Uechi-ryu Karate Do (URKD) publishing history
The first edition of this book consisted of 10 “booklets”, written and published by George Mattson in 1969-70 at his Boston dojo and sold by subscription to members of his dojo and others on his mailing list. The complete book was published in Newton, Massachusetts by Peabody Publishing in 1974. It was typeset on an ancient typesetting machine and printed by Grande Press of Boston. Five thousand soft cover copies were printed plus a 750 hardcover edition.
The first soft cover edition included all the black belt promotions made by the Uechi-ryu Karate Association from the first official test in 1958 through the publication of the first printing of URKD. Each of the eight printings had a different color cover. (The first printing had a yellow cover and the last a red cover) The hard cover special edition book had a black cover with calligraphy embossed in the upper right corner. The author signed and numbered the hard covered books and this edition quickly sold out.
The book was well received by both the Uechi community and martial artists from other systems. It was retired after the eight printing because the “flats” (artwork from which the printing plates are made) were lost by the printer and the plates had deteriated and could no longer be used.
The soft cover book has since become highly sought after by book collectors and Uechi students. Used copies are being sold on e-bay and Amazon for very high prices. Although none of the hard cover edition has yet appeared (2009) on the market, it should be in very high demand.
Because the first official printing of URKD contained the promotion listing that subsequent printings did not have, it too has become very scarce and much sought after.
When it was decided to publish a new edition of URKD, using the technologically advanced scanning capabilities of today’s software, the first copy of the book was used. This book, besides having the best quality photographs and text from the new printing plates, also has the distinction of having taken a trip to Okinawa following the book’s publication, where autographs of many famous karate teachers were placed in the book as a keepsake. In addition to the original promotions (1958 – 1974), the list has been expanded to include additional years of official promotions (sanctioned by Okinawa Uechi-ryu Karate Association).
The book, which is nearly 600 pages, comes to you as an easily read PDF file on a durable CD disk. Order your copy today! (Password protected)
