The Inner Art of Karate Cultivating the Budo Spirit in Your Practice

When practiced at the very highest level, the martial art of karate is budo, a path of self-cultivation and self-realization. In The Inner Art of Karate, Kenji Tokitsu, a master martial artist and a scholar of the works of the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, explains the philosophy of karate as budo and looks deeply at the key concepts that are essential for developing a strategic mind. These concepts-distance and timing, rhythm, anticipation and intuition, and the cultivation of explosive but focused energy-are difficult to teach, but mastering them is the ultimate goal of any true martial artist. Tokitsu is a skillful teacher; he expertly guides the reader through these elusive ideas with clarity and a practical view. While this is an essential book for anyone who practices karate, the concepts that Kenji Tokitsu unpacks are absolutely fundamental for developing a strategic mind in any martial art.

Kenji Tokitsu was born in Japan and began studying martial arts when he was a child. He has taught in Paris since 1971. In 1984 he founded the Shaolin-mon school, where he teaches a synthesis of the original combat arts of Japan and China. In 2001 he established the Tokitsu-ryu Academy (www.tokitsu.com) to teach and promote his method. He is a scholar of the works of the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, and he holds doctorates in sociology and Japanese language and civilization. He is also the author of Ki and the Way of the Martial Arts, Miyamoto Musashi, and The Complete Book of Five Rings.