Synopsis

In The Dao of Taijiquan, the author, Jou, Tsung Hwa, himself bears witness to the ability of Tai-Chi to relieve the body of pent-up tension and rejuvenate the spirit in a thorough study of the techniques and classical texts of this ancient martial art. In order to create a serious textbook that explains the philosophy behind the movements of tai chi chuan, he read all available books in both English and Chinese before writing The Dao of Taijiquan. Now this book can be used as a college textbook for courses in tai chi (whether as a philosophy or in Sports Studies).

Jou, Tsung Hwa is also the author of The Tao of Meditation: Way to Enlightenment, and The Tao of I Ching: Way to Divination, both from Tuttle Publishing.

Biography

Shohei Ooka (1909-1988) was born in Tokyo. He specialized in French at Kyoto University, and was graduated in 1932, after which he made a name as a translator of French literature. In 1944 he joined the Japanese Army, and was taken prisoner in the Philippine defeat of 1945, experiences that figure prominently in Fires on the Plain. In 1953-54 he became a Fulbright Visiting Professor at Yale University, and subsequently lectured on French literature at Meiji University in Tokyo. He authored two novels and contributed short stories and essays to almost every literary magazine in Japan. Shohei Ooka was awarded two literary prizes: the Yokomitsu Prize in 1949 for his first book, Record of a POW, and the Yomiuri Prize in 1952 for Fires on the Plain.