John Donohue

John Donohue is an American martial artist and novelist whose works explore the implications of a life of action in elite martial arts training. Donohue got his first start in the martial arts in the seventies in an era when Kung Fu and Bruce Lee movies were very popular. As a person that had always had an interest in foreign cultures even going as far as studying them for his doctorate, he was captivated with the Asian perspective of old-fashioned martial arts that integrated physical technique and philosophical concepts. He started his training on the real martial arts from several popular how to manuals from Bruce Tegner and Kung Fu. Trying out the concepts, he soon found out that there was more to martial arts than just training and reading a manual. He studied different styles from different teachers over the years. He got started in college where he took karate classes for PE credit or as intramurals. At Stony Brook University, he studied Shotokan Karatedo under Mori Masataka, a highly skilled sensei with whom he would go on to train with several years after graduation. A few years after graduating from college, he enrolled under Shiina Kiyoshi who taught him judo. Meanwhile, he was conducting a research study on martial art tradition while working with Hagihara Edi on aikido, and kendo with Kataoka Noboru. He would also study kendo under Kimura Hiroaki and some taiji and more karatedo under Master Liu Hong-guang. With such great sensei’s as tutors, he is one of the most accomplished writers on traditional martial arts.