Ki and the Way of the Martial Arts

PLEASE COMPLETELY DISREGARD THE REVIEW THAT GIVES THIS BOOK 1 STAR... DO NOT READ IT, SAVE SOME TIME... LIFE'S SHORT :) This book is for true martial artist only. this book is for people who seeks more than punching, kicking, and grappling. I'm a 2nd degree Black Belt in Karate Shotokan and currently praticing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I can tell you that what you will find in this book goes way beyond just practicing martial arts as sport. It is a very deep book, you can tell the sadness of the author in some parts as the true essence of the unification of mind and body among other important aspects are neglected by the majority of western martial arts masters. Do not buy this book if you see martial arts, as punching, kicking, and/or grappling. This book will guide you... explaining the meaning of the book goes beyond intellect.... but again... don't buy this if you are just a regular martial artist, you wont enjoy it like I did.

Out of all the books I've read over the years about Ki this one is the first to look at it from a purely Japanese perspective and purely a martial arts perspective. While sometimes it can get long-winded and while sometimes what you read may take a moment for the mind to digest, overall it's a very good book that tries to explain psychological and spiritual intangibles in relation to the martial arts.

Kenji Tokitsu is a very experienced martial artist, with knowledge of both Chinese and Japanese systems. He shares with the reader many insights gained by four decades of practice. Key to this discussion are the terms budo, ki, seme, kizeme, ma, ritsu zen, zazen and kiko. This read like an extra appendix to the author's book "Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings", also available from Shambala. I was already interested in the concepts of seme and kizeme from reading that book, and this book more than sated that particular thirst for more information on the subject. I find it tremendously important that the author is appropriately vague when it comes to defining the term "ki", for that is what ki is. He also reminds us of the fact that words in the Japanese language often have several meanings that are almost unfathomable to someone who does not know Japanese. There is also the fact that two seemingly opposed terms, such as love and hate, can still mean essentially the same thing or at least contain elements of each other within them. He makes some interesting points as to why kendo is more suited than other budo forms to cultivate kizeme, but does not dismiss the other forms and in fact describes how he feels some might even have more potential in this area. The author also describes various training methods as employed by a number of sword masters to develop one's self beyond mere technique, especially relating to Zen. The importance of this book and others like it is a great one. For those who are to spend decades in dedication to the martial arts, it is worthy of consideration to go beyond merely being a little better than the next practitioner. Highly recommended on its own or in conjunction with the author's other book. I hope he'll write some more for us.