Karate-Do Kyohan

Karate-Do Kyohan is an instructional book on karate by Gichin Funakoshi. The original Japanese edition appeared in Japan in 1935, and another followed a year later. We have not been able to document the publisher or extent of the first edition, nor the original Japanese spelling of the title. The book has sections on the history of karate, fundamentals, kata and kumite. It thus combines an account of the origins of the art with practical instruction in individual techniques and forms. Tsutomu Ohshima, a student of Funakoshi who trained under him from 1948 at Waseda University and earned his 5th dan in 1957, translated it into English. The translation appeared in 1973 as Karate-Do Kyohan: The Master Text. Ohshima also demonstrated the kata for the book. The change in writing the word karate, from 唐手 (Chinese hand) to 空手 (empty hand), is associated with Funakoshi. He thereby played down the Chinese origin of the art and also argued from the philosophical meaning of emptiness. We did not find in the sources when exactly the change took place.

Martial arts in this work

Contents

The English edition of 1973 presents nineteen kata chosen by Funakoshi himself, and among them it includes Shorei and Shorin. It adds seven stances and the basic techniques of strikes, blocks and kicks. The kata for the book were demonstrated by the translator, Tsutomu Ohshima. The change in terminology is easy to see in one of the forms. In the edition of 1935 and 1936 it is still called Naihanchi and its stance is described as kibadachi. The English translation uses only the name Tekki and refers to the kiba-dachi stance.

Editions and translations

The first Japanese edition was published in 1935, the next in 1936. We have not been able to document the publisher or the number of pages of the first edition. Funakoshi also prepared a revised edition. The sources give different dates for it: according to some he prepared the revision before his death and it was completed only posthumously, according to others a second edition was published in 1956. We cannot decide this reliably. Tsutomu Ohshima's English translation was published in 1973 by Kodansha International under the title Karate-Do Kyohan: The Master Text and has 256 pages. According to some sources it is based on the revised edition.

People and martial arts

• Gichin FunakoshiAuthor· Karate (real practitioner)
• Tsutomu OhshimaTranslator· Karate (real practitioner)

Editions

• 1935 · JA · first edition
• 1936 · JA
• 1973 · EN · Karate-Do Kyohan: The Master Text · Kodansha International · 256 pp. · translation