the spirit of okinawan karate

Karate was originally developed in Okinawa with a clear purpose of self-protection.  Yet after Okinawan karate was first introduced to mainland Japan in the 1920s, karate began a radical transition as it was integrated into Japan’s more meditative and philosophical budo traditions.  This led to two different approaches to karate that still exist today:  traditional (“dentou”) Okinawan karate with its primary aim of practical self-defense, and Japanese karate with its spiritual focus on self-perfection (note that modern sport-oriented karate can be viewed as another approach that has diverged from the original purpose of Okinawan karate).  The case for this is laid out extensively in Analysis of Genuine Karate:  Misconceptions, Origins, Development, and True Purpose (Hermann Bayer, Ph.D., 2021, see Chpt. 1).

This is not to say, however, that Okinawan karate does not embrace spiritualism.  Chotoku Kyan (1870-1945)—one of the founders of Okinawan karate and whose influence is seen widely in many of the Shorin styles, particularly Shorinji-ryu—believed that one of the goals of karate is to enlighten the spirit.  Sensei Kyan’s ideas on karate training and fighting are recorded in the book Kempo Gaisetsu (Outline of Kempo) by Jisaburo Miki (published by the Karate Institute of Tokyo Imperial University, 1930) (see Okinawa, The Birthplace of Karate, published by Okinawa Prefecture, 2017, p. 57).  Kyan’s instructions for training include the following:
 
[I]f you only practice the physical technique without enlightening your spirit, which is fundamental, you will be unable to use the art.
You must become clear-sighted in life and seek to develop modesty, a calm spirit, alertness, and bravery at the same time as you train in the physical techniques.
[Ibid.]
 
In my view, the idea of enlightening the spirit in Okinawa karate training is deeply tied to the “ichigeki hissatsu” (one-strike kill or one-strike victory) mindset that is considered fundamental to the art, and which also reflects Okinawan karate’s original purpose of complete self-protection.  The ichigeki hissatsu mindset means training as if one is in actual combat, with a strong determination to defeat one’s opponent, and imagining injury and even possible death in every technique.  It is, in a sense, an emphatic recognition of the lethality of the art.

But with this philosophy comes a moral responsibility to use the art only in the most serious violent encounters, and to avoid such encounters wherever possible.  With ichigeki hissatsu, one does not enter into a conflict lightly.  The goal becomes not the use of violence, but rather self-control and restraint.  In other words—and some might say paradoxically—the ultimate goal is non-violence.  

Thus, getting back to Sensei Kyan’s ideas on training mentioned above, the practice of karate requires not just physical development, but moral and spiritual development as well.  It requires, in Kyan’s words, a “calm spirit,” which can be viewed as the spirit of a person at peace within oneself.   This “peaceful mind” spirit is also reflected in another saying of Sensei Kyan’s (apparently derived from an old proverb):  “A punch should stay like a treasure in the sleeve.  It should not be used indiscriminately.”  I think that this saying, which clearly acknowledges the ichigeki hissatsu philosophy, also captures Okinawan karate's spiritual ideals of restraint, self-control, and non-violence perfectly.       

Nakagusuku Castle Ruins (© 2026 Nicholas V. Sherbina)