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  • Published: 15 March 2012
  • ISBN: 9781590309490
  • Imprint: Shambhala
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $34.00

The Inner Art of Karate

Cultivating the Budo Spirit in Your Practice



Powerful, timeless insights into karate as a path of self-cultivation--from a master martial artist.

Budo, the way of the martial arts, is at heart a path of spiritual cultivation and self-realization whose aim is to develop a strategic mind that makes combat unnecessary. Kenji Tokitsu explains the philosophy of karate as budo and looks deeply at the key concepts that are essential for developing the budo mind in karate practice. These concepts are: 

   • distance and timing,
   • rhythm, anticipation, and intuition,
   • and the cultivation of explosive but focused energy.
These concepts are difficult to teach, but mastering them is the ultimate goal of any true martial artist. Tokitsu expertly guides the reader through these elusive ideas with clarity and a practical view.

  • Published: 15 March 2012
  • ISBN: 9781590309490
  • Imprint: Shambhala
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $34.00

About the author

Kenji Tokitsu

Kenji Tokitsu was born in Japan and began studying martial arts when he was a child. He has taught karate 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. Tokitsu also holds a doctorate in sociology. He lives in Paris.

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