Required:
- Karate-do Kyohan The Master Text by Gichin Funakoshi
- Karate-do: My Way of Life by Gichin Funakoshi
- The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate by Gichin Funakoshi
- Notes on Training by Tsutomu Ohshima (Out of print)
Also recommended:
- Karate-Do Nyumon: The Master Introductory Text by Gichin Funakoshi
- The Heart of Karate-Do by Shigeru Egami
- The Way of Karate: Beyond Technique by Shigeru Egami (an earlier version of “Heart of…”, but with original pictures)
- Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi (Bantam Books)
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- The Sword of No-Sword: Life of the Master Warrior Tesshu by John Stevens
- The Unfettered Mind: Writings of the Zen Master to the Sword Master by Takuan Soho
- The Sword and the Mind by Yagyu Munenori,
- Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo
- Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors by William Scott Wilson
- The Code of the Samurai by Yuzan Daidoji
- Karate Jutsu: The Original Teachings of Gichin Funakoshi
- Three Budo Masters by John Stevens
- Forty-Seven Ronin Story by John Allyn