This book has, quite naughtily, been promoted as previously unpublished works by some retailers, which it certainly is not. Nevertheless, the Karate enthusiast, historians and geeks should glean a lot of joy and some new snippets of knowledge and insight from the Master of Karate and the man Shotokan was named after, Gichin Funakoshi. Many of the stories have been produced before in works by Funakoshi and others, yet there is something so engrossing and comforting about this gentle man's life that make his words, repetetive or not, completely tireless.
Fundamentally, a small collection of memories, short anecdotes and words of wisdom from the great man; this book is quite the little gem. I read it in little under an hour, so don't buy it as holiday read unless you intend to study it carefully, then take a note book with you aswell and you'll stretch it to a day two.
There are, as always with Funakoshi's works, glimpses and clues as to the true nature of Karate-do, in particular for me the line, and excuse me as I'm paraphrasing here, "the true nature of Karate can never be reproduced in the sporting arena" is particularly telling. With these few words Funakoshi is clearly informing us that the true nature of Karate as the most effective self-protection system ever devised, is so brutal and dangerous that it's techniques, used as they were intended could never be re-produced as a sport. Funakoshi then reveals what most pragmatic karateka already knew but many others choose to deny, that "kata is the essence of karate" for within each kata are held complete fighting systems waiting to be unlocked and revealed.
The Essence of Karate give us wonderful insights into Funakoshi himself but also much more than I've ever read before about his great masters, Itosu and Azato, their similarities and differences and the effect of their fighting styles upon unfortunate opponents.
The forward by Sensei Kanazawa is quite interesting in itself but the afterword by Gisho Funakoshi, his nephew is filled with warmth, respect and awe for an uncle he briefly knew but left an ever lasting impression.
The Essence of Karate by Gichin Funakoshi is an absolute must for any Karate enthusiast.