A guide to Kobayashi Shorin Ryu karate with techniques and katas to help you grow and learn as a martial artist or karate-ka in this Okinawan martial arts. Book contains hundreds of images and drawings that you can use as a reference to supplement your studies.

The Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do presents the teachings of legendary martial arts master Shoshin Nagamine, founder of the Matsubayashi school of Shorin-ryu karate-do. Used for generations as a practical and pictorial guide, it contains over 1,000 photographs to document eighteen classic karate kata (preset forms) and seven yakusoku kumite (prearranged partner exercises), as well as basic techniques. This book is a precise and easily accessible pictorial guide to performance and perfection of traditional karate. The only book in English with photos of one of the great prewar masters demonstrating the proper execution of Okinawan karate, The Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do is a bridge between karate's legendary past and the practitioners of today. This ingenious and imaginative text explains the historical landmarks in the development of style, vividly outlines its leading forms and techniques, and recalls noted Okinawan karate men of the past, including the author's teachers Ankichi Arakaki, Choki Motobu, and Chotoku Kyan.

This is the official training manual of the International Shorin Ryu Karate Federation. It encompasses the history and techniques of the system from beginner to master levels. It includes illustrated techniques and katas for the entire system as well as ranking qualifications for promotion within the system. Written by top master Hanshi George W. Alexander, this is a must have for every student and instructor of Shorin Ryu Karate.

Shorin-ryu is the oldest existing karate style. From this martial style, suitable for everyone, and based on natural movements, modern Japanese karate is derived. In this book, Emanuel Giordano sensei shows the execution of the kata: Kihon ichi, ni and san; Naihanchi shodan, nidan and sandan; Pinan shodan, nidan, sandan, yondan and godan; Itosu no Passai and Matsumura no Passai; Kusanku Dai. Each series of kata is preceded by a historical and technical introduction. The book also illustrates various theories, including that relating to the typical kata of style, the one concerning the cardinal points of the kata, the in-depth explanation of the meaning of Naha-te and To-de, as well as the explanation of the division in kata Shorin and Shorei. Emanuel Giordano, author of several books and articles related to the Okinawan Karate, teaches Shorin-ryu mainly in Piedmont, and since 2013 he travels to Okinawa every year, where he studies Shidokan Shorin-ryu with his Master, Maeshiro Morinobu sensei, and with the members of the Musei juku dojo and honbu dojo. Emanuel Giordano is also founder and national leader of Okinawa Karate Kenkyukai, the Italian study group of Okinawan Karate; is the national referent for the Traditional Karate of Okinawa CSEN, and has excellent relations with the Okinawan institutions.

Progression is a positive trait, as long as one keeps in touch with the past and has a staple backdrop to focus or fall back on. Although the Revised Expanded Third Edition contains all the wording and photographs that are reproduced in both the first edition, as well as this Revised and Expanded Second Edition, it comparatively represents a step into what was, for these latter two books, the future. The year 2019, in which I am writing this foreword, represents respectively 30 years and 20 years into the future since the publication of these two books, so I think this faithful reproduction of the Master Version by Q&I Publications is well timed. For some readers it might bring about nostalgia, for others it might be an eye-opener into a world that is not always truthfully represented, due to commercial or other reasons. For the teachers who I interviewed and have been embodied herein, I hope this Master Version will remain a testament into how they wished to be represented for time immemorial.

Now available for the first time in English, Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters, the late Shoshin Nagamine's groundbreaking work, recounts the legacy and life histories of Okinawa's greatest martial artists. In addition to profiles of the legendary tegumi wrestlers, Nagamine-sensei features many of the world's great karate masters, including the founder of the core styles from which modern karate sprang. Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters corrects historical inaccuracies surrounding Okinawan martial arts and brings alive the greatest of the great masters. In this seminal martial arts history and biography, Nagamine-sensei presents the martial legacy of the Okinawan people and, to complement and emphasize what is of greatest importance in these tales and life histories, concludes with detailed instructions for the practice of zazen (sitting meditation). Already a classic in the Japanese edition, Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters is a must-read for all karate and tegumi enthusiasts, practitioners and researchers alike.