Top 55 Quotes & Sayings by Gichin Funakoshi

The «way», who will pass it on straight and well?

Apply the way of karate to all things. Therein lies its beauty.

Karate is a defensive art from beginning to end.

Any man will be able, after sufficient practice, to accomplish remarkable feats of strength, but he may go only so far and no farther. There is a limit to human physical strength that no one can exceed.

Put Karate into your everyday living, that is how you will see true beauty.

Don't pretend to be a great master and don't try to show off your strength.

Only a true weakling is capable of true courage.

You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very different from learning a dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do.

Hoping to see karate included in the universal physical education taught in our public schools, I set about revising the kata so as to make them as simple as possible. Times change, the world changes, and obviously the martial arts must change too. The karate that high school students practice today is not the same karate that was practiced even as recently as ten years ago [this book was written in 1956], and it is a long way indeed from the karate I learned when I was a child in Okinawa.

Karate-do begins with courtesy and ends with rei.

In time of grave public crisis, one must have the courage to face a million and one opponents.

It is important that karate can be practiced by the young and old, men and women alike.

Beginners must master low stance and posture, natural body positions are for the advanced.

When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die.

You must ignore the bad and adopt the good.

Always be ready to release your mind.

One of the most striking features of karate is that it may be engaged in by anybody, young or old, strong or weak, male or female.

Karate is like boiling water, if you do not heat it constantly, it will cool.

Since karate is a martial art, you must practice with the utmost seriousness from the very beginning.

The correct understanding of Karate and its proper use is Karate-do. One who truly trains in this do [way] and actually understands Karate-do is never easily drawn into a fight.

Karate begins and ends with courtesy.

The ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants.

You must be deadly serious in training. When I say that, I do not mean that you should be reasonably diligent or moderately in earnest. I mean that your opponent must always be present in your mind, whether you sit or stand or walk or raise your arms.

Once a kata has been learned, it must be practised repeatedly until it can be applied in an emergency, for knowledge of just the sequence of a kata in karate is useless.

Success, cannot be attained alone. Any person's time and power is limited. A wise leader enlists others in working toward organizational goals.

Try to do exactly as you are taught without complaining or quibbling.

The secret principle of martial arts is not vanquishing the attacker, but resolving to avoid an encounter before its occurrence. To become an object of an attack is an indication that there was an opening in one's guard, and the important thing is to be on guard at all times.

Inner mental technique is more important than the physical one.

Only through training will a person learn his own weaknesses... He who is aware of his weaknesses will remain master of himself in any situation.

In the past, it was expected that about three years were required to learn a single kata, and usually even an expert of considerable skill would only know three, or at most five, kata.

When there are no avenues of escape or one is caught even before any attempt to escape can be made, then for the first time the use of self-defense techniques should be considered. Even at times like these, do not show any intention of attacking, but first let the attacker become careless. At that time attack him concentrating one's whole strength in one blow to a vital point and in the moment of surprise, escape and seek shelter and help.

A student well versed in even one technique will naturally see corresponding points in other techniques. A upper level punch, a lower punch, a front punch and a reverse punch are all essentially the same. Looking over thirty-odd kata, he should be able to see that they are essentially variations on just a handful.

When you look at life think in terms of karate. But remember that karate is not only karate -- it is life.

One whose spirit and mental strength have been strengthened by sparring with a never-say-die attitude should find no challenge too great to handle. One who has undergone long years of physical pain and mental agony to learn one punch, one kick, should be able to face any task, no matter how difficult, and carry it through to the end. A person like this can truly be said to have learned karate.

When you leave your home, think that you have numerous opponents waiting for you (it is your behavior that invites trouble from them).

To search for the old is to understand the new.

The spirit of karate practice and the elements of training are applicable to each and every aspect of our daily lives.

To practice kata is not to memorize an order. Find the katas that work for you, understand them, digest them & stick with them for life.

Karate is a technique that permits one to defend himself with his bare hands and fists without weapons.

In karate, hitting, thrusting, and kicking are not the only methods, throwing techniques and pressure against joints are included … all these techniques should be studied referring to basic kata

It is important that karate can be practiced by the young and old, men and women alike. That is, since there is no need for a special training place, equipment, or an opponent, a flexibility in training is provided such that the physically and spiritually weak individual can develop his body and mind so gradually and naturally that he himself may not even realize his own great progress.

Remember that you must always have a deep regard for courtesy, and you must be respectful and obedient toward your seniors.

True karate is this: that in daily life one's mind and body be trained and developed in a spirit of humility, and that in critical times, one be devoted utterly to the cause of justice.

Students of any art, including Karate-do must never forget the cultivation of the mind and the body.

Karate-do strives internally to train the mind to develop a clear conscience, enabling one to face the world honestly, while externally developing strength to the point where one may overcome even ferocious wild animals. Mind and technique become one in true karate.

First know yourself, then know others.

There is no place in contemporary Karate-do for different schools. Some instructors, I know, claim to have invented new and unusual kata, and so they arrogate to themselves the right to be called founders of "schools". Indeed, I have heard myself and my colleagues referred to as the Shoto-kan school, but I strongly object to this attempt at classification. My belief is that all these "schools" should be amalgamated into one so that Karate-do may pursue and orderly and useful progress into man's future.

Spirit first, technique second.

What you have been taught by listening to others' words you will forget very quickly; what you have learned with your whole body you will remember for the rest of your life.

Karate is like boiling water: without heat, it returns to it's tepid state

In battle, do not think that you have to win. Think rather that you do not have to lose.

Seek perfection of character. Be faithful. Endeavor. Respect others. Refrain from violent behaviour.

No matter how you may excel in the art of Karate, and in your scholastic endeavors, nothing is more important than your behavior and your humanity as observed in daily life.

There is no first strike in Karate.

When you are learning a new technique, practice it wholeheartedly until you truly understand it.