Walking Upright 

Walking Upright is a work that explores traditional Karate-Dō not only as a martial discipline, but as an ethical, cultural, and historical path. The book combines research, narrative, and personal reflection.

Through the history of Karate, of Okinawa, of Japan, and of its masters, Walking Upright proposes a reading that goes far beyond technique. It speaks of values, coherence, responsibility, and ultimately, humanity.

As I approach forty years of Karate-Dō practice, I feel increasingly convinced that I will never fully understand it. And at the same time, the path becomes ever more fascinating, because one begins to grasp something essential: it is not about reaching a goal, but about accepting that the journey is long—perhaps infinite.

As Eduardo Galeano once said:
What is the horizon for? The horizon is that place you walk ten steps toward, and it moves ten steps away. You walk a hundred kilometers, and it moves a hundred kilometers further. So what is the horizon for? For this: to make us keep moving forward.

While one trains, reads, and researches Karate-Dō, one discovers that there is always something more to understand, something more to explain. What we thought we knew rearranges itself when someone appears who has walked a little further, who has looked more deeply, and who offers us a new perspective. Even when the body is no longer fast or agile, one eventually understands that Karate-Dō is not, in essence, an art for fighting others, but a path for confronting oneself.

Karate-Dō is, like Galeano’s horizon, a constant impulse forward. It serves to move ahead, to improve, to sustain an inner struggle that has no end. It is a silent struggle that accompanies the human being until the very last day, whether one practices Karate-Dō or not. And it is precisely there that its most fascinating aspect resides.

That same path—hard, uncertain, profoundly human—was the one walked by Gichin Funakoshi. He did not have it easy. He had to reinvent himself many times. He was a sickly child, with no clear future, who managed to move forward thanks to a “secret” that presented itself as a way of ordering his spirit: the path of Tōde, transmitted by his teachers Ankō Itosu and Ankō Asato. They not only taught him an art, but also taught him to question everything.

Through them he came to know Sōkon Matsumura, who allowed him to understand Tōde from the perspective of someone who was already at the end of the path. All of this unfolded as the Kingdom of Ryūkyū disappeared and Okinawa was absorbed by a modern Japan attempting to impose order upon millennia-old traditions.

Funakoshi could not become a doctor. He became a teacher, a poet, and an instructor of Tōde for children in schools. At just over fifty years of age, he traveled to Japan’s main island for an event in Tokyo… and never returned to Okinawa. With him traveled Tōde as well, already transformed into something new—first called Karate, and later Karate-Dō.

He worked as a janitor. He was a foreigner in his own country. He had to start from zero again and again, until at last the doors of the universities opened. Karate began to spread, almost without his intention. His own students, perhaps inspired by his spirit, carried the martial art to another level.

Then tragedy arrived: the Second World War, the destruction of his dōjō, the death of his son Gigo—his right hand—who had driven a technical revolution that even surpassed Funakoshi himself. Then came the death of his wife. And once again, starting over, now as an old man, watching a new generation take over with different ideas. He was never entirely in agreement, but never entirely opposed either. At some point, he let things happen… and limited himself to observing.

The spark he ignited was enough for an art once transmitted in secrecy to become practiced today by more than one hundred and fifty million people around the world.

This book attempts to tell his story. The good and the bad. Without idealizing him. Showing Funakoshi for what he was: an ordinary person who ended up creating something extraordinary. And reminding us that we—ordinary, human, imperfect—can also achieve extraordinary things.

For that, one must walk upright.
As a fundamental principle.

Because life is full of battles that seem lost…
but one must always rise, lift one’s head,
and keep walking upright.

No. Walking Upright is neither a technical manual nor a conventional novel. It is a hybrid work that moves freely between different forms and perspectives, including:

• The history of Karate-Dō and traditional martial arts

• The cultural and historical context of Okinawa and Japan

• The ethics and philosophy of Budō

• Reflections on character, respect, and the transmission of knowledge

• Narrative scenes that connect the past with the present

Walking Upright invites readers to understand Karate not primarily as combat, but as a form of education—of the body, the mind, and the spirit.

No prior knowledge of Karate is required. What matters is curiosity, an interest in human stories, and a willingness to reflect on what it means to grow, endure, and walk upright through life.

Walking Upright is intended for:

• Practitioners of Karate and traditional martial arts

• Instructors and teachers interested in Budō beyond sport and competition

• Readers drawn to Japanese and Okinawan culture and history

• People seeking ethical reflection applied to everyday life

• Readers who enjoy texts where history, philosophy, and narrative intertwine

You do not need to practice Karate to read this book. What matters is curiosity—an interest in looking beyond appearances and exploring the deeper meaning of things.

• Karate-Dō understood as a path (Dō), not merely as a set of techniques

• The difference between tradition, adaptation, and the loss of meaning

• Respect (Rei) as a way of life, beyond formal etiquette

• The role of the teacher and the transmission of knowledge across generations

• Okinawa and Japan as the historical and cultural context of Karate

• Personal dignity in the face of adversity

• The value of remaining faithful to essential principles in times of change

Each chapter can be read independently, yet together they form a coherent and profound vision.