"Do not move unless it is advantageous...

Do no execute unless it is effective...

Do not challenge unless it is critical..."

~ Sun Tzu

"Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points"

~ Bruce Lee

"Progress comes to those who train and train; reliance on secret techniques will get you nowhere."

~ Morihei Ueshiba

"Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend."

~ Bruce Lee

"To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy with out fighting is the highest skill."

~ Gichin Funakoshi

"When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die."

~ Gichin Funakoshi

"The teaching of one virtous person can influence many. That which has been learned well by one generation can be passed onto a hundred ."

~ Jigoro Kano

"1-2 out of every 100 students reach Black Belt and of those only 1 out of every 1,000 achieves his 2nd Dan."

~ Masutatsu Oyama

Sho Chiku Bai

Sho (Matsuda): Pine

Evergreens live long, young, and healthy lives. The pine symbolizes faithful friendship which resists all trials.

Chiku (Take): Bamboo

Bamboo represents honesty. When you cut into Bamboo, you find emptiness inside nothing evil is hidden within. Also Kosho Ryu practitioners remain very empty, and open to additional knowledge, never becoming full of themselves and their accomplishments. The bamboo is the symbol of the application of discipline and the man who remains loyal in all events.

Bai (Baika): Plum Flower

The Japanese plum flower stands for beauty, nobility, and courage. This is because the plum flower puts forth blossoms while the snow is still on the ground. The plum tree flowers before all the others.