The 6 Best Karate Books That Beginners Need To Read

Karate requires discipline, hard work, dedication, and a ton of practise. Most of this can and should come from physical training. However, exercising the mind is important as well. Reading books on karate can help bolster your training knowledge. Here are the 6 best books on karate that beginning karate students need to read.

1. Black Belt Karate: The Intensive Course

 “If you are looking for a straightforward text that is aimed at helping you improve, then this is the book you should read” says Estelle Cloud, a writer at Writing Populist and Ratedwriting.

The book gives students an intensive training course that they can use to become better at Karate. It tackles a breakdown of karate through the philosophy that anyone can become a master.

Black Belt Karate is written by Hirokazo Kanazawa, the most respected figure in the world, and provides a great systematic approach that is easy to follow.

• Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do

Perhaps the most famous martial artist of all time, Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do is a must-read for all fans of the sport. This book provides an interesting and in-depth look into Lee’s life and covers his personal martial art techniques and how to apply them to your own training.

The book has in-depth pictures, amazing and informative descriptions, and provides progressive lessons to help you learn. If you are interested at all in Lee’s style or strategy, then this is book to study and learn from.

• Moving Zen

Most people who study karate will tell you that it is more than just a sport, it’s a complete way of life. That is clearly demonstrated in C.W. Nicol’s Moving Zen. Nicol’s, a Welsh citizen, left his country in 1962 to study karate in Japan.

This book chronicles his time spent there, changing both his physical body as well as his mind, helping shift his entire outlook on life. This book is considered to be a modern classic, covers Nicol’s entire journey, and highlights that karate is much more than just a fun activity, but can be used as beginning point on a journey to higher enlightenment.

• Bubishi: The Classic Manual of Combat

For hundreds of years, Bubishi was a secret, Chinese text on philosophy, strategy, medicine, and technique, passed from master to student in China and later in Okinawa. No other classic work has had as dramatic an impact on the development of karate; in fact, all of karate’s legendary masters have either studied it, applied its teachings, or copied passages directly from Bubishi.

“It’s one of the earliest written records of genuine martial arts transmission from China to Okinawa, which is the birthplace of karate” says Jeffrey Barns, a karate blogger at Assignment Help and Top essay writing services.

 If you are a student studying karate, then the wisdom in this ancient text is necessary study.

• History and Traditions of Okinawan Karate

Written by Tetsurhiro Hokama, who is considered to be one of the most prolific writers on the history of Okinawan martial arts, this book is a fantastic addition to a beginner’s bookshelf.

The first section covers the history of Okinawan Karate: Origins of Martial Arts, Martial Arts Pioneers, and The Evolution of Modern Martial Arts. It contains many photographs, with a lot that have never been published in other books on Okinawa karate, which is a pleasant surprise.

Most of Hokama’s works are in Japanese, so it makes a pleasant change that this one is in fact in English.

• The Little Black Book of Violence: What Every Young Man Needs to Know About Fighting

This book is a bit unique and by its title sounds like it will be a very pro-violence and dark. However, this book is more than that. It talks about the fact that young men are twice as likely to become the victims of aggressive behaviour. Kane and Wilder go on to explain how using awareness, avoidance, and de-escalation can help stave of being the victim of a violence on the streets.

Expanding your mind in karate is just as important as practising your technique. These are the 6 best karate books for beginners.