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In martial arts, wherever kokoro has been forgotten, or never learned, so too will the principle of karate ni sente nashi also be misunderstood, or worse, not even known! In reality, karate ni sente nashi is a warning, and any martial artist who ignores this maxim is a hypocrite. There are teachers who erroneously believe that this ancient proverb simply means responding to a challenge. I say they are wrong and that responding to any challenge only condones violence. The karate ni sente nashi maxim is based on a poem by a famous Zen prelate named Muso Soseki (1275—1351), founder of Kyoto’s Tenryu temple.

One day during a boat voyage, the priest Muso was attacked by a thug who split his head open with an oar. Caught off-guard, the deshi (disciple) of Muso immediately lunged to fight in retaliation. However, Muso restrained his deshi and chanted these words:

Poem:

Utsu hitomo utaruru hitomo morotomoni,

tada hitohikino yumeno tawamure.

Interpretation:

The attacker and the defender are both nothing more