一撃必殺 ichigeki hissatsu One Hit Certain Kill

一撃必殺 names the ideal of the single decisive technique: the whole self committed to one strike, and the spirit that trains for it. The karate teachers who use it are plain that killing is not the aim. The aim is to end a fight in the shortest time with one decisive technique. One attack is rarely enough against an equal, which is why one trains for the one that is.

The close cousin of 一撃必殺 is 一拳必殺, ikken hissatsu, which names the fist and is sold here as its own design.

一撃必殺 is composed of the words 一撃 (read ichigeki) meaning "one blow; a single hit" and 必殺 (read hissatsu) meaning "certain kill".

一撃必殺 is first found in print in 1936, in a university karate club's manual that calls it the so-called doctrine; from 1940 it spread to swordsmanship, jūdō, the wartime schools and the army, and after the war karate kept it among many users.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 一撃必殺.

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