A comprehensive and authoritative guide to Shotokan karate.
Shotokan is the world's most widely practiced style of karate. Every year, thousands of young karate students are taught Shotokan in clubs and schools (dojos) across North America.
The Shotokan Karate Bible is a comprehensive illustrated guide suitable for all students of Shotokan karate, from beginners to those earning a black belt. The author outlines and explains the lessons for all 10 gradings. The book is organized by belt, and a syllabus lists the requirements for achieving each new level. Its pages are packed with more than 400 crisp color photographs detailing techniques and combinations, from beginning white belt, to sequencing (kata) and right up to sparring (kumite).
Each kata sequence is clearly illustrated, step-by-step, on a double-page spread. The book includes all essential details that the karate student should know:
- The history of Shotokan karate
- Basic karate terms
- The uniform (gi)
- Dojo etiquette and bowing
- Sparring safety tips
- Tips on taking grading exams
- Training and development.
The Shotokan Karate Bible is a brightly illustrated and clearly written guide that will benefit participants of Shotokan karate and be useful to instructors.
Reviews (31)
Pretty good book, depends what you are looking for
Got this for my daughter so I could try to help her more at home when she is confused on some of the technique....its not quite what I was looking for. The kata illustrations are good and help and they break it down step by step, I liked that about the book.
shotokan book.
the book looks new, But, does not show form , good I did not pay a lot, not happy,
Great book
Great book great price
Not just for beginners
Easy to follow and very helpful for those trying to learn karate.
Good read and reference book.
Purchased this one someone else's recommendation. I received it a few days later and read the first few chapters right away. This style is not exactly what my daughter studies, but is very close. This book goes through Shotokan Karate and my daughter studies ToshiKan Karate. I like the way it lays out the history and then each level with the stances, punches, katas, etc that are necessary to know at each level. There are wonderful pictures and descriptions along the way. We read it cover-to-cover in a few days and were nodding the whole time. It gave another point of view to what she was learning in class. Great book!
excellent
Has all the kata presented very clearly. This has been very helpful to me. A great gift for anyone studying shotokan
Excellent book
If you missed it in class, it's clarified and explained in this book. It is a book I refer to frequently.
Awesome!
This book is a fantastic guide!! It shows from start to finish the rank progression and curriculum of Shotokan! I am very impressed with the book and the author. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a classroom material guide, a teaching format for rank, or anyone just plain interested in Shotokan. Buy it!
Excellent book
I bought it for my godson practicing Shotokan Karate, I practice Kyokushin Karate but I realized when reviewing a book that is very educational, graphics and complete for a child or adolescent. Excellent book.
Four Stars
Definitely a good reference book for karate practitioners.
Pretty good book, depends what you are looking for
Got this for my daughter so I could try to help her more at home when she is confused on some of the technique....its not quite what I was looking for. The kata illustrations are good and help and they break it down step by step, I liked that about the book.
shotokan book.
the book looks new, But, does not show form , good I did not pay a lot, not happy,
Great book
Great book great price
Not just for beginners
Easy to follow and very helpful for those trying to learn karate.
Good read and reference book.
Purchased this one someone else's recommendation. I received it a few days later and read the first few chapters right away. This style is not exactly what my daughter studies, but is very close. This book goes through Shotokan Karate and my daughter studies ToshiKan Karate. I like the way it lays out the history and then each level with the stances, punches, katas, etc that are necessary to know at each level. There are wonderful pictures and descriptions along the way. We read it cover-to-cover in a few days and were nodding the whole time. It gave another point of view to what she was learning in class. Great book!
excellent
Has all the kata presented very clearly. This has been very helpful to me. A great gift for anyone studying shotokan
Excellent book
If you missed it in class, it's clarified and explained in this book. It is a book I refer to frequently.
Awesome!
This book is a fantastic guide!! It shows from start to finish the rank progression and curriculum of Shotokan! I am very impressed with the book and the author. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a classroom material guide, a teaching format for rank, or anyone just plain interested in Shotokan. Buy it!
Excellent book
I bought it for my godson practicing Shotokan Karate, I practice Kyokushin Karate but I realized when reviewing a book that is very educational, graphics and complete for a child or adolescent. Excellent book.
Four Stars
Definitely a good reference book for karate practitioners.
Four Stars
A good book to learn
Great!!!
This book is a great work, I served as instructive in my preparation, I recommend this treatise to all who study and practice martial arts.
Thank u
I enjoy it very much .
Life style -come back
Life style -come back It is meet my expectation and needs. At this stage and age I found that the refreshment of the previous training (body and spirit) is a good idea. This book helps.
Five Stars
Great item, Recommended
I think better. Good honest seller
Book was as described . I think better . Good honest seller .
Well structured and illustrated guide to the basics of Shotokan
I think this book is well suited for those who are just getting started with Shotokan (or similar) karate styles. It starts with a very good history of martial arts which is more accurate than many other books and many legends that get passed around in dojos. Then it moves on to basic stances and movements using good quality color photos to illustrate each position and common errors. It explains some basic pre-arrange kumite (sparring) sequences. It also diagrams the kata's commonly required for lower level ranks. For those taking a couple lessons per week that need a text reference to review outside of class, and help explain some movements I think this is a very good book. It is not at all comprehensive and many of the details of body mechanics are left out, which can be helpful to the new student who may get overwhelmed with detail...but can be bad for the student who's got the basic stances and movements down and now needs help refining the practice. Overall I like the book and recommend it.
Updated Reference Guide
This book is an excellent updated reference guide for all to follow. It is nicely written and easy to understand.
An invaluable reference book
I first saw this book in a well-known high-street bookstore just after I started training in Shotokan Karate in June 2011. I only managed to have a quick look at it in the store, but was instantly impressed with the layout of the book and the information contained within. I then came home and purchased from Amazon. I am now a brown belt at the same club and this has been an invaluable source of information in all aspects required for each belt. The katas, kumite and kihon (basics) are all laid out move-by-move with tips of how to and how not to do these various things. There is also some interesting history at the start of the book describing how Shotokan came to be. I cannot recommend this book highly enough - especially for those doing Shotokan karate from beginner to 1st Dan (1st black belt). It would also serve as an excellent reference for those at Black belt and above who are looking to brush up on some of those things you learn, but perhaps forget over time! I note that there is a second book by this author which takes you through the Advanced Elements of 1st Dan and beyond - I have no doubts that I will be adding this book to my collection once I get a little closer to 1st Dan. Oss!
Detailed and easy to follow
A brilliant book which makes a suitable companion for "Black Belt Karate: The Intensive Course". It's good to get another perspective especially when - as in this case - the school of karate is Shotokan. For instance, although the katas are described extremely comprehensively in both books, there are one or two instances where comparing the photos of certain moves side by side makes a move or stance more understandable and hence enjoyable! Another great buy and it does what it says on the cover!
Everything you'll need to learn Karate
This is THE BOOK for anybody wanting to learn Shotokan Karate. It is clearly divided into sections for each grading, giving the grading syllabus at the start of each section. This is then followed by clear, concise pictures and instructions demonstrating the techniques required for each belt. It covers both the techniques (punches, blocks, kicks, etc.) and the individual katas in a good level of detail. The katas in particular are very well documented, with colour photographs of EVERY step of EVERY kata, along with step-by-step instructions, even down to which foot to turn on. At the rear of the book is a quick summary of the syllabus, along with summary diagrams of each kata. I would thoroughly recommend this to anybody keen to learn Karate or improve their technique.
