The Little Black Book of Violence

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

- Sun Tzu

The first is to forestall him by attacking. This is called ken no sen (to set him up).

- Miyamoto Musashi

There is an old Chinese proverb that states, “He who strikes the first blow admits he’s lost the argument.” Throwing the first punch can put you on shaky ground legally speaking too. Consequently, most civilians are taught that striking first is a bad thing. If you are already a martial artist, you have undoubtedly heard that karate is first and foremost a defensive art. This tradition is best described by Gichin Funakoshi’s [18] famous saying, “karate ni sente nashi” which translates as “there is no first strike in karate.”

While this statement is true, it is also commonly misunderstood, often to the detriment of martial artists who find themselves in serious trouble the first time they take their dojo training to a real fight on the street. Following Funakoshi’s admonishment, they tend to wait until they have already been attacked and very possibly struck with force before taking any action. By then it is often too late. If a trained martial artist has this challenge, imagine how much more difficult it would be for an untrained civilian to survive a fight if he cedes initiative to the attacker.

To be clear, karateka, like most martial artists, are taught to avoid seeking conflict. This convention helps practitioners of potentially lethal arts behave in a manner appropriate to interaction within polite society; something we’d all agree is a positive thing indeed. This mindset is so important that it goes beyond mere words and is even reflected in the training methods and physical movements of the art. For example, every kata[19] in Goju Ryu karate (which Kane and Wilder practice) begins with a defensive technique.

The challenge is, then, to make that defensive move work to your advantage. What many don’t realize is that defensive techniques when executed properly are designed to be just as fight-stopping as offensive ones. Uke, in Japanese, means “receive” rather than “block,” an important distinction. Traditional fighting arts were developed long before the advent of modern medicine. In those days, almost any injury suffered in battle could ultimately prove fatal through infection or other collateral impact. Consequently, even the defensive tactics were nasty and highly effective.

The ancient masters understood that if they were to only block an adversary’s attack, he would continue to strike until they did something more effective to disable him, or they were beaten into a bloody pulp, or he decided to stop of his own volition. Consequently, all martial applications, including the defensive ones, were designed in such a manner that they could be used to end a confrontation as quickly as possible. Despite advancements in technology, the nature of hand-to-hand fighting remains much the same today as it was in ancient times.

Here is where the confusion lies. To many, “no first strike” implies waiting for an adversary to attack rather than trying to counter successfully when you are already injured or out of position from the force of your attacker’s initial blow. After all, once you block the first strike another is inevitably already on its way, so you are effectively behind the count before you begin. No one throws only a single punch in a fight. In order to decipher the true intent of Funakoshi’s statement, we must understand a bit about initiative and how it is used in a fight.

• Late initiative (go no sen in Japanese) means blocking and counterstriking after an adversary has already attacked. This is the method that new martial artists are initially taught. It means to receive or block a blow and then to strike back. It is a great learning method because it breaks advanced techniques down into small movements, but it is not practical on the street where you are likely to become overwhelmed by a determined aggressor. This is elementary stuff, abandoned quickly once any significant level of skill has been achieved.

Whenever you fight, you run the risk injuring, maiming, or killing another human being, even if only by accident. If you are seen as the aggressor in the eyes of the law, you will be facing serious jail time and/or crippling civil liability.

• Simultaneous initiative (sen no sen in Japanese) means intercepting the adversary’s blow just after it begins. This is an intermediate form of martial arts, using quickness and power to simultaneously attack and defend, cutting off the opponent’s strike before it makes contact. This is where we begin to find street-worthy application. With dedicated training and a bit of practice, this is very achievable.

• Preemptive initiative (sen-sen no sen in Japanese) means cutting off a blow before it even starts. Practitioners sense that an attack will be forthcoming and then cut it short before the aggressor has the chance to transform the mental desire to attack into the physical movement necessary to execute that desire. This is the ultimate goal of martial training insofar as self-defense is concerned, advanced martial arts. It’s also really tough to learn.

Preemptive initiative, or sen-sen no sen, cuts off an attack before it is fully in play, looking an awful lot like a first strike yet is still a defensive movement. This is what Funakoshi really meant: Striking to cut off an impending attack is okay while instigating unwarranted violence on your own volition is not. If you can walk away from a confrontation, you absolutely should do so. It is not only morally the right thing to do but it also allows you to avoid potentially serious repercussions as well. Most rational people would agree that picking fights on the street is a bad idea.

To clarify further, Funakoshi wrote, “When there are no avenues of escape or one is caught even before any attempt to escape can be made, then for the first time the use of self-defense techniques should be considered. Even at times like these, do not show any intention of attacking, but first let the attacker become careless. At that time attack him concentrating one’s whole strength in one blow to a vital point and in the moment of surprise, escape, and seek shelter and help.” Notice that he wrote, “at that time attack him” as opposed to “after he strikes launch your counterattack.” Preemptive initiative is fully consistent with this approach. He also talks about seeking “shelter and help.” Your intent should be to stop the assault so that you can escape to safety or otherwise remain safe until help arrives, not to beat down your adversary.

Clearly martial artists should only engage in physical violence if there is no other choice. Sometime around 506 B.C. Sun Tzu wrote, “To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue an enemy without fighting is the highest skill.” There are many peaceful ways to settle a disagreement, any one of which is preferable to a physical confrontation. If you cannot escape from danger, however, that does not mean that you must stand around waiting to get hit before you can act in your own defense. This is especially important in multiple attacker and armed aggressor scenarios where hesitation will most likely get you mutilated or killed.

Never start a fight. If you can walk away from a confrontation, by all means do so. It is not only morally the right thing to do but it allows you to avoid serious repercussions as well. A preemptive strike as you sense an imminent threat, on the other hand, is a legitimate and street-worthy defensive technique so long as your intent is to stop the assault so that you can escape to safety or otherwise remain safe until help arrives rather than to beat down your adversary. You’ll need to be able to clearly articulate why you knew he was going to assault you before you clobbered him when you talk with the police though.

This same perspective is expressed in a famous quote from the Bible, though once again it is commonly misunderstood. A common translation of Matthew 5:39 reads: “But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” A more accurate translation according to many biblical scholars would be, “But I say to you, do not resist evil with evil.”

There is a huge difference between a command to “not resist evil” and a command to “not resist with evil.” Turning the other cheek is a metaphor for not seeking vengeance for or responding violently to insults. While very