karate books article

[Dana Sheets]

http://www.combatbooks.co.uk/page_1.htm

One other book which must have a mention is the amazing “Okinawa Karate-do: Sono Rekishi to Gihon”, by Kanei Uechi and Shigeru Takamiyagi, put out by the Uechi-Ryu group in Okinawa in 1977. This "fantastic book" [Shingo Ohgami], which weighs almost eleven pounds and runs to a total of over 1,300 pages, is actually composed of three separate parts. The first, which is a technical explanation of Uechi-Ryu, includes Master Kanei Uechi demonstrating the three main kata of the style. This section goes up to page 388 and then, when page numbering starts again, from pages one to 663 there is Shigeru Takamiyagi's history of Uechi-Ryu. Though much new material has since become available [especially on the style's roots in Fukien Province in China], Takamiyagi did a great job here. It's a real pity that this material has not been translated and published in English. The third part of the book, and probably just as important as the two others, is a directory of Okinawan teachers and their styles and association. Incidentally, this section has been raided for material by several authors, usually without acknowledgment.

This article first appeared in Fighting Arts International, No. 90, 1995 [pages 19 – 23]
Copyright © Graham Noble. 1995