There is No First Attack in Karate in Japanese Calligraphy

空手に先手無し (karate ni sente nashi)

The Japanese sentence 空手に先手無し means "There is no first attack (strike) in karate" and reminds us, as Mr. Miyagi would say, "karate is defense only." This is the second rule in Niju Kun, or twenty rules, established by the founder of Shotokan Karate Gichin Funakoshi. For more information see the excellent article Karate ni Sente Nashi: What the Masters had to Say by Mark J. Tankosich.

空手に先手無し is composed of the kanji 空手 (read karate) meaning "Karate", the grammatical element に (read ni) meaning "in", 先手 (read sente) meaning "first move; first strike" and 無し (read nashi) the verb meaning "no; without."

Verify: 空手に先手無し in the Japanese-English Dictionary

There is No First Attack in Karate (空手に先手無し) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Block Vertical VB5C

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Block Vertical VB5D

There is No First Attack in Karate (空手に先手無し) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Cursive Vertical VC4B

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Cursive Vertical VC5B

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Cursive Vertical VC5C

There is No First Attack in Karate (空手に先手無し) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Design Vertical VD5B

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Design Vertical VD5C

There is No First Attack in Karate (空手に先手無し) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Semi-Cursive Vertical VS4C

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Semi-Cursive Vertical VS5C

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Semi-Cursive Vertical VS5D

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Cursive Horizontal HC4A

There is No First Attack in Karate 空手に先手無し karate ni sente nashi Semi-Cursive Horizontal HS4A

There is No First Attack in Karate

空手に先手無し (karate ni sente nashi)

Also available as a hand-brushed Japanese scroll