KARATE - Do KYSHAN. The Master Text. Translated by Tsutomu Ohshima

Toyo, New York & San Francisco: Kodansha International Ltd, 1983. 11th edition (1983). Hardcover. A clean very good plus copy bound in black cloth with silver decoration in a very good dust jacket with minor wear to the extremities. 4to. This copy signed by the translator Tsutomu Ohshima on the title page. Nineteen kata ("forms") of karate, the art of self-defense without weapons, are presented here in complete detail. They are the ones selected by the great master and teacher, Gichin Funakoshi, to give comprehensive training in Karate-do, the way of karate. Fully illustrated demonstrations by the translator cover not only every technique of the kata but also the fundamentals and applications: how to make a fist; the correct form of the open hand; preliminary training in blocking, striking and kicking; the seven stances; and sparring. The author presents, besides kata that he himself originated, beginning and advanced kata from both the Shorei school and the Shorin school, the former remarkable for their forcefuless and development of strength, the latter characterized by their gracefulness and lightning swiftness. 256 pages includes glossary, appendix, maxims for the trainee and vital points of the human body. Illustrated throughout.