Karate Ni Sente Nashi

“Karate Ni Sente Nashi” (空手に先手なし, in Kanji characters) is the second principle in Sensei Funakoshi’s Twenty Precepts (“Niju Kun”) and is translated as “There is no first attack in Karate”. It is believed this principle goes hand-in-hand with the spirit of Budo (i.e. the way to prevent violence) and the reasoning behind each traditional Kata begins with a block.