(Approx 2 minute 40 second read)

Someone recently told me that if you don’t wait for an attack, or at least attack or defend at the same time (sen no sen), then you have effectively become the attacker. He argued that we can never truly know the exact method of attack, so we should effectively wait.
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The ‘exact method’? Maybe not down to the last detail – but with experience, you can get a pretty good idea.
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Experienced practitioners, regardless of style or method practiced, can often predict what’s about to happen by paying attention to subtle cues and reacting instinctively. This isn’t unique to self-defense or karate – you see it in all kinds of situations.
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We all work to develop an intuition for what our opponents might do next, not just to respond to attacks, but also to seize opportunities.
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He argued that Okinawan karate didn’t have maxims like ‘go no sen’, ‘sen no sen’, and ‘sen sen no sen’ – Japanese concepts that categorize timing in combat. But even if Okinawan karate didn’t use the same terminology, they certainly understood the principles. Historical texts support this idea, even if they didn’t use the terms.
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As Kenwa Mabuni wrote: “When faced with someone who disrupts the peace or who will do one harm, one is as a warrior in battle, and so it only stands to reason that one should seize the initiative and pre-empt the enemy’s use of violence. Such action in no way goes against the precept of ‘no first attack’ … the expression ‘karate ni sente nashi.’”
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Choki Motobu made a similar point in his 1932 publication Watashi no Karate-jutsu: “There is an expression, ‘karate ni sente nashi’. Apparently, some people interpret this literally and often profess that ‘one must not attack first’, but I think that they are seriously mistaken. To be sure, it is certainly not the budo spirit to train for the purpose of striking others without good reason. […] When an enemy is serious about doing one harm, one must fiercely stand and fight. When one does fight, taking control of the enemy is crucial, and one must take that control with one’s first move. Thus, in a fight, one must attack first.”
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Ultimately, it’s not the words that matter or where they came from – it’s how we apply what we’ve learned. Karate, at its core, is about what works for you.
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Yes, of course we know that many of these terms come from Japanese martial traditions, not Okinawan ones. Before karate shifted in the early 20th century, instruction may have been much simpler – direct commands: perhaps like ‘Move here’, ‘Step there’, or ‘Strike like this’. The wording would have been different – if it was used at all.
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Yagi Akihito sensei of Meibukan Goju-Ryu put it this way: “Musubi dachi. I had never heard of that. We would just say, stand with your heels together.”
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The late Uema Takeshi sensei of Shubukan Shorin-Ryu said something similar: “We would just say, do this or do that, lower your hips, spread out your legs. In fact, there weren’t any names.” (Both quotes from Kuro Obi World.)
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When karate reached mainland Japan in the early 1900s, it adapted to the Japanese preference for structure and formalization. So, terms like the ones we use today were borrowed or adapted from other martial systems, like Kenjutsu. This made it easier to teach karate in schools and dojos.
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But at the end of the day, names don’t make you better at karate – training does. You can call it ‘sen sen no sen’, or you can just call it ‘getting there first’. Either way, what matters is whether you can actually do it when it counts.
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And waiting to be attacked before responding? In the real world, perhaps it’s not the best practice.
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Personally, I don’t care who said what. The real lesson? It’s in the practice.
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Written by Adam Carter