C. W. Nicol (1940–2020)

In this most unusual memoir, the adventurer, environmentalist, and martial arts expert C. W. Nicol describes the two and a half years he spent in Japan learning Karate. On one level, Moving Zen details his progress from white belt to black belt. But on a deeper level, it is the story of a tough, violence-prone young man who decides to study the martial arts "so that," in his words, "through strength, I should learn gentleness...the paths of all the martial arts led to the same goal: tranquility." As a teacher told him, "Karate is moving zen, and it is the Zen state you must strive for."

In addition, the book provides a brief history of Karate; shows in a real sense just how hard one must struggle to advance from belt to black belt; offers practical tips to other students of Karate; and describes in exciting details some actual Karate confrontations. It is also the story of one man's deepening love for Japan.

On whatever level-physical, spiritual, informational-Moving Zen seeks, and finds its meaning in the quality of its perceptions and its communication of them. In all ways, as it says, "From the mind comes power."

C. W. Nicol was born in Neath, S. Wales, in 1940. He began his career as environmentalist and adventurer at the age of seventeen, when he went on an expedition to Ungava Bay. When he returned to England, he became one of its youngest pro wrestlers. He went back to the arctic in 1961 and left in October of 1962 to go to Japan to study the martial arts. He left Japan in 1965 with a black belt and a Japanese wife; destination Canada. In 1967 he went to Ethiopia to become a game warden; out of this experience came his first book, From the Roof of Africa. He returned to Japan n 1969 and then to Canada in 1972, where he became a citizen and now works for the federal government in the Environmental Protection Service, troubleshooting such emergencies as oil and chemical spills. C. W. Nicol lives with his wife and their three children in Vancouver and continues to study Karate.

Munehiro Ikeda is a celebrated Japanese sculptor. Born in 1939, he graduated from the Musashino Academy of Fine Arts in 1963. He won the Peace Prize from the Jiyu Art Society in 1970. Accomplished in the martial arts himself, he switched several years ago from his speciality, Kendo, to Kenjutsu. Munehiro Ikeda lives with his wife in Akitsu, Japan.… (more)

It's hard to imagine what lies ahead on the road of karate-do when you're just beginning. Before you attend your first class, you have expectations. Those expectations change after your first class. Every step along the way, you think you know where you are, but after another rank, another important experience, another lesson, you look back and realize that you never knew where you were. Your expectations for what lies ahead is always only a partiallly formed idea. There's always more to learn. This is true of every kyu rank and every Dan rank. This book is a wonderful resource for any martial artist. By following Nicol's journey, you gain insight into the feelings that all martial artists experience along their journeys to black belt and beyond. Because the training described in the book takes place in the most traditional of settings, one gains great insight into the traditional Japanese karate dojo's etiquette, ethics, camaraderie, and discipline.… (more)