Shotokan's Secret is a revolutionary new look at the prehistory of Shotokan Karate (and the related hard-style karate systems). The books asks the question, "Who were the men who created our katas, and who were their enemies?" The answers to these questions open entirely new doors into the bunkai, or applications, of the hard-style katas.
There is next to no information about the book on the web, so I thought I'd share some of it here. This is the text from the back of the book:
A FOREIGN INVASION … AN UNARMED NATION … THE MYSTERY OF A MARTIAL ART SOLVED.
Shotokan’s Secret : Karate was invented by the world’s only unarmed bodyguards to protect the world’s only unarmed king … against Americans.
In 1853, before the American Civil War, the king of Okinawa was caught in a brink-of-war confrontation between the shogun’s implacable samurai and an invading force of U.S. Marines. Trapped between katana and bayonets, the king’s unarmed guards faced impossible odds and narrowly avoided a costly bloodbath.
Karate masters Sokon Matsumura and Yasutsune Itosu spent decades reliving that day in their imaginations. They designed a new martial art for the royal bodyguards, making bare hands the equal of razor-sharp steel. This was the first emergence of the hard-style karate that became shotokan, a full generation before Master Gichin Funakoshi took his first karate lesson.
The bodyguards taught Funakoshi their kata, but they didn’t teach him their applications. They taught him their high-impact techniques, but they didn’t explain why they needed them. They handed him the most ruthless combat art ever seen, but didn’t explain what it wasfor.
Shotokan’s Secret explains, once and for all, where karate really came from and what its purpose truly is. It lays bare karate’s most puzzling mysteries, allowing us to finally see the people we are fighting, know how they are armed and learn why shotokan is obsessed with multiple-enemy scenarios. Finally, Shotokan’s Secret explores karate’s hidden flaws, and how we can repair them to create a self-defense art for the 21st century.
Shotokan’s Secret brings karate to life through painstaking historical research, extensive footnoting, archival lithographs and artwork, rare sketches and practical guidelines for developing modern-day shotokan-empowered warriors. This new book from acclaimed author Bruce D. Clayton, Ph.D., is a must-read for all karate practitioners—whether novices or seasoned veterans. It will truly open your eyes to the “blank spots” in karate theory and help fill those gaps, taking you to a new level of fighting ability!
Here are some sample pages...
Here's the table of contents.
Table of Contents
1 The Place and the Time..................................................... iv
1.1 Island of Conflict........................................................ 2
1.2 Shuri, Naha, and Tomari ............................................ 4
1.3 Second Sho Dynasty .................................................. 6
1.4 Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa .......................................... 7
1.5 Satsuma Invasion ..................................................... 11
1.6 Peasants, Lords, and Overlords................................ 13
1.7 Kobudo..................................................................... 14
1.8 Shuri Castle .............................................................. 16
1.9 Inside the Seiden ...................................................... 19
1.10 Western Barbarians .................................................. 21
1.11 Meiji Restoration...................................................... 24
1.12 Early 20th Century .................................................... 25
1.13 The Shuri Crucible ................................................... 25
2 The Lords of Karate ......................................................... 30
2.1 Japanese Language................................................... 30
2.2 What is Truth?.......................................................... 31
2.3 Is Karate Ancient?.................................................... 33
2.4 Chi-Niang Fang........................................................ 34
2.5 Satunushi “Tode” Sakugawa.................................... 36
2.5.1 Sakugawa’s Training............................................ 36
2.5.2 “Tode” .................................................................. 38
2.5.3 Pirates in the Dark................................................ 38
2.5.4 Kusanku Kata ....................................................... 39
2.5.5 Sakugawa’s Legacy.............................................. 40
2.6 Sokon “Bushi” Matsumura ...................................... 40
2.6.1 “Matsumura” ........................................................ 41
2.6.2 Matsumura’s Skills .............................................. 42
2.6.3 Matsumura’s Career ............................................. 44
2.6.4 Matsumura’s Fights.............................................. 44
2.6.5 Patsai (Bassai) Kata.............................................. 48
2.6.6 King vs. Karma .................................................... 49
2.6.7 Matsumura’s Legacy............................................ 51
2.7 Yasutsune Itosu ........................................................ 52
2.7.1 “Itosu” .................................................................. 53
2.7.2 Itosu’s Skills......................................................... 55
2.7.3 Itosu’s Fights........................................................ 56
2.7.4 “Saint” Itosu......................................................... 57
2.7.5 Itosu’s Career ....................................................... 58
2.7.6 Itosu’s Katas......................................................... 59
2.7.7 Itosu’s Legacy ...................................................... 60
2.7.8 “Shorin Ryu”........................................................ 61
