精力善用 seiryoku zen'yō Maximum Efficiency Minimum Effort

精力善用 is a rule for how you spend yourself, on the mat and off it. The rule is about energy, not effort: whatever you do, use your energy in the best way. The Kodokan's own definition says that, applied to the body, it makes the strongest body; to the mind, the best person; to business, its results. Whether it is for the dojo or for the rest of the day is yours.

精力善用 is composed of the words 精力 (read seiryoku) meaning "energy" and 善用 (read zen'yō) meaning "good use".

Kanō Jigorō made the best use of energy, 精力の最善活用, the first principle of judo in 1922, when he founded the Kodokan Cultural Society, whose creed leads from it to the common prosperity of mankind; the four-character 精力善用 is in the society's magazine by that November, and in a lecture of 1925 Kanō says his principles can be summed up in the eight characters 精力善用自他共栄; the four characters had been ordinary Japanese since at least 1904.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 精力善用.

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