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LIVING LIBRARY
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Karate Books from myfoodcount.com
Karate or karate-do is a martial art of Okinawan origin. Recent research indicates that it developed from a synthesis of indigenous Ryukyuan fighting methods and southern Chinese martial arts. Karate originally meant Tang hand, i.e. Chinese hand, which later took on the meaning 'empty hand' in Japanese. It is known primarily as a striking art, featuring punching, kicking, knee/elbow strikes and open handed techniques. However, grappling, joint manipulations, locks, restrains, throws and vital point striking are inherent to the art.
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Karate-Do Kyohan: The Master Text
by Gichin Funakoshi
Gichin Funakoshi is one of karate's great masters. Born in Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, 1868, he studied Karate-do from childhood and organized the the first public demonstrations.
As president of the Okinawa Association for the Spirit of Martial Arts, he was chosen to demonstrate karate at the First National Athletic Exhibition in Tokyo in 1922. This led to the introduction of the ancient martial art to the rest of Japan and subsequently to the rest of the world.
At the urging of friends and officials, he remained in Tokyo, and the development of the way of karate owes much to his teaching, writings and introduction of new forms. In his later years, he was president of Shotokai, of which he was a founder. He emphasized always the spiritual aspects of Karate-do, and it is significant that through his influence the Chinese characters for karate were changed from "Chinese" hand to "empty" hand.
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Karate-Do: My Way of Life
by Gichin Funakoshi
Funakoshi Gichen was many things to many people. Although today he is for the most part remembered and respected as the founder of the style we know today as Shotokan, Funakoshi Gichen was also a school Teacher, a family man, a man educated in the Confucian classics, a practitioner and teacher of Karate, and an Okinawan who undertook the task of bringing the art of Karate-Do from its native island of Okinawa to the Japanese Mainland in his later years.
Remarkably, Funakoshi lived through several important eras in Okinawa and Japan's history. As a young man he recounts the impact of Meiji-era forced modernization, where men holding public posts were required to cut their traditional top-knots. His accounts of training with Master Itosu and Master Azato and stories of their explaits are some of the most specific known to us. Funakoshi also describes the sacrifices he made to continue practicing Karate while on Okinawa, at one point turning down a promotion because the travel would have separated him from his karate teachers. We learn how Yasutsune Itosu was instrumental in helping make karate a part of the physical culture curriculum in Okinawa's schools, and later how Funakoshi's background as an educator and karateka made him the ideal candidate to travel to Japan to demonstrate karate.
Funakoshi describes how his extended family of 10 in Okinawa struggled to make ends meet on his teacher's salary of 3 yen a month, scraping by only because of the diligence of his wife, who grew vegetables and wove cloth to help make ends meet. His wife he tells us, also became adept at performing Karate kata, which she practiced to raise her spirits when tired (page 39)!
Funakoshi initially came to Japan to demonstrate karate, was invited to the Kodokan by Jigoro Kano and ended up teaching Kano some basic manouvers which are now included in the Judo curriculum. Perhaps it was his exposure to Judo that led him to stay in Japan and undertake the task of teaching Karate with the hope of popularizing it among the masses. Maybe he was just a teacher at heart, and he finally realized an opportunity to combine the two subjects he enjoyed--teaching and karate.
In the beginning of his stay in Japan, Funakoshi started with virtually nothing, taking employment as a groundskeeper and watchman, at times having to pawn his personal belongings for basic necessities. His efforts did eventually pay off in spite of his evidently gentlemanly good manners and lack of hard-driving salesmanship. Keio University took an interest, with Takushoku not far behind...and from here, the establishment of Funakoshi's karate began to take root in Japan.
Throughout the book author Funakoshi mentions specific events and people, peppering his writing with funny and interesting anecdotes. A first class view of a specific period in time during which an art travelled from a village in Okinawa, to Japan, then world.
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The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate: The Spiritual Legacy of the Master
by Gichin Funakoshi, Genwa Nakasone, John Teramoto (Translator)
Gichin Funakoshi, "the father of karate," once said that "the ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory nor defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants."
To support this life-long stance and offer guidance to future practitioners, he penned his now legendary twenty principles. While the principles have circulated for years, a translation of the accompanying commentary has never found its way into publication--until now.
Master Funakoshi's approach stresses spiritual considerations and mental agility over brute strength and technique. Practitioners should not rely on technique alone--striking, kicking, blocking--but must nurture the spiritual aspects of their practice as well. Attend to yourself and the rest will follow, was the message he set for posterity over sixty years ago.
As axioms, Funakoshi's principles are open to various interpretations. "There is no first attack in karate" has occasioned endless discussion about its true meaning. Many of these ambiguities are clarified in the commentary, which is also filled with philosophical musings, fascinating historical episodes, and advice for anyone seeking a better Way.
