Nouveautés
International release of Karate-do-Kyohan: Facsimile reprint of the original 1935 edition, by Gichin Funakoshi,
Foreword by Dr. Laurent Poliquin This identical reprint of Gichin Funakoshi’s Karate-Do Kyohan is one of the most awaited reprints of karatekas from all over the world. The book had been widely distributed through its Japanese reissue during the 20th century. However, these modern editions had not been able to benefit from a revision by the author who died in 1957. Worse, the modernization of those editions had resulted in significant changes to the 1935 text. This book wants to go further, by offering in paper form, the facsimile as originally published. The project is driven by two convictions. First, that the Japanese language is no more of an obstacle than reading an ancient martial arts textbook: one can appreciate the iconography without grasping everything of the text that supports it. And then, the ultimate conviction: that, on balance, it is better to choose the original.
About the book In November 1922, Gichin Funakoshi published his first book: Ryû Kyû Kyû Kempo Karate, in which he mainly expressed historical considerations. The pictures of this book were destroyed during the 1923 earthquake, which led the author to publish a new and completely revised edition: Retan Goshin Karate Jitsu. It was only in 1935 that he published Karate-Do Kyohan, a true reference book with, among other things, a description of all katas as he conceived and taught them. This book, the most complete and reliable ever published, is a facsimile reproduction of the 1935 japanese edition. |