Karate: Art of Empty Hand

I bought this book written by Hidetaka Nishiyama because I wanted to relearn his style of Karate after some 35 years away from the art. This book teaches one the basic Karate moves and accompanying philosophy the old fashioned way. Like learning the abc's one must start at the beginning and learn through repetition, building on a firm foundation and hard work. The illustrations are clear and straight-forward, the explanations are as clear as you can get in a written format. The progression of the student cannot fail to receive a good start with this manual.

Considering this book came out originally in 1960 and was the first large-format book on Karate I had seen up to that point, it is remarkable that it has rarely been exceeded in the all time since. The photos of the basic techniques are very clear. The applications sections are generous with good coverage of sparring and self-defense. I have a personal story about Nishiyama, although I didn't study with him myself, but someone I know did. Nishiyama was in Los Angelos for some time back in the 60's and he was conducting a training session. One of the students, a guy by the name of Ray Dalke, who later led the U.C. Riverside Shotokan club to the national championship title, was in the class. I met Dalke when I was a doctoral student at UCR back in the early 80's, but I actually heard this from one of his students. Ray had never been very loose in the legs, especially the groin stretch, where you sit on the ground in a quasi-lotus position and bounce your knees up and down and try to get them all the way to the ground. Anyway, Nishiyama came around to Dalke, and noticed his problem. He says to Dalke, "You want to have loose lap?" (Sometimes Nishiyama's English was a bit rough, but the meaning came through loud and clear). Dalke says, "yes, Master, I do." Nishiyama says again, "Are you sure you want to have loose lap?" Dalke says, "Yes, yes, Master, I want it more than anything!" At that moment Nishiyama jumps up into the air and comes down with both feet planted squarely on Dalke's knees, driving them all the way to the floor. Well, he said Dalke's scream of agony could be heard for two city blocks. They had to get an ambulance and take Dalke away. But he survived and was back later after he healed with the "loosest lap" you've ever seen. I hope Ray doesn't mind my telling his story. Like I said, I met Ray in about 1980 when he was the faculty karate instructor at UC Riverside and he was really a pretty cool guy, as well as an excellent instructor. He loved the Shotokan katas and I recall having an enjoyable discussion with him about some of the more advanced forms. Anyway, Nishiyama is one of the greats of the Shotokan style and this book is still one of the finest books on the subject. I will say one more thing about Nishiyama, which is that he has the most vicious-looking front kick I've ever seen. I've tried to emulate his style on this one but he's basically got the patent on it.

This is a great book for any student who is trying to polish their techniques a bit. Nishiyama's book is loaded with all the information you would need to refine your skills. It's rather lacking in historical and philisophical information (two things I enjoy studying and don't think any karate book is complete without), but it's nonetheless an excellent aid for practice.

This is the most complete instructional karate book I've ever seen. It came out in 1960 and has still not been improved on. The authors were disciples of Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of modern karate. There is very clear step by step and pictorial instruction on how to do all the moves of traditional shotokan karate, the original style out of which all the others grew. If you are attending a karate class now you will recognize your techniques in this book. The styles haven't changed that much in 40 years. There are probably more moves in this book than in your class.The book has 22 chapters. Some of the chapter titles are: striking points and vital points, stance, hand techniques, foot techniques, sparring, and throwing techniques. There are 40 pages of self defense moves.

PLENTY of pictures and descriptions of techniques. I am biased having the privilege to receive instruction from Nishiyama Souke but no one can deny that he is a legend to the art of Shotokan Karate. This book is successful in capturing a part of his essence and should definitely have a place on the bookshelf of every Karate-ka.