Kyokun Martial – Know yourself first to know others.

For me this Kyokun is like a puzzle, it contains many elements that only show us a piece of the image and putting them together gives us an idea of ​​what the final image is. In this text I do not hope to share all the pieces, nor to put them together to form this picture. What I will do is share the things that have emerged from my thinking and how others see this martial precept.

I’ll start with the oldest piece. About 1,400 years before Sensei Funakoshi was born, more than 9,000 kilometers from Okinawa, Socrates, a Greek philosopher, said, “know thyself.” For Socrates, what defines us as human beings is our ability to think and reason, and this ability aims to acquire knowledge. Socrates’ «know thyself» is the path to excellence because by knowing our soul and understanding it, we can distinguish good and evil, we can choose good and we can finally live happily.

I now move on to the second piece which concerns a documentary on the brain that I saw with my children a few months ago. Knowing yourself is learning about yourself, knowing yourself is being aware and remembering how you are, how you function, how you react and what your limits are. This is the basis of a superpower that we are not always aware of. Memory, based on self-knowledge, allows us to predict the future.

Piece number three doesn’t seem easy to fit into the first two, but it also seems important to me. Knowing yourself involves recognizing yourself as an individual and unique being, with a series of strengths and weaknesses that are not repeated in any other person. I think it is important to realize that our path as karateka and as a person cannot be a copy of someone else’s path. We can see, feel or imitate the movements to learn, but let’s give ourselves space so that as I learn, I master what I have learned and as I mature in my path, I can Finally adapt my knowledge to my reality.

Let’s continue with the fourth part. Sensei Funakoshi probably knew, as part of his education in Japan, Sun Tzu’s book, The art of war. In this book, Sun Tzu says: «If you know your enemy and know yourself, you should not fear the outcome of a thousand battles.» However, Sensei Funakoshi differs from Sun Tzu on two points. First, he talks about knowing yourself first, while Sun Tzu talks about knowing the enemy first. Secondly, Sun Tzu talks about the «enemy» and Sensei Funakoshi chose to talk about the «other». This makes me think that this Kyokun could be written to guide us in our daily lives, both in moments of serenity and crisis and not just to think about preparing for war as Sun Tzu thought.

Piece number five is a reflection that seems to me to be closely linked to the first point. Learning to know ourselves leads us to strengthen our «being» (moral values, spiritual concepts, constructive virtues) and helps us separate ourselves from «having» (fame, fortune, power, etc.). In my opinion, following the karate path of «having more» or «having something better» than others will sooner or later lead to dissatisfaction, disappointment and frustration in real life circumstances.

Finally, the last piece I want to share with you, my sixth piece, seeks to connect the “me” with the “others”. If we know ourselves, know what is inside us, analyze our interests, our desires, our reactions, our motivations and study others, we will have a better idea of ​​how they will react every time. By putting ourselves in their shoes and getting to know them, even slightly, we will get a better sense of their thoughts through our own. By knowing our own failures and fears, we will have the opportunity to better understand those of others.

I’m sure there are many more pieces to this puzzle, I just hope I’ve piqued your curiosity to look for them and start the journey of getting to know yourself better.

Couple: Luis Salgado