Product Description

Ginchin Funakoshi was the founding father of the principles and techniques of karate in Japan. This is the original text of Master Funakoshi's first exposition of Okinawan karate. The text elucidates his teaching and training methods, while the photographs show Funakoshi demonstrating kata.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #531220 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-05
• Original language: Japanese
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

About the Author
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 LifeJohn 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.

Customer Reviews

A MUST READ FOR TANG SOO DO STUDENTS
In reading the book you learn that the first book published was only done so in a very limited number and that drawings were used to illustrate the techniques within the book. When the later version in 1925 was published, Master Funakoshi himself posed for photographs which were used in place of the original drawings, allowing a much more detailed look at the techniques. The version I have, the modern English version, still has these same photos of Funakoshi performing the techniques. It was from Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu that Funakoshi much later expanded into the Karate Do Kyohan and his students were photographed performing the techniques. However, if you want to see karate as it looked when men such as Won Kuk Lee and others were learning it in Japan, you must see the book Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu. I can't begin to emphasize enough the importance of this work to the historical understanding of the development of Tang Soo Do. I personally believe this book was one of those that Hwang Kee found to study in the 1930's in Seoul. While the original Ryukyu Kempo Karate was not widely disseminated (if you can find a copy it will be in Japanese and will be worth a fortune), the Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu was widely disseminated through many printings and could readily have been available even in Korea during the time period. For those of us who have seen and had a chance to work with some older members of the Moo Duk Kwan, a glance at Funakoshi in these photos immediately impacts upon you the closeness with our style and what karate was like when Funakoshi was teaching in Japan in the late 1920's. Keeping in mind that only a decade before the Japanese had no knowledge of Karate and that it is considered that Funakoshi demonstrated the populace style of karate extant on Okinawa at the turn of the last century, and you can see the root of Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan as far back as the late 1800's. For this reason alone if no other I can't imagine a Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan decendant NOT having Karate Jutsu in their library. It should be kept right alongside "Tang Soo Do/Soo Bahk Do, Vol. 1".

John Hancock
President
International Tangsoodo Alliance

STUDENT OF GICHIN
This is one of the best books for teaching martial arts the correct way. What you learn is realistically how to defend yourself from an attacker or a group of thugs. I studied it nearly ten years ago. Thanks to black belt karate I have not had anyone attack me since I was gang beatin in 1989. This book is the real way to learn the sport or art. WHAT A GREAT BOOK!

Excellent Historical Material.
Here is a book I reccommend for ALL Itosu/Funakoshi lineage karate lineage people (Shotokan, Tang Soo Do, Chung Do Kwan, etc.). This version, published by kodansha, is an improvement over the edition put out by Master's publications with regard to the actual translation (I own and have read both, as well as the original Japanese version). It is also more affordable than the original hardback by Master's Publications, although the same company has since issued a paperback version, and I did not find the differences to be confusing throughout either work.

As a historical work, this book offers a look at Funakoshi himself, who was the starting point for so many Japanese and Korean lineages, demonstrating kata and technique. This is not an in-depth study, and although all of 3 kata are shown in sequential photographs of Funakoshi (Pinan Sho-dan, Naihanchi, and Koshokun aka Kusanku), the other 13 kata only include 1 or 2 extra photographs and written descriptions...so if you are looking for a kata bible to refer to in your practice, you'd be better of with Nakayama's technically astute "Best Karate" series.

For the era in which it was published, Funakoshi's work was truely an advancement, especially in that it was one of the (if not the) first karate books to include so many illustrative photographs as opposed to just drawings or written descriptions. Due to it's primative nature though, it is a less than complete guide for the beginner or anyone looking for perfect technical instruction. As a device to shed light on the origins of modern Shotokan and Tang Soo Do forms (and the like), to show the evolution of an art for the interested martial acholar this book is a must.