Everyone thinks karate is just a sport, but it’s not. Karate teaches us many things and can be our strength when we need it most.
We all know that karate is of Japanese origin, but it is much more. It’s a sport which can helps us to grow, makes us stronger and opens up a world, a world that is foreign to us. Karate is an activity to keep us physically fit but it is also a philosophy of life, it offers us mental and spiritual training, benefits that can improve our lives and certainly help us in a situation of attack, preparing us to defend and counter with our bare hands.
Certainly at the social level Karate is a very useful skill as it is a group activity, through it we are able to know the person in front of us, and this happens through observation, through the movements, but especially through the behavior of the other person. Initially karate was not born for these reasons, it was a discipline taught only to the males to be able to defend themselves in dangerous situations, but over the years it started to spread even among females and now it is practiced for reasons other than the original ones. As already noted, karate is a philosophy of life and has nine virtues.
NINE VIRTUES
The duty of every student is to believe and to interpret these virtues in order to be a model for others who practice this martial art, they must be an ambassador of the discipline. Honor is the essential virtue, no one can think of being budoka if he does not have exemplary conduct. Loyalty, there is no honor without loyalty. Fidelity requires sincerity of our actions. Insincerity, falsehood or misunderstanding give rise to the suspicion that it is at the source of all disagreements. Sincerity is represented by the greeting that is made at the beginning and at the end of training. Courage and fortitude serve to challenge danger. Goodness, a sign of courage that denotes a great human being. Humility, being humble is the only way to be balanced. Righteousness, is at the heart of all the other virtues. Respect is generated by righteousness, in fact in karate we must be able to bring respect to our opponent. Self-control is the essential quality to achieve the highest level in karate.
Sophia Giulia Motalli 3AL