2.8 Yasutsune Azato....................................................... 63
2.9 Chofu Kyan .............................................................. 65
2.10 Seisho Arakaki ......................................................... 66
2.11 The Seeds of Shotokan............................................. 66
2.12 Shuri Spear Carriers ................................................. 68
2.12.1 Kokan Oyadomari ............................................ 68
2.12.2 Kosaku Matsumora .......................................... 69
2.12.3 Peichin Yara ..................................................... 71
2.12.4 Sanda Kinjo...................................................... 71
2.12.5 Peichin Kiyuna ................................................. 71
2.12.6 Additional Bodyguards .................................... 72
3 The Japan Expedition....................................................... 74
3.1 Commodore Matthew Perry..................................... 74
3.2 Perry Arrives in Naha............................................... 75
3.3 Perry Invades Shuri Castle....................................... 77
3.4 Perry at the Regent’s House..................................... 80
3.5 Perry’s Report .......................................................... 83
4 Dispossessed and Abandoned .......................................... 86
4.1 Chotoku Kyan .......................................................... 86
4.1.1 Kyan’s Health....................................................... 87
4.1.2 Kyan’s Attitude .................................................... 88
4.1.3 Kyan’s Fights ....................................................... 89
4.1.4 Kyan’s Katas ........................................................ 91
4.1.5 Kyan’s Legacy ..................................................... 92
4.2 Kanryo Higaonna ..................................................... 92
4.3 Naha-te vs. Shuri-te.................................................. 95
4.4 Tatsuo Shimabuku.................................................... 98
4.5 Gichin “Shoto” Funakoshi ....................................... 98
4.5.1 Funakoshi’s Career............................................. 100
4.5.2 Karate Missionary.............................................. 100
4.5.3 Karate in Tokyo.................................................. 102
4.5.4 “Karate”.............................................................. 104
4.5.5 “Shoto”............................................................... 106
4.5.6 War Story ........................................................... 106
4.5.7 Shotokan and Kobudo........................................ 107
4.6 Typhoon of Steel .................................................... 109
4.7 Conclusion ............................................................. 112
5 Defending Shuri Castle .................................................. 114
5.1 Shuri Threat Analysis............................................. 114
5.1.1 Assassination...................................................... 114
5.1.2 Conquest............................................................. 115
5.1.3 Battery and Abduction ....................................... 116
5.2 Intelligence............................................................. 117
5.3 Concentric Architecture ......................................... 119
5.4 Bushi Bureaucrats .................................................. 120
5.5 Special Agents........................................................ 120
5.6 Female Servants ..................................................... 122
5.7 Matsumura and Itosu.............................................. 123
5.8 Sho Tai Himself ..................................................... 123
5.9 Escaping the Room ................................................ 123
5.10 Escaping the Castle ................................................ 124
5.11 Secret Passage ........................................................ 125
5.12 Hidden Armory ...................................................... 127
5.13 Conclusion ............................................................. 128
6 Shuri Battle Plan ............................................................ 130
6.1 Combat in the Shuri Crucible................................. 130
6.2 Standard Tactics ..................................................... 131
6.3 React, Extract, Retreat............................................ 133
6.4 Reserve Force......................................................... 137
6.5 Evaluation .............................................................. 138
7 Bodyguard Techniques................................................... 142
7.1 Technique for Extraction........................................ 142
7.2 Technique for Reaction.......................................... 144
7.3 Technique for Retreat............................................. 146
7.4 Technique for Abduction ....................................... 147
7.5 Firearm Techniques................................................ 148
7.6 Inappropriate Techniques....................................... 148
7.7 Conclusion ............................................................. 150
8 Analyzing the Shuri Katas ............................................. 152
8.1 Kata Analysis ......................................................... 152
8.2 Before-and-After Views......................................... 154
8.2.1 Kusanku (Kanku Dai) ........................................ 155
8.2.2 Naihanchi (Tekki) .............................................. 157
8.2.3 Chinto (Gankaku)............................................... 159
8.3 What Itosu Added .................................................. 164
8.3.1 Motion................................................................ 164
8.3.2 Power ................................................................. 164
