Through conversations with many historical figures such as Osamu Ozawa, Teruo Hayashi, Kenzo Mabuni, Masatoshi Nakayama, and numerous current world-class masters such as Hirokazu Kanazawa, Fumio Demura, Takayuki Mikami, Teruyuki Okazaki, Morio Higaonna, Hidetaka Nishiyama, James Yabe, Tak Kubota, Bill Dometrich, Dan Ivan, and Stan Schmidt, the many threads of karate learning, lore, and legend are woven together to present an integrated and complete view of the empty-handed art of fighting, philosophy, and self-defense. Containing information that has not appeared anywhere else, the interviews contain intriguing thoughts, fascinating personal details, hidden history, and revealing philosophies.