The Art and the Way

About the Book

At the beginning of the 15th century a young Okinawan boy is initiated into the martial arts of China by a strange visitor.  The boy records what he is taught as best he can in order to both remember the knowledge and pass it on.  The book he creates is continued by successive generations and grows into a secret family heritage, passed down through four hundred years of Okinawan and Japanese history, and a witness to the development of the art of karate from ancient times to modern.

A young American boy, David Cody, has the unique opportunity to spend his early childhood and youth within the quiet halls of a Japanese karate dojo, raised in the traditions and language of the Japanese martial arts.  He returns to the United States for college, but in a twist of events finds that his martial ability may not be all he thought it was. David returns to Japan in a quest for the truth of his training and runs into a destiny he never expected.  He is shown a secret family book, the Bubishi, that contains the history and techniques of his adopted family from the early 15th century to present day.

David studies the lives of karate masters from ancient China, through Okinawa and Japan and even to the United States for some clue to the roots and reality of karate and traces the history of that martial art through all of its incarnations, first as a fighting art, then a philosophical discipline and finally a Western tournament sport and Hollywood media event. But there is a sinister side to Davids new found knowledge and, while immersing himself in the book, David comes upon a mystery that will change his life.

The Art and the Way tells the stories of Peichin, an Okinawan who spends the first half of his life in China studying Chinese Chuan Fa, the martial art made famous by ancient priests, then returns to his homeland only to find it occupied by the Satsuma, brutal Japanese conquerors.  Useishi, Peichins accidental disciple, returns to China in a quest to find his teachers teacher and continue his training at the root source of the knowledge.

In 19th Okinawa the karate master Shuhari Kensho and his wife, Masayo, equaled only by her husband in her knowledge of the martial arts, stand in the middle of another changing Okinawa, a country torn between two opposing forces, on the one hand trying to hang onto its own ancient culture and on the other giving over completely to the Japanese who have controlled the country for almost 300 years.  Shuhari sees this change clearly in the development of his own karate.  Once a secret fighting discipline, it now seems to have become more of a philosophy of life than a martial art.

Muratani Takeshi comes of age in the early part of the 20th century, at the beginning of the Japanese drive to conquer Asia, in a family steeped in the traditions of karate.  From his Okinawan father he inherits the techniques and philosophies of the Okinawan martial arts and from his Japanese mother the arts and obligations of Japan.  Now, as the world moves toward the end of his century Muratani sees his family martial art being turned into little more than a game and, to make things worse, it is up to him to choose a successor to pass on the secrets of his familys art before his own death. With a son who is the worst possible of candidates, he is faced with a dilemma at the end of his life that he would rather avoid altogether.????????? ??? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ??? ????????? ??? ????? ?? ??? ??????????? ?? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?? ? ?????? ????? ?? ??????? ??? ????????? ?????????? ??? ??????????? ??? ??????? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ??????? ??????

About the Author

Robert Hunt has pursued a wide variety of endeavors in his lifetime so far. In addition to having completed a Master’s Degree in International Business, he has been a high school and college teacher, a martial artist and instructor, a film actor, producer, and screenwriter, a businessman, and an entrepreneur in the software industry. He speaks four languages, including Japanese. Mr. Hunt started his martial arts career at college in northwestern Pennsylvania in 1964. Since then he has received black belt rank in three of the four major Japanese karate systems - Shotokan, Wado Ryu and Shi-To Ryu – and is versed in Okinawan weapons. A recognized authority on the history of karate, it has been his life’s study to search out the origins, traditions and modern development of the Okinawan martial arts. He currently teaches karate and kobudo in Phoenix, Arizona.