Customer Reviews

The Bible of Karate: Bubishi

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is quite interesting as an historical document. It is, by the author's own admission, incomplete and at times was uninterpretable. As a piece of martial arts history - it is a treasure. One can begin to see how a martial art migrated, was passed on and even how it influenced and influenced by, other styles. There are, of course, many unanswered questions. The Bubushi was undoubtedly of great value, but grammatical errors and uninterpretable, obsolete Chinese characters and time have made the true meanings of many of the parts, unknowable.

What I came away with was, judging by the scope of knowlege the Bubushi covers, the martial arts practitioner of the past was a well rounded individual in the truest sense. Science, medicine, anatomy and philosophy as well as the martial techniques were all a part of the makeup of the martial artist.

There are too many limitations to make the Bubishi a modern martial arts bible. Among others, there are really NO complete training guidelines, the medicine/treatments are incomplete, and the lethal striking points are unexplained (i.e. WHERE to strike may be explicitly documented, but HOW to strike and with what technique, and how hard is not addressed).

As a book (hopefully one of many) the student of martial arts would study to understand the roots of their art, I would say it is a good read. As an instructional tome I would be quite wary. The author points out the limitations of his reasearch. He is aware of the shortcomings of the final product and he cautions the reader appropriately. But he has given us a fascinating view of the past, cobbled together and distorted as it is.

So beware. This book is like being the last one in line at a game of telephone. We hear what has been passed on by the previous person, but do not really know if it is a complete and accurate interpretation of the original. This is not the fault of the author, it is just what is....

I bought this book mainly for the first 40 pages or so. It is basically a history of the bubishi itself, but also gives an excellent overview of karate history in general, even though it is mostly previously known information.

It goes further than most karate history texts, including a good set of references about where the author found some of his information.

This, along with "Unante" by John Sells is the most read karate book in my library.

As for the actual Bubishi translation, I have it on good authority that it is an excellent translation from people who can read the original Japanese translation from which this is taken.

I personally didn't find the Bubishi sections on fighting and grappling particularly useful, but they do serve for good historical perspective.

Some very useful sections from the book include a glossary of terms with their kanji equivalents, something that I've found very useful for translating lists of people's names, names of kata etc...

The quality of the books is excellent, with very crisp, sharp photos liberally distributed through the text and an excellent index.

I do feel that this should probably rank high on most people's list of books to buy, especially if you are starting out and are interested in karate history.

Bible of Karate: Bubishi translated by Patrick McCarthy is an indispensable volume for the avid Karate-ka. A novice to Karate-do might do well to put off getting this volume until a more stable grounding in the art in attained. Otherwise, I say get it.

It contains no detailed explanation of technique but the section on the history and philosophy alone would make buying this book more than worth it's price. Those practicing Goju-ryu, Isshin-ryu, or Kyokushinkai varieties of Karate-do will find the origins of Kata, such as Sanchin and Seisan, given here most interesting. If technique is what you're looking for then get The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do by Shoshin Nagamine, ISBN 0-8048-2110-0, along with this book and you won't go wrong.

The Bible of Karate: Bubishi contains the descriptions of Chinese medicine, vital point striking, and strategy that informed the techniques of the Okinawan Masters. In and of themselves these explanations are inadequate introductions to these subjects. But that together as a book, that it became a volume treasured by the Okinawan Masters is of immense importance in that it give us helpful clues to the subjects these Karate-ka concerned themselves with and which they felt to be of vital importance to the advancement of their technique.

If what you are interested in is more specifically the history of Okinawan Karate-do and Kobudo get this book along with Patrick McCarthy's two volume Ancient Okinawan Martial Arts: Koryu Uchinadi; ISBN 0-8048-2093-7 volume one, ISBN 0-8048-3147-5 volume two.

_The Bible of Karate Bubishi_ is a pleasant book to read. Patrick McCarthy is not the author, but the translator and commentator of a book whose original author & date of origin are unknown.

"Bubishi" is the name of a document that was read, copied and passed from master to student in the fighting traditions of Okinawa since the mid-1800s. The Chinese ideograms that make up its title can be interpreted as "a manual of military preparation". I cannot do better than Mr. McCarthy's description of Bubishi on page 27 of the book, so I will quote that here:

" Okinawa's Bubishi is an anthology of Chinese gongfu, its history, philosophy, and application. Focusing on the White Crane style from Yongchuan village, Fujian Province, this compilation also addresses Shaolin Monk Fist gongfu and reveals its relationship to Okinawa's civil fighting legacy of karate-do."
" The contents of this anthology's thirty-two articles include White Crane gongfu history, moral philosophy, advice on etiquette, comparisons of styles, defensive applications, herbal medicines, training mechanics, and Monk Fist Boxing."


McCarthy's translation is broken up into four major sections:
- History and Philosophy
- Chinese Medicine and Herbal Pharmacology
- The Vital Points
- Fighting Techniques

Part One: History and Philosophy has translations and commentary from the six chapters of Bubishi that dealt with history, philosophy, & etiquette for the martial artist. It also includes McCarthy's notes on possible origins of the Bubishi document in China, different theories on the origin of Karate-do, history of Karate-do from the Meiji era, and Okinawan Karate-do dynasties.