Translated for the first time into English by John Teramoto, a karate practitioner himself, and accompanied by original calligraphy, this long-awaited treatise is a provocative read and, for martial arts enthusiasts, a long overdue godsend.
Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957) is one of karate's great masters. Born in Okinawa, the birthplace of karate, he began training in the secret martial art as a child. In 1922, at the request of the Japanese government, he demonstrated the still-secret Okinawan art of self-defence on the Japanese mainland, which led to karate's introduction to the rest of Japan and subsequently the rest of the world. Funakoshi devoted the remainder of his life to this traditional sport and wrote several classics on the subject, including Karate-do Kyohan and Karate Jutsu, as well as an autobiography entitled Karate-do: My Way of Life.
Genwa Nakasone (1895-1978), between stints as a schoolteacher and a politician, was an editor and publisher of books on karate and martial arts, among them Karate-do Taikan, a ground-breaking compendium of karate texts and documents. Born in Okinawa, he was an early supporter of Funakoshi, and in an ideal position to compile accurate annotations of the master's twenty principles.
John Teramoto was born in Los Angeles, California, and began karate training at the age of 13 under Tsutomu Oshima, reaching the rank of godan in 1990. Since 1998, he has served as the president of Shotokan Karate of America's Black Belt Council.
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Bo Karate: Weapon of Self Defense
by Fumio Demura
Demura, who studied under Taira Shinken, covers stances, striking, blocking, combinations, sparring, and an entire kata. Demura is considered among the finest bo experts of the modern age. Fully illustrated.
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Nunchaku Karate Weapon of Self-Defense
by Fumio Demura
All-Japan Karate Champion Demura demonstrates the movements and fighting applications of the nunchaku. This book features gripping stances, blocking, striking, footwork, nunchaku and karate similarities, and more than 20 defenses against other weapons. Fully illustrated.
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Karate Fighting Techniques: The Complete Kumite
by Hirokazu Kanazawa, Richard Berger (Translator)
Hirokazu Kanazawa is the most renowned karate master in the world today, and a close disciple of Gichin Funakoshi, the father of modern karate and founder of the Shotokan school. Having earned his impressive reputation in Hawaii, the mainland United States, and Europe as an official trainer for the Japan Karate Association, Kanazawa founded Shoto-kan Karate-do International Federation in 1979. This association now has branches in more than 90 countries throughout the world.
This book is Kanazawa’s first complete guide to kumite, or sparring. The karate training process comprises four areas: basics, kata (forms; prearranged movements and techniques), kumite, and competition. Kumite—"the art of grappling with opponents," as it might be called—is the application of kata, and is the key to success in karate tournaments.
Karate Fighting Techniques teaches all the various kumite techniques, and presents a systematic approach to applied kumite that is designed to provide essential information for match-style kumite and tournament kumite. The author also writes with great affection of his experiences with Master Gichin Funakoshi, and offers some insight into the true spirit and teachings of Shotokan karate.
With 700 photos of the author, his students, and some rare photos of the late Gichin Funakoshi and his famous disciple Masatoshi Nakayama (author of the popular Best Karate series), Karate Fighting Techniques is the first book of its kind to provide such a comprehensive guide to kumite and its role in Shotokan karate. It will be an indispensable resource for all karate practitioners.
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Karate Dojo: Traditions and Tales of a Martial Art
by Peter Urban
Peter Urban was a pioneer in American karate and helped not only spread the art of goju ryu, but the ripple effect helped the promotion of other martial arts as well in the 60s and 70s. While a little eccentric, Urban was true to the bushido roots, while adapting karate for an American population.
This book covers karate philosophy in its mid-twentieth century form and promotes the positive aspects of discipline and etiquette. The book deals with attitude and motivation of spirit. The second half of the book has "dojo stories" that help embody the essences of karate training.
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The Bible of Karate Bubishi
by Patrick McCarthy (Editor)
No other classic work has had as dramatic an impact on the shaping and development of karate as The Bubishi. Treasured for centuries by karate?s top masters, studied, applied, and plagarized, The Bubishi is a classic Chinese work on philosophy, strategy, medicine, and technique as they relate to the martial arts. Referred to as 'the bible of karate' by the famous master Miyagi Chojun, for hundreds of years The Bubishi was a secret text passed from master to student in China and later in Okinawa. Now made available to the world in paperback, incorporate its eternal insights into your martial arts training.
