About the Author

GICHIN FUNAKOSHI (1868-1957) is one of Karate's great masters. Born in Okinawa, the birthplace of Karate, he began training in the secret martial art as a child. In 1922, at the request of the Japanese government, he demonstrated the still-secret Okinawan art of self-defence on the Japanese mainland, which led to Karate's introduction to the rest of Japan and subsequently the rest of the world. Funakoshi devoted the remainder of his life to this traditional sport and wrote several classics on the subject.