常に思念工夫せよ tsune ni shinen kufū seyo Always Be Creative

常に思念工夫せよ asks two things of you, and asks them every day. 思念 is thinking hard on a thing. 工夫 is finding a way, and in Zen it is also giving yourself to practice. So the rule is to study your own habits, try each new idea on the training floor, and keep what works. The sentence is an order, which is what the ending せよ keeps. Whether you keep it for the dojo or for the workbench is yours.

The precept is one of Funakoshi Gichin 船越義珍's twenty precepts of karate, a list in print by December 1934, four years before Nakasone Genwa 仲宗根源和 printed it with his commentary in 空手道大観 (1938).

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 常に思念工夫せよ.

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