Karate as the Art of Killing
Karate as the Art of Killing

Author: Masayuki Shimabukuro

Publisher: Blue Snake Books

Published: 2022-05-24

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 162317662X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Grounded in a comprehensive overview of the philosophical and spiritual foundations that underlie karate, The Art of Killing emphasizes its original purpose: to kill an attacker swiftly and brutally. Prior to 1900, karate-dō was exclusively an art of unarmed self-defense. Its practice was designed for life-or-death situations--effectively, an art of killing. Here, authors Leonard Pellman and the late Masayuki Shimabukuro restore karate to its original intent. They move karate away from its popular modern-day sporting applications back to its deadly origins---and to the restraining philosophy of peace, self-sacrifice, compassion, and service to others that necessarily accompanied it. With chapters on kokoro (heart, mind, and spirit), ki (spirit and energy), and the seven major precepts of bushidō, The Art of Killing shows readers that the lethal art of karate is more than a method of bringing an enemy down--it’s a philosophical and spiritual system grounded in essential lessons to guard against abuses of power. This book does not contain detailed instruction in killing methods, but it does showcase the deadly power of karate--and explain why purity of intentions matters, and how compassion and respect are the essence of karate training. Readers will learn: The purpose and meaning of karate-dō The origins and major precepts of bushidō Training methods, preparation, and etiquette Fundamentals, spiritual power, training patterns, and analysis and application of kata About the body as a weapon

A Killing Art
A Killing Art

Author: Gillis, Alex

Publisher: ECW Press

Published: 2016-08-01

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1770906959

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The eagerly anticipated updated return of a bestselling martial arts classic The leaders of Tae Kwon Do, an Olympic sport and one of the worldÍs most popular martial arts, are fond of saying that their art is ancient and filled with old dynasties and superhuman feats. In fact, Tae Kwon Do is as full of lies as it is powerful techniques. Since its rough beginnings in the Korean military 60 years ago, the art empowered individuals and nations, but its leaders too often hid the painful truths that led to that empowerment „ the gangsters, secret-service agents, and dictators who encouraged cheating, corruption, and murder. A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do takes you into the cults, geisha houses, and crime syndicates that made Tae Kwon Do. It shows how, in the end, a few key leaders kept the art clean and turned it into an empowering art for tens of millions of people in more than 150 countries. A Killing Art is part history and part biography „ and a wild ride to enlightenment. This new and revised edition of the bestselling book contains previously unnamed sources and updated chapters.

The Inner Art of Karate
The Inner Art of Karate

Author: Kenji Tokitsu

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2012-02-14

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1590309499

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Budo, the way of the martial arts, is at heart a path of spiritual cultivation and self-realization whose aim is to develop a strategic mind that makes combat unnecessary. Kenji Tokitsu explains the philosophy of karate as budo and looks deeply at the key concepts that are essential for developing the budo mind in karate practice. These concepts are: • distance and timing, • rhythm, anticipation, and intuition, • and the cultivation of explosive but focused energy. These concepts are difficult to teach, but mastering them is the ultimate goal of any true martial artist. Tokitsu expertly guides the reader through these elusive ideas with clarity and a practical view.

The 100 Deadliest Karate Moves
The 100 Deadliest Karate Moves

Author: Grandmaster Ted Gambordella

Publisher: Dr. Ted Gambordella

Published: 2010-12-24

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 145645014X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The 100 Deadliest Karate Moves with Grandmaster Ted Gambordella

Ku
Ku

Author: Zenko Heshiki

Publisher:

Published: 2019-12-30

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 9781977215628

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Okinawa, October 10, 1944, a six-year old boy was awakened by the deafening blasts of an aerial bombardment. Terrified, frozen with fear on all fours, he could not find his mother. During the chaos of invasion, then occupation, the family survived but was separated with one of the family members tragically lost. Miraculously, they were reunited and after the war migrated to Argentina where they lived peacefully. The young boy, Zenko Heshiki, now a grown man went to New York to study engineering but soon began studying Karate and assisted in teaching classes. In his own words: "I don't remember having a particular interest in Karate when I started." Nevertheless, in 1966 he decided to open a dojo. The more he studied, the more he read books on martial arts philosophy; however, the more he read serious texts by D.T. Suzuki, Miyamoto Musashi, and Yamaoka Tesshu, he realized that his Karate practice was lacking; something vital was missing. In 1968, anxiously, he travelled to Okinawa in search of a teacher who he found in Master Shoshin Nagamine, founder of Shorin-Ryu Matsubayashi. It was during this time that Heshiki Sensei realized what had been missing in his Karate practice: Zen, more specifically zazen (sitting meditation). Back in New York, with a renewed enthusiasm, Heshiki Sensei integrated zazen into the Karate curriculum. From this point on, and continuing for decades he trained intensely in New York, Okinawa and Hawaii where he and his family moved to in 1977. Sensei Heshiki found Chozen-ji International Zen Dojo in Honolulu, taught Karate classes, and trained under two Roshis (Zen masters), Tanouye Tenshin and Dogen Hosokawa. In the author's own words: "The reason I decided to write this book is to share my experiences of Karate-Do shugyo (forging of mind/body/spirit through zazen) with sincere practitioners of Karate throughout the world who, through the years of strict and hard physical conditioning, discovered with nagging inquest that there must be more to Karate than mere self-defense or tournament sport." With his deepening understanding of his teacher's dictum, Ken Zen Ichi Nyo (Karate and Zen as One), he gave seminars in New York, Ohio, Hawaii, Florida, Argentina, Uruguay, and the Dominican Republic. In 1993, the young terrified boy who had survived the horrors of war, relocation to a foreign country, adapting to a new culture and its language was ordained in Hawaii as a Zen priest in the Rinzai sect of Zen with the Buddhist name, Genshin Zenko. In his new role as a priest, he became even more resolute to bring Tao (Chinese), Do (Japanese) meaning Way to the world. As Master Nagamine would often say: "Karate-Do is a lifelong marathon". Sensei Heshiki's 'marathon' continues as Shihan (founder) of Chozen-ji Ryu Kempo Karate.

The Way of the Warrior
The Way of the Warrior

Author: Chris Crudelli

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2008-09-29

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 0756651859

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Drawing on the vast body of styles practiced around the world, including ancient and obscure styles from every continent on the planet, The Way of the Warrior is an indispensable, one-stop reference work for anyone interested in the martial-arts canon.

Hired Swords
Hired Swords

Author: Karl F. Friday

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 1996-03-01

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0804726965

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Tracing the evolution of state military institutions from the seventh through the twelfth centuries, this book challenges much of the received wisdom of Western scholarship on the origins and early development of warriors in Japan. This prelude to the rise of the samurai, who were to become the masters of Japan's medieval and early modern eras, was initiated when the imperial court turned for its police and military protection to hired swords--professional mercenaries largely drawn from the elites of provincial society. By the middle of the tenth century, this provincial military order had been handed a virtual monopoly of Japan's martial resources. Yet it was not until near the end of the twelfth century that these warriors took the first significant steps toward asserting their independence from imperial court control. Why did they not do so earlier? Why did they remain obedient to a court without any other military sources for nearly 300 years? Why did the court put itself in the potentially (and indeed, ultimately) precarious situation of contracting for its military needs with private warriors? These and related questions are the focus of the author's study. Most of the few Western treatments see the origins of the samurai in the incompetence and inactivity of the imperial court that forced residents in the provinces to take up arms themselves. According to this view, a warrior class was spontaneously generated just as one had been in Europe a few centuries earlier, and the Japanese court was doomed to eventually perish by the sword because of its failure to live by it. Instead, the author argues that it was largely court activism that put swords in the hands of rural elites, thatcourt military policy, from the very beginning of the imperial state era, followed a long-term pattern of increasing reliance on the martial skills of the gentry. This policy reflected the court's desire for maximum efficiency in its military institutions, and the policy's succes

