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Karate-Do: My Way of Life

By: Gichin Funakoshi
Narrated by: Luke Erlenbusch
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Publisher's Summary

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.

©2022 Eternal Classics (P)2022 Eternal Classics

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Valuable book, poorly narrated

This book is a classic for karateka worldwide, and should be on the reading list for all that want an insight Into Funakoshi Gichin—one of the most important figures for bring karate from Okinawa to Japan, and providing the springboard for its worldwide popularisation.

The book itself if well prepared, particularly noting it was written in the 1950s.

The 'performance' is a major letdown. The narrator clearly made little—if any—effort to learn how to pronounce the Japanese and Okinawan words and phrases. It made it hard to understand, and laughable. Its unfortunate as the narrator has a good performance voice, but the pronunciations throughout just made listening to the book a poor experience.

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