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DustyMars
18th July 2002, 13:39
I have a book, _Okinawa Karate_, by Mark Bishop, (1991 reprint) that references several people I met or trained under whole living on Okinawa. Some reviews on book are harsh on Bishop for some reason, but I found the book informative and a good reference. Does anyone else have opinions on his book and would it be beneficial to get the later editions?

Also, I have the 1976 edition of Nagamine's _Okinawan Karate-Do_ and 1959 edition of _Karate_, by Nishiyama. Any opinions?

hmjoe
7th March 2003, 21:42
Yes, DustyMars,

I also have the book, and find it an interesting and informative piece of my collection.

My Sensei is one of the people mentioned in it under Sensei Nakamura and Okinawa Kenpo. He says the book is great, but also has some inacuracy. I don't know...

It seems like History is always from the Point of view of the writer. I think that the author did his best to put together an historical text with the input he had. As an author myself, I know it is not easy to put things into writing in a clear and acceptable way to satisify everyone. As with this book, there also has to be some language barrier that comes into play with his gathering of input.

Many are secretive about the topic of Karate. I say to the book critics, Ok... You write a book with Your perspective.... So that I can learn more, expecially if you want to contradict what another has written. Or at least, write a synopsis of the inacuracy so that you can set us straight.

That's how I got published? I wrote to a magazine about a computer programming article, which was completely wrong. They told me to write an article for them explaining the correct way to write code in Java.... I know the topic is different, but it is the same principle.

Again, as per Mr. Bishop's book, I just love it and eat up all the History stuff on the Okinawan arts....

Sincerely,

Joe DiBella