Karate is not violence, but self-discipline, says reverend

The Chairman of the occasion of Gyaku Ryu Karate Do, a school of Martial Art and Physical Fitness, Reverend John Adaji, has said that karate training is not an art of violence but rather a ground and platform for self-discipline. He said this in Jos during the marking of the New Year.

According to Adaji, karate is a unifying factor that brings together different ethnic groups of different religious persuasion in its area of operation.

“Karate is peace. If there is no peace, there will be no unity. Lack of peace has brought problems and conflicts to humanity and people’s movement is affected as a result. That is why we have mass movement of people displaced from one place to another because of lack of peace. In such a situation, the economy of the people and the country will definitely be affected,” he added.

Adaji said that in such a conflict situation, the agriculture of the people is bound to suffer, citing the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast of the country. He also talked about justice and equity, which he said should be held sacrosanct, adding that without justice, there will always be crisis of confidence.

The reverend advised those in authority to uphold justice so that it would step down to the grassroots because injustice would always invite anarchy and disorder in society.

“Don’t impose your religion on anybody. Let your religion not disturb another religion,” he said, while using the occasion to preach peace and unity and urging all and sundry to imbibe the spirit of unity and togetherness.

Adaji was presented a special award by the organisers for promoting peace in the state.

In his earlier remark, Founder of Karate in Plateau, Shinan Idris Hussain, said that the School of Martial Art and Physical Fitness is in conjunction with Nigerian Karate Association.

He said the game of karate started in Japan many years ago where before other countries of the world started to adopt it.

The occasion, however, witnessed various martial demonstrations by the practitioners to the delight of the spectators.