by Karate-do: My Way of Life is an autobiography into one of Karate’s greatest masters, Gichin Funakoshi. In it, the man who brought Karate to the mainstream Japan takes us through his sickly childhood and his first introduction to his masters, Azato and Itosu, his decision to abort medical school and his lifelong promotion of Karate-do.
The book is full of anecdotes and lessons the great master himself learned during the course of his amazing life. In one recollection, Funakoshi tells of how he and fellow karateka are threatened by a gang of men. In Funakoshi’s words:
“We did so, only to learn that we were about to be attacked. The number of assailants seemed to be about the same as our party, so from that point of view we were evenly matched, but unless our assailants were also karate adepts they were doomed to ignominious defeat.”
However, master Itosu would stop Funakoshi from engaging this gang. Later he would find out the true nature of the men and would learn a valuable lesson about karate.
There are dozens of short stories like this and Funakoshi makes uses them to teach the true meaning of karate. While the targeted audience are students of karate, the book is written simply enough for anyone to understand.
This is a must have for anyone studying karate. Although, there is no technical explanations of karate or fighting (the master covers those in his other two books, Karate-do Kyohan and Karate-do Nyumon), it provides an in-depth insight into the philosophy of this once mysterious art.
This book was a pleasure to read and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the history of karate or this great master.
The soft cover version of this book is available at Amazon.com for only $9.
