Hidden Karate -The True Bunkai For The Heian Katas And Naihanchi- 100 years have passed since Karate was first introduced to the public. It has since then become a common word all over the world. Today, it is said that 40 million people practice karate throughout the world. While karate itself is well known,karate bunkai (explanations for use) is sometimes used incorrectly. This book took 313rd place at bookstores at the beginning of sale, and serves as a best seller in Japan. This book is extremely helpful to all people who train karate. More than 1,000 detailed pictures of bunkai allow readers to clearly understand the secret meaning of the karate kata. Chapter 1 What Is Karate? Chapter 2 Problems Facing Karate Chapter 3 Questions Facing Karate Chapter 4 Consideration Of Kata Chapter 5 Hidden Karate Chapter 6 Combat Techniques Of Karate Chapter 7 Oral Instruction of Bunkai For Kata Chapter 8 bunkai For Kata
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: enlightning Comment: This books gives a clear and realistic bunkai doing away with many old school bunkai(like 3 or more attackers, fanciful defence against bo attack) The layout is also well taken care off with illuminating pictures.
This book is a definte must if you want a better understanding of the heian series and a better understanding of principles in kata. Customer Rating: Summary: A different view Comment: This book gives a different take on applications of kata moves and tries to solve the riddle of the true meaning of kata.
Very interesting to read and apply and is an extremely useful addition to the any karateka's library.
Well done on an excellent book. Customer Rating: Summary: Sugoi! Comment: I began training in sport karate almost 10 years ago but later changed to Shotokan because I wanted something more practical and traditional. After a while, I realized that the two styles were much the same in competition. The only real differences were the basics (hip movement) and the katas. Unfortunately, I always learned the basic, non-functional bunkai of the katas. I knew there had to be more and this, my friends, is it.
This book begins by explaining the history of karate and exactly why the real techniques were hidden and how the ancient combat art developed into the modern sport. I don't know enough on my own to say whether the author is correct or not, but he has plenty of credible quotes to back up his views. It also explains just what a kata is and why ancient masters would only study 2 or 3 katas and know complete fighting systems from each of them.
Next, it outlines the principles used to determine whether an application of a kata technique is correct or not. Some notable examples are: the front hand strikes, immobilize the opponent and then strike, meanings have been hidden, and no attack ends in a block. This section will be very helpful for me in further studying bunkai.
Finally, there are detailed explanations for the applications of the katas in question with many photographs. It was amazingly clear just how to apply each technique. I don't think I've ever seen a book about a sport explain how to do the movements so clearly (of course, a good karate background is helpful for some parts of this).
This is the first book on bunkai I've read and I found it amazing. It would be nice if it had applications of the katas against moves besides oi-zuki, but even so, it shouldn't be a big step to apply the moves against a big, wild punch or even a tackle. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in deepening his or her understanding of karate as a self-defense art. Customer Rating: Summary: A must have ! Comment: This is the best karate kata book that I bought in last years. It realy givs you a lot of information in simple way. A must have !!! Buy it and you wont regret!
Customer Rating: Summary: If you want to understand Kata and Bunkai then get this book! Comment: I took karate 30 years ago and learned the kata as instructed in my dojo. Why? "Because if you wanted your belt, you need to know the kata" Like the author states it was viewed by all of us as little more than a series of exercises we did as preliminary to get to the "real karate". It never occurred to us that maybe kata was a useful fighting tool, and even less so that perhaps our masters did not even themselves realize the value of the kata!
Three cheers to Gennosuke Higaki for writing this book and sharing his knowledge and insight to the true meaning and use of katas and how to unravel the hidden techniques of the ancient masters!
After you read this book you will never look at kata the same way again. Already when practicing and repracticing kata I see things I never noticed before.
If you only buy one book on kata and bunkai, get this one!
