Karate-Do Nyumon

There are certain books in which EVERY true martial artists should have in their library. A few of those books are "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do", "Karate-Do KyoHan", "Zen in the Martial Arts", "The Book of Five Rings", "The Art of War", and last but not least, "Karate-Do NyuMon". Gichin Funakoshi has a view of Karate-Do that most practitioners do not see. He wants it more of a way of life...a whole excesize of mind, body, and spirit. In this book, he expands on this belief and even includes the almost forgotten (but SO important) Ten-No-Kata. It is short and worth the study. VERY IMPORTANT! This book contains a lot of "Do" as well as technique. Funakoshi is the "man" in my book, along with Lee, Inosanto, Ueshiba, Rhee, and Hatsumi. I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Karate-Do Nyumon is a wonderful book for any karate practitioner to read. I've read my copy through many times, and that's not counting all the times I've come back to specific areas of the book. This is one of the best books available for the new student in helping them understand just what karate-do really is, and it is no less a very informative read for students and teachers of all other levels.

Written by Gichin Funakoshi, Shotokan Karate founder and "father of modern karate", and translated by John Teramoto, president of Shotokan Karate of America's Black Belt Council, this book was originally published in Japanese in 1943. The first half of the book is full of wonderful history and entertaining anecdotes, advice on training, and photographs of practice during the first half of the (20th) century. The second half contains descriptions of basic techniques, ten-no-kata, and kawashi as practiced recently by senior Shotokai members. The text concludes with wonderful 'vignettes' of Funakoshi's teachers, Yasutsune Itosu and Yasutsune Azato, and of their teacher, Matsumura Sensei. Very highly recommended!

I am a practioner of MANY martial arts and I have to say, without a doubt, the Master Funakoshi has put together a great text which describes a part of his martial heritage and how his masters dealt with adversity in the past. The stories he tells us are not only for entertainment, but they serve as an example on how one should ACT, not REACT, in a situation. I esspecially respect the fact that Master Funakoshi is an innovator and not mearly an immitator. My praises.

Myself being a student of Okinawa karatedo and this book being one by the great Funakoshi Gichin himself, I must give it a good rating, because it is a good book. His tales of his teachers are a very good read, and the chapter on Karate in Ryukyu tells people exactly what all these kyusho-jutsu people are telling us now: that there ARE "secret" movements in the kata! (Unfortunately, Funakoshi Sensei does not go into details). :)