Karate masters autobiographies or biographies???

[shinobitribe]

Besides Gichin Funakoshi's Karate-do: My way of Life, are there any other autobiographies or biographies of karate masters that I can read? I am interested in reading about their lives, stories, introduction to karate, training etc. I am not that keen on technical books that list techniques or describe katas as i already own a few of those.

Thanks in advance

[muttley]

I have read quite a few books by "modern masters" such as Geoff Thompson and others. I would however, like you, like to read some autobiographies by the likes or Anko Itosu and Motabu etc.

[shinobitribe]

I agree. I have read "watch my back" and a few others. I read one book by Nicholad Pettas who was one of the last uchi deshi's under Mas Oyama called " Blue Eyed Samurai". It details his life in the dorms during his 1000 days of training in Japan. Worth reading.

But I really would like to read some books on the old masters.

[muttley]

Just finding martial art books in Waterstones is an effort, they had 4 books in my local branch (pretty much all about Tai Chi.), Smiths was even worse!

I have read Watch my Back, Waking Dragons by Goran Powell, Working With Warriors by Dennis Martin and a few other books about Zen in the martial arts and one about living the martial way. They are all good books about martial arts, but not about origins of the arts.

Karate-Do My way of life and Karate-Do Kyohan are both fantastic Funakoshi books, but I have yet to find anything else apart from The Book of Give Rings by Musashi (that's well worth a read).

Mind you, I just found "Judo Memoirs of Jigoro Kano" by Brian N Watson on sale at Amazon.co.uk (for the kindle) for the princley sum of £0.01...what is there to lose?

[shinobitribe]

Found one...

Tales of Okinawas Great Masters, Nagamine Shoshin

Grand Master Shoshin Nagamine's Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters was published in Japanese a few years ago. The English translation, by Patrick McCarthy, recounts the lives and histories of ten of Okinawa's greatest masters. Nagamine Sensei spent a lifetime researching these masters and either training with them or interviewing their families and students. Tode Sakugawa, Sokon Matsumura, Kosaku Matsumora, Anko Itosu, Gichin Funakoshi, Chotoku Kyan, Choki Motobu, Kanryo Higaonna and Ankichi Arakaki, are just a few of the luminaries profiled in the book

[Shizentai]

I like the "Karate Masters" series by Jose Fraguas. They are gorgeous large paperbacks that come in 4 volumes, which cover a wide range of western and eastern masters from days of old and modern times in various styles. Each chapter is about 20 pages long and discusses the life of each master. Many of these chapters include actual one-on-one interviews between the masters and the author. They have three volumes available on amazon right now.

"Perfection of Character: Guiding Principles for the Martial Arts & Everyday Life" by Teruyuki Okazaki is another good autobiography.

[Rig]

Born Fighter by Dave Hazard is a great autobiography.

[Rig]

Mind you, I just found "Judo Memoirs of Jigoro Kano" by Brian N Watson on sale at Amazon.co.uk (for the kindle) for the princley sum of £0.01...what is there to lose?

Muttley, thanks for post, I've just bought Judo Memoirs for £0.01 :)

[Rig]

Mind you, I just found "Judo Memoirs of Jigoro Kano" by Brian N Watson on sale at Amazon.co.uk (for the kindle) for the princley sum of £0.01...what is there to lose?

Muttley, thanks for post, I've just bought Judo Memoirs for £0.01 :)

[Harkon72]

I know it's not Karate, but "Sugong, The Life of a Shaolin Grandmaster." was a good read; I'll not spoil it, take a look