技術より心術 gijutsu yori shinjutsu Spirit Over Technique

技術より心術 says that what the mind brings counts for more than what the hands know. The readings agree that the mind comes first, and part on what 心術 is: a person's bearing, or an art of the mind beside the art of the hands. The two words share 術 and differ in one character, 技 against 心, and the precept sets one above the other.

The precept is the fifth of the twenty precepts of karate, a list in print by December 1934, which Nakasone Genwa 仲宗根源和, printing it with his commentary in 空手道大観 (1938), says Funakoshi Gichin 船越義珍 established.

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