Karate: The Art of Empty Hand Fighting: The Groundbreaking Work on Karate

Nishiyama sensei was 9th Dan black belt when he passed away in recent years. He is Kancho Kanazawa's senior by the way. One of my university club black belts say his sensei says it was the only time he saw Kancho bow to a sensei regarding as a senior :)Aside from that, Kancho once was not greeted by the attention and Rei/bow of the students in a club in Cork. Kancho proceeded to have them all sit in seiza and lecture them for the whole two hour seminar on Rei, respect, and reasons for it. What a fun story, one my instructor is fond of from hearing from his senseis.Back to the book. Can I compare this to Nakayama sensei's book? Well, they are similar in ways, but also equally inspiring. It covers the basic foundations of karate syllabus, albeit with the energy of a metal cut lean karate-ka in his prime. The Bruce Lee-like body we sometimes associate with Kanazawa's youth is shown here in Nishiyama's equal zeal for perfecting the body. Actually a young Kanazawa features in may of the photos :)Further into the book it covers various kumite techniques from basic, to freestyle, and these are a little different from what I saw in Kancho Kanazawa's "Karate Fighting Techniques" book, which is pretty much the whole SKIF syllabus bar the 25 or 26 Kata. Worth investing in for the variaion.Some may find it outdated for its references to women for taking karate to "improve their figures" but hey, I truly advocate that (add a little blush here and fond memories of getting own butt kicked). Or its small finishing sections in the back on self defense, knife defense, pistol defense, club defense. But hey, that was the way it may have been taught in the days when karate was first big in Japanese Universities.Any Karate-ka must have this in their collection, if not to be inspired for training, but to aspire to be like them.

Originally published in 1960 (republished in 1990) "Karate: The Art of "Empty-Hand" Fighting" is an early, straightforward "how-to" book of principles of Karate. It covers a short history of Karate; lays out a weekly work-out and training schedule; explains the various punches, strikes, blocks and kicks along with their applications; shows samples of techniques in combination; various defensive moves from the floor, in a chair, and other venues; and walks the karateka through the heian number 4 kata.It becomes quickly obvious that the material was pulled together long before Karate became commercialized in the West. All of the pictures are in clear, black and white photos. Sparring only takes up one short chapter and pictures the contestants without any protective gear. The main focus of the book is on learning the proper way to perform strikes, punches, blocks and kicks, and their martial applications. The explanations that accompany each chapter and every picture are sensible and lucid."Karate" is a basic, but useful volume. It will help the practitioner to have a sense of groundedness to one branch of the martial arts before the sports aspect took over. This would make a solid addition to any martial artists library. I highly recommend the book.

This book has given a lot on basic techniques. This is very important for initial students as well as clearing the fundamentals in middle level students. It may not be attractive to Karateka with black belt or with advanced training but one must remember that, in life as well as Karate, basics are most important.The focus on Kata training is probably not highlighted but the details given for Kihon training are good and need to be practiced as described by the author. If, what is given in the book, is practiced sincerely even by advanced students, it may be a good refresher course especially for some who may be practising after a gap.I would therefore recommend the book for students of Kyu 9 to 4 and I think it could be prescribed as a standard textbook for the students of Karatedo

If you can only get one book on Karate(Empty hand) this is it! I studied Shotokan Karate from 1986 and continue to practice. I really wish I would have had this book when I started, it's the very best reference book I know of for Karate. They brake down every move in clear easy to follow photographs. This book shows every move in the system and some your school has lost and or doesn't teach. Striking points, vital points, stance, hand techniques, foot techniques, sparring, and throwing techniques, they are all in here. Just remember you need to start out with a good Instructor, a book can never replace the Instructor. Without ever having an instructor somethings might not be understood or be misinterpreted. I also remember my sensai(Teacher) wouldn't like you doing anything until he taught it, as he would say "It's hard to erase bad training", "You have to work extra hard to erase bad training and habits". I think he would just give me a hard time because I studied Kodokan Judo first.... All kidding aside I highly recommend this book.

I haven't studied Shotokan karate for over 20 years and wanted to get back into it. I ordered this book to remind myself of the basic techniques I learned way back when and got so much more, I wish had this book when I was studying back in the 80's. Although the photos are B&W and a little dated the book is clear and concise and has great detail on a wide range of techniques broken down into seperate body parts and subjects, such as posture, stances and so on. Conditioning is covered, including makiwara boards, and basic exercises and limbering up routines. As for kata, Heian no.4 is overed to give insight into what a kata is all about, if you want more detail on kata buy this book coupled with  Karate: The Complete Kata  by Hirokazu Kanazawa and you will be all set, especially if you are a rookie.Even though both these book are very old and I am sure there aren't many more modern book that can touch them for completeness. Well recommended!

A definite must have book for karate practitioners to have in their collection

Questo manuale è riassuntivo di tutte le tecniche di karate non può mancare nella biblioteca di ogni appassionato..consegna Amazon al Top

Originally published in 1960, this book covers all the techniques that a serious Karateka student will need to know. From basic principles, through warm-ups and stretching, stances and posture to striking and blocking techniques. It also covers the use of Karate in self-defence, and briefly discusses equipment such as punch bags etc. The black and white photographs are superb, and are helped by having Senseis Kanazawa and Okazaki in them.There are two points that I think potential purchasers should be made aware of. Firstly this book does not discuss Kata at all. Secondly although it has a chapter on self-defence, this is not a book to buy if that is your main area of interest.Those two small caveats aside, this is superbly produced book, which I recommend.

Vendedor muy formal. Llegó el libro desde EEUU a España, a mi domicilio, mucho antes de lo esperado, bien empaquetado al vacío, y por envío prioritario. Se supone que el estado del libro era como nuevo, pero de hecho estaba totalmente nuevo. Estoy muy contento.

Un livre en ANGLAIS pour les passionné d'art martiaux traditionnel écrit par une référence mondiale.Sensei NIshiyama était un élève direct de Gichin Funakoshi et l'un des fondateur du la JKA. Envoyé au USA, il y était une référence à l'image de Kaze en Europe.