Legend of the Fist

If you want the best of authentic written origins of karate-do this is the book for you.

The roots of Karate are difficult to collect, but the author is able to bring many first hand accounts to English readers, much of it for the first time. Similar to his other incredible translations (Bubishi), this is a fantastic and enlightening read and highly recommended for those sharing any of the Karate lines.

I have been involved with McCarthy Hanshi and the IRKRS for close to 20 years now. Over all of this time there has been a promise of a book called Legend of the Fist. It has been on his website marked "coming soon" for quite a while. All this time, I have been waiting patiently for this book. Now it has finally arrived. It is worth the wait. This is a collection of important translated documents that deal with turn of the century karatedo in Japan and Okinawa. Some of these I have read before (most translated by McCarthy Hanshi) and it is nice to have them in a single collection. What is more important is that there is some material that I have not seen before and that is worth the price of the book alone. I can not recommend this book enough for people who are interested in the historical context of karatedo.Everything in this book is excellent but there was one thing that set my heart a flutter and that is on the front of the book...it says Vol. 1. I hope I don't have to wait as long for Volume 2 but I can guarantee that it will be worth the wait.

If you have studied Okinawan Karate for more than a few years you begin to see, read and hear about legendary Karate Instructors and their documents. If you are like me, you often see historical documents written in Kanji but may not understand enough to translate the meaning properly. Legend of the Fist compiles many of the historical newspaper and magazine articles and other documents originally written in Japanese and translated in English thanks to the translation skills of Patrick McCarthy and his wife. This information is now at your fingertips without requiring an exhaustive search of your computer or internet. Plus it is in English so you don't exhaust your free time trying to interpret the meaning of the documents!I am throughly enjoying reading this book, reading new articles, and rereading many of the documents I have seen elsewhere. This is a great source of reference material that should be in your library. I look forward to the publication of Volume 2.In the past, I have culled my martial arts library and given away or donated 200-300 books and documents to make more room in the house, says my wife. My interpretation is to make room for more books! This book will remain in my library.

This is an excellent collection of translations of various documents relating to the history of Karate. It contains writings that many karateka heard about, but never had the opportunity to read, such as the infamous magazine article about Choki Motobu defeating a European boxer that was accompanied by drawings of Gichin Funakoshi instead. There are plenty of other gems in there, some eye-opening, such as the retelling of Master's Funakoshi's well known stories about Anko Itosu's grabbing an offender by the hand and inviting him to have a drink, and of him breaking into a building by punching a hole in the gate. But the description of these incidents paints Itosu in completely different light, and it is the up to the reader to decide which version is more correct!Why only four stars instead of five? As is the case with many semi self-published books this one could seriously benefit from professional editing, as the layout and some of the text can be confusing. But in light of the work as a whole this is a minor gripe.

“Legend of the Fist” by Hanshi Patrick McCarthy is a not only a collection of historically important articles, documents and photographs of the legendary early pioneers of karate-do but a reflection of a life spent in service of the way.An example of meticulous research fuelled by a passion that is unsurpassed in the martial arts world today, Patrick McCarthy’s most recent release “Legend of the Fist Vol #1” is another must have for all serious martial artists. In a world where information is at ones fingertips we are often faced with conflicting statements or information which can be confusing and tiring, this book not only provides the information but also cites the sources from which it came. . It is without doubt a must have for those interested in bun bu ryo do 文武両道 the path of the scholar warrior.For those of you who know Hanshi Patrick McCarthy you’ll know that his attention to detail and his memory for said detail is never boring and again this book reflects just that, an excellent read and a difficult book to put down. It is certainly one that I’ll be reflecting on frequently.I whole heartedly recommend this book and look forward to the masters future endeavours.

Reading this new book by Patrick McCarthy Sensei is a lot like ( what I would imagine ) sitting down with him for an evening and sharing a glass of single malt and being able to ask any question about Karate that came to my mind and he would bring out his scrapbooks and notes, and would delight me in the knowledge and history of our art. Pick this book up and go to any section and you will be immersed in the words and photos that so many of us English speaking students have never read or seen. This book is precisely what I was looking for.....and once again, McCarthy Sensei bridges a wide gulf for us all. I feel blessed to be able to live in a time where for such a modest amount of money, I can access such a huge collection of information and archival photos. I will be reading and re-reading this book for many years to come. Thank you Hanshi!

Quite an incredible book, full of gold. The informal feel of some of the writings in this collection makes them infinitely more accessible than the stodgier formal works more commonly available from the past masters. I would have given it five stars except for three points; one significant, one to be addressed for future editions, and one admittedly petty.The first point is that the book is in need of editing. The number of grammatical errors and typos throughout is simply not up to standard for a soft-cover book in this price range. It doesn’t impact the value of the content but it is a distraction, particularly when you have to re-read sentences and try to work out the meaning by context.Secondly, the chapter on the discovery of the 'Itosu Photo' should be either amended or removed in future editions (of which there will hopefully be many) to acknowledge that the photo in question has since been shown to be of someone other than Itosu.Thirdly, the petty point. This is pure aesthetics, but the cover design feels completely at odds with the genre and the content. Will that bother many people? Probably not, but for such a historically valuable work as this it would be nice if the design was more congruent with the content and more visually appealing.If any of these criticisms puts you off buying this book then I’ve done you a disservice because it is quite simply an amazing collection, and Patrick McCarthy deserves great praise for his efforts in making this material available to us all.

I'll admit that I approached this book expecting it to be good. I'm familiar with the works of the author and I find his eye for detail and historical accuracy amazing. Patrick McCarthy himself is a legend in the martial arts world. He's been a champion on the competition circuit and a resident in Japan as well as a seminar instructor of world-wide renown. He's been at the forefront of the practical Karate drive for a long time. Hearing that this book was coming out (which I first heard propositioned in the 1990s) I was excited.Readers will find within the covers a collection of articles. There are the straight translations of many historically important documents and some articles on subject that the author himself deems to be important for the context of the rest. He's done a great job. There are notes on context and translation issues, but not so many as to be distracting.Anyone who enjoyed Patrick's translation of the Bubishi should definitely have this book. It is a worthy addition to the collection of those interested in bun bu ryo do 文武両道 the path of the scholar warrior. It doesn't contain information about how to make a fist or how to punch like so many martial arts books (although there are step by step pictures of kata included - the pictures and the people in them are the important part). It does tell us a lot about the origins of Karate and the pioneers who were there. There is a wealth of photographs included, too - historic sites and documents that we are privileged to have access to because of this book. Thank you, Mr McCarthy. I remain a fan.

Legend of the Fist  by Hanshi Patrick McCarthy is an absolute masterpiece that cannot be missed in the library of every serious karate enthusiast.A chronologically ordered collection of well-referenced historical documents, articles, biographies enriched by a huge number of photos, the book is the result of the unsurpassed meticulous research of Hanshi Patrick McCarthy and is a must have for all those karateka wanting to truly understand the essence, history, philosophy and culture of our art. Legend of the Fist

Der Kampfkunst-Historiker und -Forscher Patrick McCarthypräsentiert hier - zum Teil erstmals in englischer Sprache- eine Reihe historischer Dokumente, die für jeden Kampfkünstler von großem Interesse sein dürften. Die Darstellung von zwei Formen, ausgeführt von Chosin Chibana und Shito-Ryu-Gründer Mabuni Kenwa, machen das Buch schon jetzt zu einem Klassiker, der in keiner Kampfkunst-Bibliothek fehlen sollte.

une grande connaissance des origines du karaté d'okinawa par un très grand connaisseura lire pour tous les passionnés de karate