Part Two: Chinese Medicine and Herbal Pharmacology is a section that is often vague, but also shows McCarthy's dedication to this project. Ten of the thirty-two articles in the original Bubishi were devoted to medicine & healing. McCarthy spent a number of years consulting with Chinese herbalists to understand what plants were being referred to by the pictures & Chinese ideograms. This was no small task, as many of the ideograms had been miscorrectly copied at one point or another during the past century. McCarthy & the herbalists sometimes had to first figure out what ideograms made no sense, before they could start deciphering what the prescriptions should perhaps have been.

McCarthy is very honest about the facts that (1) no instructions for how to administer the herbs were included, so a person would need to take the list to a Chinese herbalist and have them help figure out what plants needed to applied externally, internally, eaten as a powder, drunk as an infusion, etc., and (2) the prescriptions in Bubishi don't match any current prescriptions in Chinese herbalism, so the information is presented to the reader as is, with no guarantees from McCarthy OR the experts who helped him about whether the prescriptions will be of any use at all.

In part two, only the plants' scientific names are given, and that is the main reason why I give this book four stars and not five. But I also realize McCarthy may have done that deliberately, to discourage experimentation by those who are not herbalists.

Part Three: The Vital Points contains translations of five chapters within Bubishi that deal with vital point striking. McCarthy also includes an introductory section on vital point theory and items of historic note such as the bronze man statues. McCarthy has done a great service to the reader by including both the original diagrams and also more detailed modern anatomical diagrams to show the locations of the striking points.

Part Four: Fighting Techniques includes translations of eleven articles in Bubishi on fighting techniques. McCarthy also includes some notes on Gongfu Quan, Qin Na, and short histories of six different Fujian gongfu styles, including Monk Fist Boxing and five variations of Crane gongfu. The Bubishi articles are very interesting, but sadly there are some where accompanying text and commentary was lost long ago, and all we have today are diagrams of stances & strikes. For those articles where accompanying commentary is available, McCarthy translates the original commentary (which is often in poetic language) and then adds his own notes about what is really meant by "Butterfly Fluttering" and "Blue Dragon Going Out To Seize".


Overall, _The Bible of Karate Bubishi_ is a book I enjoyed reading and found to be very informative.

On a personal note, I am writing this review as someone who typically doesn't read books on martial arts history. There are just too many arts where too much "history" has occurred between different teachers. Consequently figuring out what really happened, even a generation ago, requires reading seven different version told by at least three different people, with allowances made for whether a particular version comes from a personal memoir, a magazine article, or notes from a dojo lecture. And after all that, the reader still won't know if the art is any good, or what its strengths and weaknesses are versus other styles.

I read this book at the behest of one of my teachers, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I am very glad he recommended it to me and a number of other students.

The Bible of Karate, "Bubishi" is a good title for this book. The Bubishi must be in every true martial artist library. This particular translation has a lot of commentary by McCarthy. His translation is accurate, and his commentary is not out of line. But I prefer literal translations, with my own mind being used to interpret what was meant. (As I feel this book was originally intended). This is the second translation of the Bubishi that I have added to my library, and I consider both copies very important to my collection. I believe that martial artist can benefit by reading this book.

This is an interesting book, but one should always be aware that generally only those who like the book review it, hence the preponderance of high ratings. Mr. McCarthy is to be appluaded for attempting an English translation of this much translated book. The book comprises a translation of several disparate documents which are gathered under the title of the Bubishi. The documents are from different martial traditions and periods and vary greatly in their relevance. The lengthy preface with testimonials from multiple masters appears gratuitous. The elucidation of vital points and lethal strike information is somewhat questionable given that many martial artists no longer follow moral or ethical codes. The section on herbal remedies could easily lead to disaster in inexperienced hands, resulting in poisoning or worse. Of most interest are the historical passages on the lineage of various styles, training methods and aphorisms. Overall, satisfactory, but hardly "a must have". Osu!

Beyond the usual "how to" kick and punch manual, this first ever English translation of the Bubishi is a must for all serious martial artists. Prefaced by a comprehensive history of the origins and development of karate, this book will round out any karateka's library. Great for understanding "pressure points".

This book offers a good overview of the original bubishi. It will give excellent historical reference that will build up on your knowledge of martial arts history. A big part of the book is taken by ancient oriental medicine recipies which are interesting to read but little practical use for people not familiar or interested in herbal medicine. If this book is for history or martial arts techniques, it's better as a supplement to other books fully dedicated to each of these two subjects, it'll help building your rounded understanding of martial arts but won't teach you specific styles or techniques.

The historical review of Mr. McCarthy is excellent. This book was only available for the disciples of the great Masters in the early days of Karate and now is seriously presented to us. It is an excellent companion for the "yudansha", who must be always guided by a real Master at the Dojo, anyway!

I really liked this book. Mr McCarthy has did all his english speaking brothers a big favor. All that needs to be said is that Mr. Chogun Miyagi endorses the Bubishi. And Mr. McCarthy translated it into english, so all Goju Ryu practioners need this book. It traces were Karate had its beginnings. My only complaint is that the Chinese Medicine was hard to understand. But it was still cool that he included it.