Patrick McCarthy is one of the few foreigners to actually teach karate-do in Japan. Moreover, he is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the civil fighting traditions of Okinawa. He is also the first Caucasian to ever be awarded the coveted Kyoshi Seventh Dan Teacher’s License from Kyoto’s prestigious Dai Nippon Butokukai. He has been practicing karate-do for over thirty years, and has also studied Taijiquan, White Crane, Hung Gar, Monk Fist, and Five Ancestors Fist gongfu. During the mid-seventies, while pursuing a successful competitive carer, McCarthy met the "Harvard Professor of the Martial Arts," Master Richard Kim, a disciple of whose he subsequently became in 1977. A holder of a Butokukai Hanshi Ninth Dan Master’s license, Kim Sensei emphasized the importance of studying karate’s nonutilitarian elements. As a result of Master Kim’s influence, McCarthy undertook a deep study of karate’s history and philosophy, the research for which continues to this day. His research has brought him not only to Japan, but also Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People’s Republic of China.
With an extensive background in both the Okinawan and Chinese fighting arts, McCarthy was in a unique position to research the most profound and influential document in the history of karate-do, the Bubishi. Since that time, he has interviewed and trained with the world’s top masters of gongfu and karate-do while unraveling the history of this document and the fighting systems associated with it. After moving to Japan in 1985, he became Master Kim’s personal representative in Japan and in 1987 established the International Ryukyu Karate Research Society (IRKRS) as an outgrowth of his research. IRKRS is a non-profit, nonpolitical group of researchers and practitioners of budo, dedicated, but not limited, to the analysis, preservation, and promotion of karate-do. Mr. McCarthy is a frequent contributor to martial arts magazines throughout the world, author of The Classical Kata of Okinawan Karate, Beyond Physical Training, Kata: Karate’s Paragon of Mystery, and translator of Miyagi Chojun’s 1934 Outline of Karate-do, The Secrets of Wudang Boxing, Taira Shinken’s 1964 Ryukyu Kobudo Taikan, The Matsumura and Itosu Precepts, and the 1936 Meeting of the Okinawan Masters. Mr. McCarthy travels around the world lecturing on karate history and philosophy, kata applications, the Bubishi, and kobudo. He can be contacted for such seminars through the publisher.
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Best Karate: Kumite 1 (Best Karate, 3)
by Masatoshi Nakayama
In kumite (sparring) basic techniques are sharpened and body movement and distancing acquired through practical application. This volume explains the types and meaning of kumite and the relation between jiyu kumite and basic training in fundamentals.
Demonstrated by instructors of the Japan Karate Association. As well as setting forth the basic rules that must be put into practice when performing kata or applying techniques in kumite, this volume pinpoints the underlying physical and physiological principles of karate: source and concentration of power; stance, form, stability and technique; movement in all directions; basic and comprehensive aspects of training.
Here is a list of all volumes in this series:
Vol. 1: Comprehensive
Vol. 2: Fundamentals
Vol. 3: Kumite 1
Vol. 4: Kumite 2
Vol. 5: Heian, Tekki
Vol. 6: Bassai, Kanku
Vol. 7: Jutte, Hangetsu, Empi
Vol. 8: Gankaku, Jion
Vol. 9: Bassai Sho, Kanku Sho, Chinte
Vol.10: Unsu, Sochin, Nijushiho
Vol. 11: Gojushiho Dai, Gojushiho Sho, Meikyo
Masatoshi Nakayama carries on the tradition of his teacher, Gichin Funakoshl, the Father of Modern Karate. Long professor and director of physical education at Takushoku University, his alma mater (1937), he was chief instructor of the Japan Karate Association from 1955 until his death in 1987. A ninth degree black belt and a familiar face at tournaments, he was among the first to send instructors overseas and to encourage the development of karate along scientific lines.
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The Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do: (Shorin-Ryu)
by Shoshin Nagamine
Shoshin Nagamine's book is invaluable to anyone who studies Shorin-ryu Karate, or a school related to or derived from Shorin-ryu. Although Nagamine's volume was originally published in English in 1976, it still sets the standard for other books on the subject of Okinawan karate (I don't know of any English volume as thorough--and I own over 3,000 martial arts books). It is also the only English language Shorin-ryu manual to include complete demonstrations of ALL 18 kata of this style, all of which are demonstrated by Mr. Nagamine himself (photos, foot position & stepping diagrams, and narrative). They include: Fugyu Kata I & II, Pinan 1 through 5, Naihanchi 1-3, Ananku, Wankan, Rohai, Wanshu, Passai, Gojushiho, Chinto, and Kusanku. Practitioners of styles such as Shotokan and Tang Soo Do will enjoy comparing these older versions of the forms with those they practice today. This is one of the few books on Karate which could benefit a practitioner at either the basic OR advanced levels, due to the amount and depth of information included within.
Another attractive feature of this book is the excellent autobiography which Mr. Nagamine includes. He writes about personal aspects of his life, his interest in karate and other martial arts (he was also a skilled judoka), and includes a subsection on each of his teachers describing his experience and what he learned. He describes training with his first teacher, Ankichi Arakaki, and then the famed Chotoku Kyan, and the kempo master Choki Motobu. Nagamine offers his personal thoughts on karate training, including a series of precepts which have guided his own studies. The section on basic techniques (preceeding the lengthy section on kata) shows exactly how each movement is to be performed, and includes detailed photographs from the start of the technique to its finish. There are also sections on Kumite (showing 7 sequences and also brief information on breaking objects and makiwara training) and Kobudo (weapons such as sai, bo, nunchaku, etc.).
