“Life is about knowing if you receive and counter, or just deflect. Knowing the good distance or how your timing should be, these are all part of life. In that sense, karate is to be practiced to toughen yourself, every time over and over…. It’s a lifetime’s work.” – (end quote)
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Kenyu Chinen 9th dan Shorin-Ryu Oshukai
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There is much more to Okinawan karate than mere sport, competition, fighting, or even self-defense. There has always been a deeper philosophical meaning too. As Chinen-sensei says; “It is an unbroken culture and tradition that our ancestors have carried through history… It is a cultural asset of Okinawa.”
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Okinawan Karate really is a reflection of life. 
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Quote from an interview with Chris Willson & James Pankiewicz.
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