Books

FOUR BOOKS. ONE PATH.

From the foundations to the master class of karate

These four books are not simply four volumes that follow one another. They are four stations on one path of development.

We start with the first steps: how to build the body, the stances, movement, strikes, kicks and blocks – in other words, the technical arsenal without which there is no karate.

From there we go on to understanding that karate is more than learning techniques. Regular practice gradually shapes attention, self-control, perseverance, thinking and, in the end, the person.

At the next level it is no longer enough to know a movement. You have to understand what it is for. This is where kata turns from a sequence of movements into a map of combat: the opponent appears, and with them distance, timing, bunkai, kyusho and the real application of the techniques.

The fourth volume leads on into the master class of karate. Here we no longer look only for how to perform a technique, but also for why it works; how body, mind and spirit connect; and how karate practised over decades can become a means of understanding ourselves and the world more deeply.

So the arc of development of the four books is:

LEARN IT → UNDERSTAND IT → APPLY IT → THINK FOR YOURSELF

or, seen another way:

BODY → SELF-CONTROL → COMBAT → SPIRIT

VOLUME I – LEARN IT

Build your body and your technical arsenal!

Every path begins with the foundations.

The task of the first volume is to give a sure technical foundation for the practice of Kyokushin karate. It presents the stances, strikes, blocks and kicks, the basics of kihon, and the grading syllabus through which the karateka can build their knowledge step by step.

But basic technique does not mean merely learning movements.

Out of their own body, the karateka builds the “arsenal” that they will later be able to use precisely, quickly, powerfully and consciously.

So the first volume is the elementary school:
learning to stand, move, strike, kick and block – and beginning to master our own body.

→ Kyokushin Karate I – The Foundations of the Strongest Karate

VOLUME II – UNDERSTAND IT

Behind the technique, understand yourself too!

After a while the question is no longer whether we are able to perform a technique.

It is whether we understand what practice is teaching us.

The second volume links technical progress with a person’s inner development. Alongside physical strength, self-discipline, perseverance, attention, positive thinking, responsibility and self-knowledge play an ever greater part.

At this level karate is no longer simply a fighting technique.

It is a path that shapes the person.

Slowly the practitioner realises that among their most important opponents are their own fears, weaknesses, impatience and limits.

So the second volume is the secondary school of karate:
building self-control out of technical knowledge, and conscious development out of practice.

→ Kyokushin Karate II – The Art of Inner and Outer Strength

VOLUME III – KNOW YOUR OPPONENT

Kata is the map of combat

Kata is not a demonstration, not gymnastics and not a sequence of movements to be memorised.

Kata is encoded fighting knowledge.

But to recognise this knowledge, we have to go beyond the outer form of the movement.

Why do we move in exactly this direction?
Where is the opponent?
What is being attacked?
What are we defending?
Where are the vulnerable points of the human body?
How does the form become real application?

The third volume uncovers the connection between kihon and kumite. Through the approach of bunkai and kyusho, kata gradually comes to life: the karateka no longer merely performs the technique, but understands its fighting content.

This level leads from knowing a technique to applying it.

KIHON → KATA → BUNKAI → KYUSHO → KUMITE

So the third volume is the university of karate:
learning to understand not only ourselves and our own arsenal, but also the opponent, the situation and the real purpose of the technique.

→ The Big Kata Book – Kyokushin Karate III

VOLUME IV – THINK FOR YOURSELF

From the body to the spirit – the master class of karate

After decades of practice, karate asks new questions.

Why does a technique work?
Where does its power come from?
What happens in the body during movement?
How do physics, biomechanics, breathing, energy, attention and consciousness connect?

And finally:
what does all this teach us about the human being?

The fourth volume is no longer a simple technical textbook. It seeks the deeper laws of karate and connects physical practice with thinking, self-knowledge, philosophy and spiritual development.

Here the path is no longer a straight line.

It is more of a spiral: again and again we return to the same foundations, but each time we understand them at a higher level.

The beginner learns the movement.
The advanced student understands how it works.
The master looks for the connections.

This is the master class of karate:
when, having learned the rules, we become able to ask, to understand, to think for ourselves – and finally to pass on everything we have learned along the path.

→ Global Kyokushin

THE FOUR VOLUMES TOGETHER

So the four books form one long arc of development:

VOLUME I – LEARN IT
Building the body and the technical arsenal.

↓

VOLUME II – UNDERSTAND IT
Self-control, personality and conscious development.

↓

VOLUME III – APPLY IT
Understanding the opponent, kata and the real content of combat.

↓

VOLUME IV – THINK FOR YOURSELF
Recognising the physical, intellectual, philosophical and spiritual connections of karate.

So the path is:

MOVEMENT → UNDERSTANDING → APPLICATION → INDEPENDENT THOUGHT

and on another plane:

BODY → MIND → SPIRIT

The first book asks:
How do I do it?

The second:
What does it shape in me?

The third:
What do I use it for?

And the fourth:
Why does it work – and what do I come to understand through it?

Together, these four books set out to guide the reader along the path on which a beginner becomes a practitioner, a practitioner becomes a thinking karateka, and the karateka may in time become a person who can not only follow the teaching, but understands it, thinks it through further on their own and can pass it on.

FOLLOW → ASK → UNDERSTAND → THINK FOR YOURSELF → PASS IT ON

Dr. István Adámy has gathered decades of teaching experience in his books. The four volumes are now available as e-books (in PDF and EPUB), in Hungarian and in translation into twelve other languages. You can buy each volume on its own page.