8.3.3 Multiple Opponents............................................ 165
8.3.4 Impact Bunkai .................................................... 165
8.3.5 Standard Enbusen............................................... 165
8.4 What Itosu Discarded............................................. 166
8.4.1 Fewer Pressure Points ........................................ 166
8.4.2 Fewer Nukite Strikes.......................................... 167
8.4.3 No Submission Techniques................................ 167
8.4.4 No Night Fighting .............................................. 167
8.5 What Itosu Left Alone............................................ 168
8.6 Old and New Bunkai.............................................. 170
8.7 Tactical Themes in the Katas ................................. 170
9 Bodyguard Bunkai ......................................................... 174
9.1 Sugiyama’s 25 Katas.............................................. 174
9.2 Required Bunkai List ............................................. 175
9.3 Dinglehoppers ........................................................ 176
9.4 Break Wrist and Arm Grips ................................... 176
9.5 Break Grips on Clothing ........................................ 182
9.6 Break Arm and Wrist Locks .................................. 187
9.7 Break Hair Grips .................................................... 189
9.8 Break Bear Hugs .................................................... 190
9.9 Break a Choke Hold............................................... 195
9.10 Stop a Tackle.......................................................... 197
9.11 Burst into the Crowd .............................................. 201
9.12 Rapid Tai Sabaki .................................................... 202
9.13 Stun/Maim/Kill with One Strike ............................ 202
9.13.1 Breaking Joints............................................... 203
9.13.2 Breaking Bones .............................................. 204
9.13.3 Maiming Soft Tissue...................................... 208
9.13.4 One-Punch Stops............................................ 209
9.14 Force a Path through the Crowd............................. 209
9.15 Throw an Enemy at his Friends ............................. 214
9.16 Use a Human Shield............................................... 216
9.17 Jumps and Dives .................................................... 218
9.18 Leap Past a Blocking Enemy ................................. 219
9.19 Stealing Weapons................................................... 221
9.19.1 Steal One-Handed Weapons .......................... 221
9.19.2 Steal Two-Handed Weapons.......................... 224
9.20 Abduct an Enemy................................................... 230
9.21 Iron Fan Technique ................................................ 232
9.22 Stairway Fighting................................................... 234
9.23 Playing the Bunkai Game....................................... 235
9.24 Conclusion ............................................................. 237
10 The Bunkai Mystery................................................... 240
10.1 Did Itosu Know the Bunkai?.................................. 241
10.2 Are the Bunkai so Obvious? .................................. 242
10.3 Was the Bunkai Unimportant?............................... 243
10.4 Is Self-Discovery Better? ....................................... 244
10.5 Oath of Secrecy...................................................... 244
10.6 Evaluation .............................................................. 246
11 The Future of Shuri-te................................................ 250
11.1 Why 99% of Students Quit .................................... 250
11.1.1 The Character Development Myth................. 250
11.1.2 The Self-Defense Myth.................................. 252
11.2 Shuri II Self-Defense Standard .............................. 254
11.3 Shuri II Fighters ..................................................... 254
11.4 Shuri II Self-Defense Goals ................................... 254
11.4.1 Resist Assault ................................................. 255
11.4.2 Resist Armed Assault..................................... 256
11.4.3 Resist Rape..................................................... 258
11.4.4 Resist Abduction ............................................ 259
11.4.5 Resist Home Invasion .................................... 260
11.4.6 Perform an Arrest........................................... 261
11.4.7 Perform a Rescue ........................................... 263
11.4.8 Fight as a Team.............................................. 264
11.4.9 Attack Vital Points ......................................... 265
11.4.10 Use Weapons.................................................. 268
11.4.11 Use Tactics ..................................................... 270
11.4.12 Night Fighting ................................................ 271
11.4.13 Karate Ground Fighting ................................. 275
11.4.14 Know the Law................................................ 277
11.4.15 Live by the Rules ........................................... 278
11.5 Bringing Karate to Life .......................................... 279
12 Conclusion ................................................................. 282
12.1 Postscript: Familiar Faces........................................285
Appendix A Karate Lineage Chart ..................................... 289
Appendix B Bibiography.................................................... 291
Appendix C Glossary ......................................................... 291
Appendix D About the Author ........................................... 291
Appendix E The San Ten Senseis .......................................... v
13 Index........................................................................... 303
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