Emil Farkas is a Hungarian American martial arts instructor, author and historian, whose best selling book “The Martial arts Encyclopedia” is the most definitive one volume reference book on the subject. Farkas who specializes in writing reference books has recently authored the “Photo History of Martial Arts in America” with close to 2,000 photographs covering martial arts from 1900 to the present.
Farkas began training in judo as a youngster and by age 18 held black belts in both judo and karate. He has trained in Japan with the JKA under Masatoshi Nakayama and at the Kodokan with Sumiyuki Kotani. Today he holds black belts in judo, jujitsu and Shotokan karate.
During the 1960’s Farkas began giving lessons to numerous Hollywood celebrities, and soon found himself choreographing fight scenes for movies and television. Official Karate Magazine dubbed Farkas as “Sensei to the Stars” and to this day he continues teaching numerous celebrities in the film and music industries.
In 1970 he opened his own dojo the Beverly Hills Karate Academy which is still in the same location 45 years later. Farkas when not busy teaching, is writing and researching various topics on the martial arts. One of the worlds leading martial arts historians, Farkas believes that students of the arts must learn about their past and that it must be preserved. He is currently working on his next book “The Martial Arts Book of Knowledge” which will explore all areas of the various martial arts from history to philosophy to psychology to the technical areas that differentiate the various arts.
