Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Personal Favorite
Comment: This is among the very finest books on the martial ways that I have read - and, as someone who periodically engages in too much reading and not enough training, I've read a lot of them. I was led to this particular book through reading the author's daily webcolumn.
Some martial arts books have a lot of rambling or clicheed "filler" in them. On the contrary, these essays are generally very clear and focused, and betray the author's wealth of knowledge and experience. For example, it is very fashionable to speak about zen in martial arts texts, and throw around terms like "mushin". But unlike most of those texts, this book is actually written by someone who is expert in both zen and budo. As a result, the comparisons he makes are far more lucid, interesting, and (in my experience) applicable.
I encourage you to read this book. You will not regret it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Grateful!
Comment: A few well timed books can change your life. Kodo was just such a book for me. I discovered it about six years ago at a time when my training could have gone many different ways. The lessons related by Furuya Sensei in Kodo helped me to reflect on the meaning of my training and find my true martial spirit. I will always be grateful for Kodo and for Furuya Sensei's continued teaching.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent reflections and lessons
Comment: Though KODO can be found in the "Martial Arts" section of bookstores, what most immediately struck me about the book is the universal nature of the teachings within. Reading more like a compilation of reflections from a life devoted to martial and spiritual study, KODO is unique and a challenge to categorize.
My background from childhood was a little Karate and Gung-Fu, but when I was seventeen I saw an Aikido demonstration and felt a strong gravitation toward such training, which lead to KODO. Though the author, Rev. Kensho Furuya, teaches Aikido and Iaido, I think his writings are very applicable regardless of the martial study you pursue.
At just over 220 pages, KODO is a moderately sized book - but packed with so many anecdotes, images, and stories that it seems like there's always a little more to find. I particularly like many of the side-notes present throughout the book, "Unrealized potential is like no potential at all". As a chronic procrastinator, simple statements like that have made a real impact on my outlook.
KODO is in part a memoir and in part a lesson or guide book for those trying to find their way to a simpler path in an increasingly busy and complex world. Readers, who, like me, have felt an inner pull toward a more disciplined and thoughtful life, will not be disappointed by KODO and the stories within.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Kodo Ancient Ways - Timeless Wisdom
Comment: From K. Choate and B. Tysell
Written with obvious care and devotion by a decades-long practitioner and master of Aikido and Iaido, this book contains a split page format which allows the reader to reference succinct definitions relative to all aspects of Budo, while allowing the opportunity to gain greater depth of knowledge through its' more conversational essays relating to the same topics. From the deeply spiritual roots of martial arts practice, to the basis of martial arts training, to an historian's eye to technique and weaponry, this book remains a staple reference for the library of any serious martial artist. It becomes dog-eared and well loved quickly!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Kodo-a book which every Budoka should read
Comment: Mr Kensho Furuya Sensei is one off the Budospecialist, who know most of history and philosophy of Budo.
He speaks in this book very understandable and I learn a lot, every time I read in his book.
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