 

 

 

And if you check the notes at the end, you will find note iii credits Victor Smith of a translation I had done for Patrick McCarthy. Than must mean the data listed here has credibility.

 

 

 

Karate Precepts and "Dojo Kun" (Part 1)

Dating back nearly 200 years to the beginnings of Okinawan karate as we know it today, great masters have often left behind letters of advice to their successors, lists of precepts that sum up their philosophical and/or technical approaches to the martial arts, or "Dojo Kun," usually short sets of rules for the dojo or brief summations of their advice and beliefs. In some schools, these Dojo Kun are repeated before or after practice as a promise or creed of the style or school. Below are a number of such precepts and Dojo Kun by a variety of famous masters. In many cases, these have been translated multiple times, often inconsistently. I have attempted to give a version that makes the most sense, sometimes taking part of one translation and melding it with parts of others. For historical interest, I am also including the original calligraphy of the master when it is available. In a few cases (for example, that of Nakazato Shugoro), their precepts have been posted in their dojo in English; in such cases, I have made no effort to correct grammar or spelling. Part 1, below, covers a number of major Shuri-te-related schools and styles. Future postings will include other Okinawan and Japanese schools and styles