Concerning Shishin Nagamine, the man was a dedicated karate researcher as well as a skilled practitioner who knew many of the old masters and was friendly with karate men of other styles. Nagamine's specific style is called Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu. He was a policeman by trade, and has written a second book called "Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters", which includes much more about his experiences delving into karate history.
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Sai Karate Weapon of Self-Defense
by Fumio Demura
This fully illustrated book covers gripping, flipping, stances, blocks, karate and sai similarities, movements and footwork, combinations and sparring. Demura is an expert in traditional karate weapons and an international ambassador of karate.
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The Fundamentals of Goju-Ryu Karate
by Gosei Yamaguchi
For the first time, Gosei Yamaguchi details the basics of the most popular styles of Japanese karate. Containing more than 400 diagrams and photographs, this landmark volume introduces the concepts of the hard-soft system and show how to put them into practice. Gosei Yamaguchi is chief instructor of Goju-Kai Karate-Do, USA and the foremost authority on goju-ryu in the United States. He is son of the famed Cat Gogen Yamaguchi, founder of the International Goju-Kai.
Norimi Gosei Yamaguchi is the eldest son of Gogen Yamaguchi, President of the International Karate-Do Goju-Kai. The elder Yamaguchi was teaching karate at Ritsumeikan, Kyoto, Japan when Gosei was born on June 29, 1935, and Gosei began his study of goju karate from his father before he was five years old. When Gosei entered Takushoku University to major in commerce and Russian, he decided to broaden his knowledge of karate by studying another style, and joined the Shotokan Karate Club and trained under Masataka Nakayama along with Hirokazu Kanazawa, Masataka Mori, Yutaka Yaguchi, and Tetsuhiko Asai. They are all now well known Shotokan Karate masters.
After two years at Takushoku, Gosei Yamaguchi transfered to Meiji Gakuin University from which he received a B.A. degree in English Literature in 1956. After more than 60 years of studying goju karate he has achieved the level of ninth dan, with a teaching grade of Hanshi. When Gosei came to the United States in 1964, he assumed direction of the National Goju-Kai Karate-Do activity headquarters in San Francisco. He also has taught karate at San Francisco State University as a part of the Kinesiology curriculum since 1967.
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Karate Jutsu: The Original Teachings of Gichin Funakoshi
by Gichin Funakoshi, John Teramoto (Translator)
Gichin Funakoshi is considered the father of modern karate. In the 1920s, he wrote the first of several classic karate texts, culminating his career with the publication of Karate-do Kyohan, which remains among the most important and influential works on karate today.
The Kyohan, however, evolved from Karate Jutsu, a much earlier work. In the formative writings of the Jutsu, Funakoshi set out the philosophy and forms that he would practice and refine for the rest of his life.
As the Kyohan's earliest version, Karate Jutsu has attained legendary status. Legions of enthusiastic martial arts practitioners have sought out the original Japanese version, and pirated English-language editions have circulated for years.
This is the first official English publication of Karate Jutsu. Translator John Teramoto has gone to great lengths to accurately convey the essence of Funakoshi's original manuscript, and has contributed an informative introduction and revealing footnotes that clearly note where the forms in Jutsu vary from those of the Kyohan. Karate Jutsu also includes rare historical photographs of Funakoshi himself demonstrating the kata, his early writings in their original form, and a foreword by Tsutomu Ohshima, the founder and chief instructor of the Shotokan Karate of America.
Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957) is known throughout the world as one of karate's great masters. Born in Okinawa, he began training in karate as a child. Also educated in the Confucian classics, he became a schoolteacher early in life. In 1922, he demonstrated the then-secret Okinawan art on the Japanese mainland, which led to karate's introduction to the rest of Japan and subsequently the rest of the world. Funakoshi devoted the remainder of his life to this traditional sport and wrote several classics on the subject, including Karate-do Kyohan and an autobiography entitled Karate-do: My Way of Life.
John Teramoto, the translator, was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1950. After beginning karate training in 1963, he reached the rank of godan in 1990. Since 1998, he has served as the president of the Black Belt Council of the Shotokan Karate of America. Teramoto received a Ph. D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in Japanese Art History in 1994 and is currently an Associate Curator of Asian Art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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Humane Pressure Point Self-Defense: Dillman Method for Law Enforcement, Medical Personnel, Business Professionals, Men and Women
by George A. Dillman
An exciting new approach for dealing with violent encounters. Based on reserach and practical application and developed in cooperation with police forces.
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