#000532
Karate-Do Kyohan: The Master Text
Gichin Funakoshi; translated by Tsutomu Ohshima
*Karate-Do Kyohan* is the master instructional text of Gichin Funakoshi, the Okinawan schoolteacher who brought karate to mainland Japan and founded the Shotokan style. The most detailed of his writings, it lays out the art systematically: its history and philosophy, the fundamentals of stance and technique, nineteen kata (forms) presented in full with step-by-step photographs, and the principles of kumite (sparring). More than a manual, it frames karate as a lifelong discipline — a "way" (do) for developing character as well as skill, captured in Funakoshi's famous maxim that there is no first attack in karate. This English edition, translated by his student Tsutomu Ohshima, speaks to serious karate practitioners and anyone interested in the roots of modern martial arts.
more…less ▴
The author
Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) is widely called the father of modern karate. An Okinawan teacher, he introduced the art to Japan in the 1920s, systematized its training, and founded the Shotokan school — named for his pen name Shoto, "waving pines." He recast karate from a local fighting method into a codified Japanese martial way with its own etiquette and ethics.
The book
Karate-Do Kyohan — "the master text" — gathers Funakoshi's mature teaching on history, basics, the nineteen core kata and kumite, richly illustrated so students can follow the forms. It remains one of the most authoritative single sources on Shotokan technique.
How to read it
It rewards study beside actual practice under an instructor rather than solo reading; the kata and terminology assume a training context. Some of the presentation reflects mid-twentieth-century Japanese karate as Funakoshi shaped it, and styles have since diverged, but as a foundational document it is unmatched.
For more context
Pair it with Funakoshi's memoir Karate-Do: My Way of Life.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Gichin Funakoshi; translated by Tsutomu Ohshima
- Publisher
- Kodansha International
- Place of publication
- Tokyo / New York
- Year
- 1973
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Craft & How-to
- Location
- Colorado