The Spirit of Karate-Do: Teachings of Masami Tsuruoka [Paperback]

Andrew Bowerbank (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Hushion House (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096825280X
• ISBN-13: 978-0968252802
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,483,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but needs more history, June 21, 1999

By 

Travis Cottreau (Wellington, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Spirit of Karate-Do: Teachings of Masami Tsuruoka (Paperback)

I was excited about a book written about Tsuruoka Sensei, but was really expecting to see more information about his Sensei, Dr. Critose Tsuyoshi, who I consider a one of the last generations of great masters.

In fact, some of the only information about Chitose himself centered around the split between Tsuruoka Sensei and Chitose Sensei which placed what I considered a dark shadow over their entire student/teacher relationship (as one side of a bad breakup always does) and something probably best left out of the book altogether. Some of Chitose Sensei's teachings coming from one of his oldest students would have been fantastic reading. Hopefully Mr. Bowerbank will include some of this in a future publication.

Some of the other poorly presented material was the glossing over of karate history in general which did nothing to eliminate some of the long standing misunderstandings, even going so far as to show a cartoon of a karateka kicking a samurai off a horse (something completely historically inaccurate by the way). For an otherwise well written and lucid karate book, this was a sore point for me.

Travis Cottreau

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great book for the new students of karate-do, January 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Spirit of Karate-Do: Teachings of Masami Tsuruoka (Paperback)

The author states this to be a book intended for the beginner, and enjoyed by all levels. He does a great job of explaining karate concepts without over packing the pages with flowery terms and statements. Other karate books I have read seem to work as a means of displaying the author's self proclaimed talents. Mr. Bowerbank enjoyed exploring karate from a fresh perspective, while illustrating the skills of his teacher -Mr. Tsuruoka. I Understand Mr. Tsuruoka is a great karate man in Canada. It is good to see a work dedicated to his efforts. I also enjoyed Mr. Bowerbank's attempt at showing the enjoyable, upbeat side of karate. His illustrations offer the reader a view almost akin to politcal cartooning -a good companion to the written text. A well written overview of karate -this is a book I will recomend to my students. Mr.Bowerbank's second book -Spirit of the Sensei is also a great work and picks up where this one left off. It is intended for a more mature student with a somewhat more indepth tone to the text and illustrations.

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great book for the new students of karate-do, January 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Spirit of Karate-Do: Teachings of Masami Tsuruoka (Paperback)

The author states this to be a book intended for the beginner, and enjoyed by all levels. He does a great job of explaining karate concepts without over packing the pages with flowery terms and statements. Other karate books I have read seem to work as a means of displaying the author's self proclaimed talents. Mr. Bowerbank enjoyed exploring karate from a fresh perspective, while illustrating the skills of his teacher -Mr. Tsuruoka. I Understand Mr. Tsuruoka is a great karate man in Canada. It is good to see a work dedicated to his efforts. I also enjoyed Mr. Bowerbank's attempt at showing the enjoyable, upbeat side of karate. His illustrations offer the reader a view almost akin to politcal cartooning -a good companion to the written text. A well written overview of karate -this is a book I will recomend to my students. Mr.Bowerbank's second book -Spirit of the Sensei is also a great work and picks up where this one left off. It is intended for a more mature student with a somewhat more indepth tone to the text and illustrations.