Karate-Do:
A Challenge of Self
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| The Cover of Karate-Do: A Challenge of Self |
I met Mark Passmore several months ago when he, and a group from Australia he had in tow, came to sunny Ishikawa here in Groovy Nippon. I got a phone call out of the blue and a very nice voice on the other end introduced himself as Mark Passmore. Mark had told me that he is a friend of Joe Swift, karate historian and translator extraordinairre, and that Joe told him to give me a ring if he ever came to town. Sadly, we never got a chance to train together, but we did get to visit a couple times, and that was superb. Also, Mark and his kind group bought me beer and gyoza (fried Chinese dumplings) and we had a fun time together while it lasted. While we chatted about karate and life in Japan we exchanged books. I gave Mark a copy of KTJW and he was kind enough to pass on this wonderful book to me.
This is the text that Mark Passmore wrote 18 years ago but it is still very interesting. It is a catalogue of all things karate and I get a very strong impression from the compilation of this text that it is not only meant as a text to instruct, but is also an artifact for the author which takes him through, as well as teaches him, about all areas of our martial art.
This book has a large number of sections, and focuses primarily on the numerous kata of the Shotokan syllabus. Mark Passmore takes us through the five Heian kata, Bassai-Dai and Bassai-Sho, the three Tekki kata, Kanku-Dai, Empi, Jutte, Hangetsu, Jion, Gankaku, Nijushiho, SanKakuDai, Jiin, Sochin, Kanku-Sho, Wankan, Meikyo, Unsu, Gojushiho-Sho, and Gojushiho-Dai. I have to tell you that I was pretty happy to get a very nice addition to my material and good pictures of Wankan and Jiin. In addition to these kata, Mark Passmore also includes a neat section on Weapons Basics, including kata for the Sai, Bo, Nunchaku, and Tonfa. Pretty nifty stuff.
I got to tell you that having Mark Passmore to talk to about karate got me pretty excited and opened up another well of ignorance in front of me. I don't think that I have even touched a tonfa or a sai. That looks kind of fun, and although it is not something that I can really pick up now where I am at now, and under the conditions I am training in, I think that I would very much like to learn that in years to come.
From this point on in the book, there are a variety of areas that the author explores and addresses. Many of these could be texts in themselves, but the author felt the need to address them here, despite the fact that exploring them in depth would be an impossibility. Among these areas: Upper body Pressure points, Wrist Locks, Dojo First Aid, Dojo Etiquette, Dojo Kun, Terminology, Anatomy, Children in Karate, as well as the Ken-Sei-Kan Grading Syllabus.
Mark Passmore has written a very interesting text. It is very extensive and interesting. I think that anyone who has been around karate a little bit would find this book worthwhile. It is not available in bookstores and would need to be ordered directly from the author. Fortunately, Mark Passmore and the Ken Sei Kan have a pretty cool web presence too. Please check them out.
Thanks again for the book, Mark. I really appreciate it. But I would appreciate it even more if you would come back to Japan for another visit, stay longer, and teach a few things here while you are at it.
For those of you who live within a hundred mile radius of Mark Passmore's dojo, you need to make him your instructor and see the good stuff he has to offer. Go to this website to get more information:
Mark Groenewold
September, 2003
Kanazawa, Japan
This page is Copyright ©2003 Mark Groenewold
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