Böcker av 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.

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.

Gichin Funakoshi is a legendary figure and the founder of Shotokan karate, the most popular style of Japanese karate, with millions of practitioners worldwide. In The Essence of Karate, Funakoshi creates, in his own words, a narrative of modern karate. He explains the philosophical and spiritual underpinnings and includes memories of his own training, as well as recollections of other karate masters and the history of the martial art. He also discusses the importance of winning without fighting, and the reason why many great martial artists improve with age.