1. Respect礼
Treat every person — teacher, partner, beginner, opponent — as someone who deserves dignity.
On the mat: Greet and thank your partners, keep the training space clean, listen when someone explains, and never mock a mistake.
Library › The WABUKAN Code of Honour (version 1)
The WABUKAN Code of Honour (version 1)
v1 · 2026-10-30Every serious martial tradition has a code. Ours is short on purpose: seven values that anyone can practise on the mat tomorrow, whatever the art. It is version 1 — open to discussion and improvement.
The seven values
2. Humility謙
A belt measures time on the mat, not worth as a person. There is always more to learn — and someone who knows it.
On the mat: Ask questions, accept correction without excuses, tap early, and learn from people of other arts.
3. Self-control忍
The first opponent is your own anger, fear and ego. Skill without control is only danger.
On the mat: Match the intensity your partner agreed to, stop at the signal, breathe before you react — in the gym and outside it.
4. Force only in defence止
We train to protect, never to attack, humiliate or intimidate. Avoiding the fight is a victory.
On the mat: Leave, talk, de-escalate first. If you must act, use only what is needed to be safe, and stop as soon as you are. Know the law where you live.
5. Your partner’s safety守
Your partner lends you their body so you can learn. Return it intact.
On the mat: Release at the tap, apply locks and chokes slowly, control the fall in throws, wear protection, report injuries, and never train while impaired.
6. Honesty誠
Be truthful about your rank, your history, your lineage and your results — and about what a technique can and cannot do.
On the mat: No fake belts, no invented legends, no "deadly secret" techniques. Cite your sources, as we try to do on this site.
7. Lifelong learning道
The way has no end. Train the basics again and again, study history and science, and pass on what you know.
On the mat: Keep a training notebook, ask "why does this work?", and help the newest person in the room.
The short form (to recite)
- I respect every person.
- I stay humble and keep learning.
- I control myself before I control anyone else.
- I use force only to protect.
- I keep my partner safe.
- I am honest about what I know and who I am.
Compared with historical codes
Our code did not come from nowhere. Below are six real traditions, summarised in our own words, and a table showing where each one meets our seven values.
Dojo kun
Karate (Shotokan/JKA tradition), 20th century
Five short lines recited at the end of class: seek perfection of character, be sincere, put in effort, respect others, refrain from violent behaviour.
Funakoshi’s twenty precepts (Niju kun)
Gichin Funakoshi, karate, 1930s
In summary (our words): training starts and ends with respect; karate never makes the first attack; know yourself before others; mind matters more than technique; training never stops and belongs in daily life; move from fixed forms to free adaptation.
The five tenets of taekwondo
General Choi Hong-hi (ITF), 1950s–60s
Courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit — recited in many taekwondo schools around the world.
Wude — Chinese martial virtue
Chinese martial arts; the idea goes back to classical texts
武德 wǔdé. In the Zuo zhuan (Duke Xuan, year 12) King Zhuang of Chu refuses to build a victory mound of enemy dead and explains the character 武 "martial" as 止 "stop" + 戈 "spear"; he lists seven aims of true martial power: restrain violence, put weapons away, protect what is great, secure what was achieved, give the people peace, bring harmony and let wealth grow. Modern linguists note that 止 first meant "foot / advance", so this is a moral reading rather than the original etymology — but it became the root of Chinese martial virtue.
European chivalry
Medieval Europe, c. 1100–1500
There was never one single code. Books such as Ramon Llull’s Order of Chivalry (c. 1275) and Geoffroi de Charny’s Book of Chivalry (c. 1350) praised prowess, loyalty, largesse and protection of the weak — while historians show that real knights were often violent. The ideal and the practice were not the same.
The capoeira roda
Afro-Brazilian tradition, Brazil
The code is lived as ritual: players enter at the foot of the berimbau, the music sets the kind of game, players greet each other, and the roda is a game of skill and cunning (malícia), not a street fight.
Where the traditions meet our values
| Dojo kun | Funakoshi’s twenty precepts (Niju kun) | The five tenets of taekwondo | Wude — Chinese martial virtue | European chivalry | The capoeira roda | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Respect | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Humility | ● | ● | ● | |||
| Self-control | ● | ● | ● | |||
| Force only in defence | ● | ● | ● | |||
| Your partner’s safety | ● | ● | ||||
| Honesty | ● | ● | ● | |||
| Lifelong learning | ● | ● | ● | ● |
● = the value appears explicitly or clearly in that tradition (our reading). Blank = not a central theme, not "absent".
Version 1 — 30 October 2026. This text is a starting point written by the Wabukan team. It will be refined with the founder and the community.
Related on Wabukan: Martial philosophy and quotes · Technique manual · Bibliography · Glossary
Sources
- Gichin Funakoshi, The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate, trans. John Teramoto. Kodansha International, 2003. ISBN 9784770027962.
- Gichin Funakoshi, Karate-Do: My Way of Life. Kodansha International, 1975. ISBN 9780870114632.
- Zuo zhuan, Duke Xuan year 12 (止戈為武), Chinese Text Project.
- Peter A. Lorge, Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press, 2012. ISBN 9780521878814.
- Ramon Llull, The Book of the Order of Chivalry, trans. Noel Fallows. Boydell Press, 2013. ISBN 9781843838494.
- Richard W. Kaeuper & Elspeth Kennedy, The Book of Chivalry of Geoffroi de Charny: Text, Context, and Translation. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996. ISBN 9780812233483.
- Richard W. Kaeuper, Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe. Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 9780198207306.
- Maurice Keen, Chivalry. Yale University Press, 1984. ISBN 9780300031508.
- Matthias Röhrig Assunção, Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art. Routledge, 2004. ISBN 9780714650319.
- Greg Downey, Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 9780195176988.
- J. Lowell Lewis, Ring of Liberation: Deceptive Discourse in Brazilian Capoeira. University of Chicago Press, 1992. ISBN 9780226476834.
- Udo Moenig, Taekwondo: From a Martial Art to a Martial Sport. Routledge, 2015. ISBN 9781138701458.
Cite / use this content
You may quote short excerpts with a visible link to this page. Suggested citation:
Wabukan (2026). “The WABUKAN Code of Honour (version 1)”. https://wabukan.com/codigo-honra (accessed 2026-10-30).
Full rules, ready-made link code and press kit → · Updated: 2026-10-30