Description
“Clearly, for Funakoshi, the maxim karate ni sente nashi was of great importance. In addition to including it as one of his Twenty Precepts, he stated in a 1935 magazine article that he “view(s) it as (expressing) the essence of karate-do” (Funakoshi, Karate no Hanashi 65). Nor is he alone in this view: Shoshin Nagamine, respected founder of the Matsubayashi school of Shorin-ryu karate, wrote that, “This phrase…embodies the essence of Okinawan karate” (Nagamine 13). Similarly, Masatoshi Nakayama, longtime head of the Japan Karate Association, stated that, “…it is not an exaggeration to say that it is these words that succinctly and fully express the spirit of karate-do” (Nakayama 80).
Mark Tankosich,
—Hiroshima University of Economics Journal of Humanities, Social and Natural Sciences.
The Funakoshi Memorial inscribed “Karate Ni Sente Nashi” in its original location in Naha, Okinawa, on the side of Highway 58 close to the entrance of the Okinawa Budokan. It has subsequently been moved a short distance into Onoyama Park where it sits at the base of a stone staircase leading to a Shinto Shrine. The stones behind the main obelisk record the names of those who contributed to the creation and placement of the memorial.
