Shoka Magazine March 2023 – Put karate into your everyday living. That is how to see its true beauty.
Marty Callahan
8th Degree Black Belt
“If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the highest return.”
-Ben Franklin, Founding Father of the United States
Niju Kun #10
This is the tenth of 20 precepts of Master Gichin Funakoshi, the Father of Modern-Day Karate. Master Funakoshi is known by millions of people all around the world and is considered to be one of the three most influential martial art masters of the 20th century.
What is karate?
Karate is a method of self-defense assessable to almost anyone. It uses the arms and legs as weapons of defense. But most importantly it’s a way to improve and strengthen your mind, body, and spirit. In this way you become the best person you can be. In the process other people see you as a person of substance, someone who they can depend on in a crisis or to accomplish a major task or project. This is what it means to be a leader.
How do you put this into your everyday living?
This means to be yourself and put who you are and what you’ve learned to work on a daily basis as you live your life. Which is something you can’t really help but do but which you might not be aware of.
What is karate’s true beauty?
The true beauty of karate is how it has made you and formed you into the best person you can be. People are beautiful because of who they are. Boys and men value strength, while girls and women value beauty. But true beauty lies within which is something both males and females possess.
What is True Beauty?
True beauty is the soul or spirit of the individual. You see this in people who are greatly admired for who they are. Great men such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Walter Cronkite, George Washington, William Shakespeare, and Isaac Newton. And Great women such as Jane Austen, Ada Lovelace, Marie Curie, Maya Angelou, Katherine Graham, Florence Nightingale, and Helen Keller.
So, put the best of who you are into everything you do and never stop developing your mind, body, and spirit.