No Style

“There are no styles of karate-do, just varying interpretations of its principles.” Mabuni Kenwa. One of my favourite Karate quotes. There’s always so much discussion and emphasis on “styles” online. Is this style good? What’s the best style for this or that? Has anyone heard of this style?… It wasn’t just Mabuni who had this opinion. They all (the “old masters”) just practiced Karate in a way that suited them. Yes, this could be called their own style, but they didn’t intend to create a style to be exactly copied and named. I’m sure most Karateka are aware of the events surrounding the naming of styles. Humans are still very tribal and love labels so it does make sense that people get into the idea of styles. Personally I don’t subscribe to any particular style of Karate. Initially I trained in a Shito-Ryu dojo. Moving on from there I tried another Shito-Ryu dojo that was very different. Even the same style was different. Is there a better example of style being irrelevant? Since then I let go of style names and just practice Karate. You may see elements that some would call Goju-Ryu or something resembling Kyokushin…. To me it’s all just Karate. If you like naming a style, that’s fine of course, but also consider expanding your practice beyond the confines of said style. My school is named Enso Karate. While I would not label what I do as a style, the name selection was intentional. An enso represents a concept. When the mind is free to let the body create. There should be a freedom in your exploration of Karate. There is no one way to do anything. Be open.