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.
Gichin FunakoshiRead
Karate is like boiling water: without heat, it returns to it's tepid state
Interpretation
Karate requires constant practice and intensity; without commitment, progress diminishes.
This quote by Gichin Funakoshi illustrates the principle that martial arts, like other skills, need ongoing passion and effort to maintain mastery and effectiveness. If one does not actively engage with and nurture their practice, they will inevitably regress, much like water that cools down and loses its boiling state when deprived of heat.
In practice
In a martial arts class, to emphasize the importance of regular training, a teacher might quote this to motivate students.
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.
There is no first strike in Karate.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The lapse of ages changes all things - time - language - the earth - the bounds of the sea - the stars of the sky, and everything 'about, around, and underneath' man, except man himself, who has always been and always will be, an unlucky rascal. The infinite variety of lives conduct but to death, and the infinity of wishes lead but to disappointment. All the discoveries which have yet been made have multiplied little but existence.
If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.
I am an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way.
We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.
And if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves, and it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.
Man is man so long as he is struggling to rise above nature, and this nature is both internal and external.
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