This book is as vital to every serious martial artist as zen is profound . An intriguing and detailed work on the history of Okinawan martial arts as they relate to the physical & metaphysical aspects of zen training. Every martial artist should read and digest the detailed contents, because the work is more than an historic journey tracing the roots of Okinawan te & kobudo from their beginnings in the 7th-century AD through to the introduction of karate into the modern era, for it teaches, explains and demonstrates the very core, the essence, of all such esoteric arts and the real reasons for training and teaching them.