Research of Martial Arts
Research of Martial Arts

Author: Shifu Jonathan Bluestein

Publisher: Jonathan Bluestein

Published: 2014-07-27

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1499122519

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Jonathan Bluestein's Research of Martial Arts is a book about the true essence of martial arts. It includes neither instruction on deadly killing techniques, nor mystical tales of so called super-human masters. Rather, it is a vast compilation of seriously thought-out observations made on the subject by the author, as well as many other martial artists and scientists, with a slight touch of history and humour. The goal of this project had from the start been to surpass the current standard in the martial arts literary market, and offer readers worldwide something which they have never seen before. In essence, a book in which are found countless answers for martial arts practitioners which they cannot be read elsewhere, which address commonly discussed martially-related topics with breadth and depth unparalleled in other works to this day (in any language). It holds among its pages no less than 220,000 words, containing knowledge which would be coveted by many. The aim of this book is to present the reader a coherent, clear-cut, and in-depth view of some of the most perplexing and controversial subjects in the world of martial arts, as well as providing a healthy dose of philosophical outlook on these subjects (from various individuals). At its core is the author's aspiration to build a stronger theoretical foundation for the discussion of martial arts, while addressing matters in innovative ways, which I have come to believe, would help people to better grasp the nature of these arts. There are books by authors who will tell you that some aspects of the martial arts are too complex for concrete, coherent and defined explanations. Others have used ambiguous terminology to explain what they could not pronounce otherwise. This is no such book. This book was written to provide you with the solid, applicable answers and ideas that you could actually understand, and take away with you. This book is mainly comprised of three parts: | Part I: From the Inside Out – External and Internal Gong Fu | This is essentially mostly a very long & thorough discussion of martial arts theory and practice. Traditional and modern concepts and methods are discussed through the mediums of Physiology, Biology, Anatomy, Psychology, Philosophy (Western and Oriental alike), sports science, and the author's personal experiences. The Internal Martial Arts of China receive a special, lengthier treatment in this part of the book. | Part II: Contemplations on Controlled Violence | This one is of a Philosophical and Psychological nature, and contains the author's thoughts on the martial arts and their manifestation in our daily lives, with guest-articles by various martial arts teachers. | Part III: The Wisdom of Martial Spirits: Teachers, and the Things They Hold Dear | This part includes various interesting and comprehensive interviews with distinguished martial arts masters, spanning dozens of pages each. Every one of the interviewees is a person whose views and ideas are thought provoking and well-worth reading. The teachers interviewed in this book are: Master Chen Zhonghua (Chen Taiji Quan) Master Yang Hai (Xing Yi Quan, Bagua Zhang and Chen Taiji Quan) Shifu Strider Clark (Tongbei Quan, Wu style Taiji, Shuai Jiao and more) Shifu Neil Ripski (Traditional Drunken Fist and many others) Sifu James Cama (Buddha Hand Wing Chun and Southern Praying Mantis) Itzik Cohen Sensei (Shito-ryu Karate) No matter the age, rank, status or experience – this book was written for everyone who see themselves part of the martial arts community. It is my sincere hope that any person who reads this book will benefit from the time he or she had spent doing so. May this work encourage others to continue intelligent writing and research in the field, as I was pushed forth and built upon the knowledge others have shared before me. May you have a pleasant reading experience! =]

The History of Karate and the Masters Who Made It
The History of Karate and the Masters Who Made It

Author: Mark I. Cramer

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Published: 2018-07-24

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 162317239X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A concise yet comprehensive history of traditional Okinawan and Japanese karate, with biographies of the great karate masters This concise-yet-comprehensive history of traditional Okinawan and Japanese karate includes authoritative biographies of the great karate masters of the past and the philosophical issues they faced as karate changed and evolved. Bringing a fresh understanding to the study of the martial arts, Mark I. Cramer dispels many of the often-repeated martial-arts myths as he details the lineages of the modern styles of karate and describes the social, cultural, and political events that influenced them. While most books focus on a single style of karate or the biography of just one of the great teachers, this book offers a well-researched and detailed overview. By bringing all of this knowledge together in one volume, Cramer—an award-winning inductee into the USA Karate Federation’s Hall of Fame—fills a crucial gap.