Coffee Table Book of: Karate (Paperback)

Description

Coffee Table Book of: Karate is a large format book of karate, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: the uniform and the belt, the makiwara and the old strength tools, dojos and halls empty from first light to late at night, the kit being made and cared for, the islands where the art grew up, and a few karateka seen far off in plain dark clothing.

The kit is laid out plain: a white uniform folded with its belt, a black jacket on a peg, light cotton trousers, the stitched lapel of a heavy canvas jacket, belts from white through yellow, orange, green and blue to brown, a black belt knotted, the stitched end of a black belt and a black belt frayed to grey, a white belt and a black hung on one peg, a red belt and a blue for sport bouts, sparring mitts, shin and instep guards, focus pads, a kick shield, a kit bag and a row of sandals at the edge of the floor.

The old tools of training follow: makiwara posts in a garden at dawn, in fresh snow and in raked gravel at sunrise, a stone weight on a wooden handle, clay grip jars, a stone shaped like a padlock, a wooden pole with a stone at each end, a large iron ring, iron clogs, a long wooden staff, a pair of tonfa, a fishing boat with its oar and an old indigo work jacket. The making and care run from rice straw stacked after the harvest, straw rope coiled for a new pad and a board cut to its taper to heavy canvas woven on a loom, pine boards stacked for breaking and stacked to dry, a bucket and cloth for the floor and a jacket hung to dry on a pine above the sea.

Short notes run through the book, on the customs of the dojo and the ways of training, the uniform, belts and tools and how they are made, and the history of the art: the makiwara is a springy striking post, padded at the top and set firmly in the ground, sport bouts use light padded mitts that cover the knuckles and leave the fingers free, the ishi sashi, a stone shaped like a padlock, is lifted and swung to strengthen the arms, and a belt is built from layers of cotton held together by many rows of stitching.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a paperback.