shotokan books dvds

[shotokan-ste]

now that karate is in my blood,id like to gain more of an understanding of the art are there any books/dvd's that you would recommend

[JohnASE]

Here are a few DVDs. We sell them, but I haven't put them all on our website. You can get them from a number of sources. Tsunami has better production quality than Rising Sun, but they're more expensive. The content is good on both.

http://www.dragon-tsunami.org/Shotokan/Pages/Shovideo.htm

http://www.risingsunproductions.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1_179_24_209&products_id=1475

I linked to the Kanazawa complete set, but they're available individually as well.

Now, to plug my own merchandise, we import these DVDs from Japan. They're great, but they're very expensive. Because of the cost, we mostly sell them to senseis, but many students see the value in them too.

This one is old footage of some of Shotokan's great senseis.

http://www.asemartialarts.com/dvd--the-legend--the-strongest-karate-in-japan.html

This one is a JKA all Japan championship. We have several years, but I'll link to the 50th Anniversary event of 2006. There are great examples of kata and kumite along with a few cultural exhibitions.

http://www.asemartialarts.com/dvd--50th-jka-all-japan-championshi50.html

Unfortunately, I see you're in England, and we don't sell outside the USA. I'm sure you can find sources that ship internationally, or probably in the UK for some of them.

You might look for books or DVDs on Shotokan by fellow brit, Harry Cook. The first DVDs I linked to have commentary by him, but Tsunami also has a 4 DVD series on Shotokan specifically by him. I've heard mixed opinions on it but haven't seen it myself. His book, "Shotokan Karate: A Precise History", is very well liked but very hard to find. Oh, and it's expensive, too!

Good luck!

[bushido_man96]

There is also a lot of stuff available on YouTube for viewing, especially stuff by Kanawaza sensei.