Bücher von Gichin Funakoshi

This identical reprint of Gichin Funakoshi?s Karate-Do Kyohan is one of the most awaited reprints of karatekas from all over the world. The book had been widely distributed through its Japanese reissue during the 20th century. However, these modern editions had not been able to benefit from a revision by the author who died in 1957. Worse, the modernization of those editions had resulted in significant changes to the 1935 text. This book wants to go further, by offering in paper form, the facsimile as originally published. The project is driven by two convictions. First, that the Japanese language is no more of an obstacle than reading an ancient martial arts textbook: one can appreciate the iconography without grasping everything of the text that supports it. And then, the ultimate conviction: that, on balance, it is better to choose the original.

Linking the time when karate was a strictly Okinawan art of self-defense shrouded in the deepest secrecy and the present day, when it has become a martial art practiced throughout the world, is Gichin Funakoshi, the "Father of Karate-do."Out of modesty, he was reluctant to write this autobiography and did not do so until he was nearly ninety years of age. Trained in the Confucian classics, he was a schoolteacher early in life, but after decades of study under the foremost masters, he gave up his livelihood to devote the rest of his life to the propagation of the Way of Karate. Under his guidance, techniques and nomenclature were refined and modernized, the spiritual essence was brought to the fore, and karate evolved into a true martial art.Various forms of empty-hand techniques have been practiced in Okinawa for centuries, but due to the lack of historical records, fancy often masquerades as fact. In telling of his own famous teachers--and not only of their mastery of technique but of the way they acted in critical situations--the author reveals what true karate is. The stories he tells about himself are no less instructive: his determination to continue the art, after having started it to improve his health; his perseverance in the face of difficulties, even of poverty; his strict observance of the way of life of the samurai; and the spirit of self-reliance that he carried into an old age kept healthy by his practice of Karate-do.

Nineteen kata ("forms") of karate--the art of self-defense without weapons--are presented here in complete detail. They are the ones selected by the great master and teacher, Gichin Funakoshi, to give comprehensive training in Karate-do, the way of karate.Fully illustrated demonstrations by the translator cover not only every technique of the kata but also the fundamentals and applications: how to make a fist; the correct form of the open hand; preliminary training in blocking, striking and kicking; the seven stances; and sparring.The author presents, besides kata that he himself originated, beginning and advanced kata from both the Shorei school and the Shorin school, the former remarkable for their forcefulness and development of strength, the latter characterized by their gracefulness and lightning swiftness.This book, the most comprehensive and authoritative ever published, was being revised by the author shortly before his death in 1957, at the age of eighty-eight, and is translated for the first time. Through his advice on both practical and spiritual aspects of training, the master guides the student from techniques to the Way of karate. Complementing the English edition are illustrations of National Treasures from Kofuku-ji and Todai-ji temples in Nara and Master Funakoshi's calligraphy.Karate, whose value for the well-rounded development of strength, coordination and agility is scientifically validated, can be practiced at any time and in any place, for any length of time, by men and women of all ages, and requires no special equipment. It also fosters the development of spiritual qualities: courage, courtesy, integrity, humility and self-control.Gichin Funakoshi's karate books, the first published in 1922, are landmarks, for the development of this martial art in Okinawa was shrouded in secrecy, and almost no records of its early history, dating back more than a thousand years to the Shao-lin Temple in Hunan Province, China, exist. Karate-do Kyohan is a book that lives up to its title: it is in truth the master text for karate instruction at all levels and in all aspects of technique and character development.

Selecionados pelo grande mestre e instrutor Gichin Funakoshi, visando a um treinamento abrangente, os dezenove kata ('formas') do karatê a arte de autodefesa que não utiliza armas são apresentados neste livro em todos os seus detalhes. As demonstrações ilustradas contemplam não apenas toda a técnica do kata, mas também seus fundamentos e suas aplicações: como preparar um soco, a forma correta da mão aberta, o treinamento preliminar de bloqueios, como golpear e chutar, as sete posturas, e o sparring ou kumite.