Books

[terryl965]

I am in the process of revamping my Library, what aresome of the essential books to keep at the school and which ones should stay home. I am talking about all the books from the seventies though today.

Thanks

 

[jim777]

I personally place great stock in the ITF forms books by GM Jhoon Rhee.

 

[Kacey]

For myself, I take my YCTA gup and BB requirement books with me all the time (I teach in a Y - I don't leave much there). These books have all the requirements for each rank - hand techniques, kicks, knowledge, sparring, step-sparring, hol-sin-sul, patterns by move - in an easy to access, condensed form. Anything else I'll look up when I get home; that's why I always have paper and a pencil with me too.

What other people keep at their school depends on what their class and/or organization uses for reference, I think - I doubt there's going to be a consensus on this one. As a rule of thumb, if you look at it regularly (I look in my YCTA books at least several times before or after every class), you should have it with you; if not, leave it at home and check it as needed. You can always change what you want where at a later date if needed.

 

[e ship yuk]

What books you keep at the school will depend on a) your curriculum, and b) what you want your students having access to. Anything I left at the school I would consider loaning to a student overnight to study, though YMMV.

MA libraries come in two flavors: style-specific and philosophy/history. Style-specific books would be the ITF encyclopedias by Gen. Choi, or Kacey's YCTA books. Mine, if I could afford them, would be:

Korean Karate, by Son Duk Song.
Black Belt Korean Karate, by Son Duk Song.
Tang Soo Do Vol I, by Hwang Kee.
Tang Soo Do Vol II, by Hwang Kee.

The Kukkiwon had a decent CD encyclopedia out several years ago that looked like it would be a good choice for a Kukki-TKD student, and of course Gen. Choi's encyclopedia for ITF lineage.

Philosophy/history books are where libraries of different styles and lineages can really come together. I would recommend Rick Clark's 75 Down Blocks to anyone. Most karate-descended schools would do well to have a copy of Funakoshi's books around: Karate-do Kyohan, and its earlier version, Karate-jutsu. Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings is not only a great strategy treatise, I found it to be a particularly interesting read - but maybe that was just the translation.

I'd also recommend Bruce Grant's Guide to Hangul and Hanja to students of Korean arts, if they are at all interested in the language.

 

[exile]

I would recommend Rick Clark's 75 Down Blocks to anyone.

Yes. That is a genuinely brilliant book, in a class by itself. I've never seen anywhere else as deep and complete an evaluation of what is, in so many dojangs and dojos, a simple, mechanical kihon movement as in Clark's book, which shows that the down block is anything but simple and routine. It's kind of the granddaddy of the increasing number of realistic bunkai texts, many of them themselves very good, that have appeared in the last ten years.