The Dojo Kun

These five principles, simple and clear as ideals to which we aspire, always become more complex and less clear in practice. How, exactly, do we pursue these goals through our physical training? First and foremost through manners and proper attitude. Manners are important because they remind us that we must always take care of and have regard for others and what is proper etiquette. Maintaining good manners and proper etiquette during our physical training helps keep us focused on the correct goals of training.

Proper attitude means simply to do our best with the clearest mind possible. This means that when we begin our physical training, we clear our minds of all the clutter from everyday life and focus simply and fully on doing the training. The only important point is to do the training with maximum effort and make no judgments or criticisms about the apparent or outward success of the movements. The success is in the effort and clarity of mind. We are always much more interested in mental attitude and development than we are in developing physical or technical skill. We begin and end each training session with meditation that assists us in maintaining proper attitude in our training.

One of the most beautiful aspects of karate-do training is that it is not necessary to fully comprehend the philosophy behind the practice to successfully practice it. If the instruction is correct and proper, imparted with a fundamental respect and good manners, the students will learn far more by doing karate than by any intellectual effort to understand. Ultimately we must pursue both, but the physical training is the foundation for all understanding.