The Song of Enlightenment is contained in Appendix 2: “Kara-te theory collection” on the last page of Karate-Do Kyohan, O-Sensei Gichin Funakoshi’s “master text.” There are several editions and translations of this excellent book available, the most common published by Kodansha in 1973. The Song of Enlightenment is sadly not translated in the Kodansha edition, however, as it was written in an obscure, old fashioned style of Japanese which was too difficult to translate. The following translation comes from the book published by Neptune publications in 2005. While their edition is very expensive (about 120 euros!), it is absolutely excellent – an exact replica of the original Japanese edition, of which only a small few still exist. An entire team of translators spent 5 years working on the project, with the Song of Enlightenment being finally made available to English speakers as a result. Feel free to ask the dojo Sempai for more information about this at any class. Enjoy!
The Song of Enlightenment-
To attack the East, first strike the West.
To step forward, first stand back,
To turn around, harden the energy within.
If grabbed by the hair, use the big thrust of your fist,
In attacking him, first destroy his ears.
If he falls down, stamp on him to win,
If you fall on the ground, exploit his smugness.
Held from behind, bump your head against him,
Held from in front, attack his genitalia.
If he grabs your elbow, hit him on the face,
Kill the sneaky devil by striking his throat.
When he is close, use your palm,
When he is away, use the back step.
The left hand hits first before the right makes a swipe,
The left hand thrusts first before the foot produces a kick.
To kick high, first stand back,
If twisted in an arm, use your punches.
If the sleeves are caught, use the thrusting hand,
If the skirt is pulled, use the knees to extricate.
When he tries to kick, concentrate on striking,
In order to kick him, feign weakness to entice him.
Do not use the feet when his stance is low,
Charge when his stance is high.
If he attacks your lower body, rise high,
If he attacks your upper body, go down.
If pulled at the hair, use “taking off the helmet,”
If squeezed at the throat, use the “Big Hack” (the way of cutting, severing).
With swinging steps, you avoid his kicks,
Feet and hands follow each other without any mistakes.
