Rating: 
Summary: Essential
Review: If training in traditional martial arts, one may find this can open new ways.
Rating: 
Summary: What happens after mastery? Now we know!
Review: It is uncommon to meet a true martial arts master, and even more uncommon to meet a Zen master. To encounter someone who is arguably qualified to be both is truly to be in rarefied company. To ask a rhetorical question, if Kensho Furuya is not such a master, then who is? If one takes seriously the ideas in this book, then it might change your life. For martial artists in training and for aspirants to the Zen mind, KODO is a blessing twice received. I, too, am grateful for it.
Rating:
Summary: For all teachers of all ways and disciplines
Review: Kensho Furuya's book Kodo is not only an attempt to uncover some of the 'mysteries' of martial arts and make them tangible to the everyday student, but it is a commentary that reaches beyond the dojo.
In today's high paced, your way right away world, Furuya brings the reader into a dialogue that has been past over for a Tae Bo fix. He explains how today's students are not the students of ancient days, although it may seem obvious, this statement leads us down a slippery slope of self-discovery. Most students of all disciplines are wanting more for less. Wanting to become experts in 2-4 years and quitting if they do not achieve this status and blaming it on the instruction rather than on their own failure to endure.
As a martial arts teacher I cannot learn without good students, but as a student of the Martial Path, I could not have achieved my rank without a good teacher. A good student in any discipline is to take in the whole picture that his/her teacher presents, not to pick and choose as if we were in a cafeteria. Furuya makes this point repeatedly in many ways, because it is a point that is hard to drive through the hard-headed mentality of today's student.
Students today have an expectation and an outline of what they want to learn without ever setting foot into a class. Students tell the teacher what they want before asking what the teacher has to offer. Students are not students when these things occur.
If you are a student, listen to what Furuya has to say and take this as a sign that you can be a better student. If you are a teacher take solace that you are not the only teacher having this difficulty with your students.
The martial path is one of self-mastery and is a two way process. You cannot allow yourself to become passive as a student and expect your teacher to give you all the tools so that you may become masterful. You too must put in an equal amount of work if not more in order to embody the masterful teachings of the ancient ways.
Rating:
Summary: food for thought
Review: Kodo does a fine job of presenting information which is helpful not only to martial artists.
Should be read and carefully pondered by all those who keep "seeking" each new fad and calling; while avoiding the tending of one's own mental and physical space.
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Summary: Primer on being truly human
Review: Of all the hundreds of martial arts books I own, I keep coming back to this one. There is so much depth that several readings just won't do.
Rating:
Summary: Must Have
Review: Regardless of your art, you will want to have this book in your library. Once you start reading it is hard to put down. Series of ancient ways articles placed in one place by Furuya. Helps you understand what it is to practice an ancient martial art in a modern society. A book you will read over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: An Important Book for Serious Martial Arts Practitioners
Review: Rev. Furuya's "KODO" is a remarkable collection of essays exploring the meaning of training and attitude. The primary audience for this work is martial artitsts. However, anyone with a serious interest in Eastern arts - and their connections with the subjective philosophical, spiritual, and cultural attitudes that engendered them - will find these essays to be of value. Indeed, Rev. Furuya has a broad range of knowledge about Japanese arts, including Zen, the tea ceremony, Noh drama, sculpture, painting, poetry, and calligraphy. The essays abound with historical and mythical anecdotes that are used effectively to illustrate the meaning and consequences of spiritual commitment to one's teachers and to one's art. Rev. Furuya has provided a first-hand account, necessarily personal and subjective, of the spiritual life of a martial artist.The content of the book is not matched by the quality of the publication. There are a number of pictures, sketches, and other reproductions in the book that could be improved with higher production standards. Given the price of the publication, this is not surprising. Still, many of the remarkable items portrayed in "KODO" deserve a better exposition. In summary, this is a unique and important book which can help today's martial artists touch and nurture the spiritual heritage from which their arts have grown. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An Important Book for Serious Martial Arts Practitioners
Review: Rev. Furuya's "KODO" is a remarkable collection of essays exploring the meaning of training and attitude. The primary audience for this work is martial artitsts. However, anyone with a serious interest in Eastern arts - and their connections with the subjective philosophical, spiritual, and cultural attitudes that engendered them - will find these essays to be of value. Indeed, Rev. Furuya has a broad range of knowledge about Japanese arts, including Zen, the tea ceremony, Noh drama, sculpture, painting, poetry, and calligraphy. The essays abound with historical and mythical anecdotes that are used effectively to illustrate the meaning and consequences of spiritual commitment to one's teachers and to one's art. Rev. Furuya has provided a first-hand account, necessarily personal and subjective, of the spiritual life of a martial artist. The content of the book is not matched by the quality of the publication. There are a number of pictures, sketches, and other reproductions in the book that could be improved with higher production standards. Given the price of the publication, this is not surprising. Still, many of the remarkable items portrayed in "KODO" deserve a better exposition. In summary, this is a unique and important book which can help today's martial artists touch and nurture the spiritual heritage from which their arts have grown. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: Rev. Furuya's book is quite exceptional. This book is truly inspirational. The author writes ancedotal stories about his life studying martial arts and the things he has learned along the way. He does not beat you over the head and force you to see or do things his way. He respectfully gives you insight into his own journey. It is an easy read and hard to put down. I have been studying Tai-chi for over 30 years and I throughly enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to anyone on the path. A must read for all human beings.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: Rev. Furuya's book is quite exceptional. This book is truly inspirational. The author writes ancedotal stories about his life studying martial arts and the things he has learned along the way. He does not beat you over the head and force you to see or do things his way. He respectfully gives you insight into his own journey. It is an easy read and hard to put down. I have been studying Tai-chi for over 30 years and I throughly enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to anyone on the path. A must read for all human beings.
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