Customer Reviews

Ancient Okinawan Martial Arts: Koryu Uchinadi, Vol. 1

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dear Readers

As the researcher & translator of this book, I found some of the reader's critique rather amusing, if not naive. Simply put, the publication of this work is an exact English translation of Taira's 1964 book. From where I stand, it was never meant to be a journalistic marvel or impress Joseph Pulitzer, but rather, only to reveal what the "father of modern kobudo" published in 1964. Therefore, I am assuming that the negative comments are actually aimed at Taira rather than the messenger.

In an effort to lend something more to the publication, I also included an informative postscript and dozens of vintage photos. Sadly, the original photos could not be used, but the photos we did include are an exact replication of Taira's technique published in his publication and should be accepted as such. This is virtually no different than what Mr. Oshima did when reproducing the technique of Mr. Funakoshi in his English translation of the 1935 publication of "Karatedo Kyohan" published by Kodansha.

Finally, many of the supplementary vintage photos originally intended for this publication, but were never included (I still am uncertain as to why????????), can be located here .......

Enjoy

Patrick McCarthy

Ancient Okinawan Martial Arts: Koryu Uchinadi; volume one and volume two, ISBN 0-8048-3147-5, work well separately but best when taken together. I will review volume one here separately from volume two so that one might make a better decision when it comes to purchasing.

This volume deals with Kobudo (or the art of Karate weapons), widely considered an advanced topic in Karate-do. As such I would not recommend it to the novice Karate-ka. But I would definitely recommend it to those who wish to get a better grasp of Karate-do-- especially an Okinawan variety, to those looking to a different perspective on Kata, and to those studying Isshin-ryu Karate-do.

For those looking for a different perspective on Kata this volume is for you since it illustrates techniques solely through Kata. Six weapons Kata are described here which is not bad considering that most book an Karate rarely even describe one Kata. As for those studying Isshin-ryu Karate-do, you'll be interested in this book since it features a text written by O'Sensei Shimabuku's teacher Taira Shinken.

This book contains six Kata, as mentioned: three for the Bo and one for Sai, Tuifa (or Tonfa), and Nunchaku each as well as instructions on how to make a Bo. For those looking for an introduction to weapons this is an excellent book. If what you want is Okinawan Karate-do technique none surpasses The Essence of Okinawan Karate-do by Shoshin Nagamine, ISBN 0-8048-2110-0 which compliments this book. If what you are interested in is more specifically the history of Okinawan Karate-do and Kobudo get volume two along with Patrick McCarthy's Bubishi: the Bible of Karate, ISBN 0-8048-2015-5.

The information is pretty good in the book, I would have liked to have seen more notes from the translator on some of the references made by Taira Sensei, but I'm sure that the translation is correct. For instance on page 10, Taira lists a group of well known kobujutsu masters and whether they lived more than or less than 100 years ago. None of this was clarified in the translation. Also, this very same information was included in an article by Mr. McCarthy in Bugeisha magazine article but never credited there to Taira Shinken, I don't know why.

The production quality isn't quite what I've come to expect from Tuttle and Mr. McCarthy, the photos are a little fuzzy and don't stand out as exceptional. Also, there are a quite a few typing mistakes throughout the text. The numbering of the photos is quite sub-standard and all of the photos are simply numbered sequentially from 1 to 408, they don't match the kata numberings. I don't know if this is from the original translation or not.

Apart from that, there isn't a single historical photo of Taira Shinken, all of the photos except the cover are Mr. McCarthy and an uncredited individual demonstrating the weapons techniques.

Except for the translation itself and the article at the back written by Mr. McCarthy, there isn't much else to this book, certainly not any new photographs which would have been great to see.

About 1st book:
Taira Shinken is a well know name in Okinawan Kobudo. His "RyuKyu Kobudo Taikan" stands as a reference on Okinawan Kobudo technique not polluted by modern fashion which is almost always the result of plain ignorance and show-business.
Mr. McCarthy issued this english version of the old master work apparently for the benefit of non-japanese practitioners.

However there are some issues:
1 - He boldly replaced all the pictures of sensei Taira Shinken for pictures of himself and one of his pairs.
Some pictures, mainly the in kon-bo katas show some irregular handling of the weapon (with hands too close to each other) and some indefinite stances which can puzzle some inexperienced practicioners.
2 - He didn't respect the original material.
Every kata in Shinken Taira original work has been somewhat changed! Techniques were added, omited or replaced in all katas! An entire sequence is different in Shushi-no-Kon.

Old katas were made as a global repository of knowledge by old masters in a age of practical life-threatening fighting. The knowledge they contain is unique and irreplaceable. Modern fancy-athletic-acrobatic pseudo-kata cannot compare and never will!
These katas can have some school or local variations which should be respected and considered when looking for a "reference" form. Each new generation should try to respect the old forms keeping in mind that there is no way of reliably testing and improving them in life-threatening situations nowadays as they once were.

Works such as "Ryukyu Kobudo Taikan" should not be altered: they are a personal testimony of a great master and document uniquely an entire epoch and a long martial tradition.

I advise everyone interested seriously in Okinawan Kobudo to buy the recently re-issued japanese version of Taira Shinken work featuring the original (yes! They are still usable!) illustrations (along with Mr. McCarthy's "interpretation" if one doesn't read japanese) in order to get the correct knowledge.

About 2nd book:
The 2nd book of the series is a repository of reference historical documents about traditional Karate featuring precious info about old karate masters and the true spirit of Karate. It's mostly text-based with only 10 b/w pictures but has a lot of "juice" in it. It should find a prominent place in the library of the serious karateka.

This book is required in a library like mine. Espcially since I am a memebr of "Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai". The list of katas and the lineage of Taira Sensei is good. It is a liitle disapointing that almost every photo in the book is of McCarthy himself.

This book is excellent, if you do not know this particular book covers the arts of Shito-ryu and Goju-ryu Karate-do. And history of both Mabuni, Kenwa and Miyagi, Chogun. Mr McCarthy has done an great job on this text, plus the publisher Tuttle has always published great martial arts books.

I'm not sure what to think of this one, it's a bit confusing for me considering who wrote it and his track record in the past.

There is useful information included in the book, a lot of biographical information about Shinken Taira that I honestly didn't know previously and quite a few kobujutsu kata described in it. There is also some information about old kobujutsu masters like Aragaki, Matsumura, Sakugawa and others.

Unfortunately, except for the cover, there isn't one old photograph of Shinken Taira himself. Why not? What possible reason could there be to not have ONE?

The writing is a little stiff, almost like a transliteration rather than a translation and much of the information included is just lists of members of Taira's organizations at various points and their teaching ranks.

The old history of past masters is limited, un-verified anecdotes mostly, and all very cursory information, not much useful detail with any sort of verification of where the information may have come from. The translator certainly didn't add any of this to the mix, which would have been nice.

Overall, the more I think about it, even as I write this review, I realize that there's more bad than good, which is why I give it a 2 star rating rather than a 3.

I would only buy this book if you are a big kobudo practitioner or you are a die hard karate and kobudo history nut. It came as a surprise to me that this book was so unsatisfying, especially after reading "Bubishi" which is an excellent book well worth your time.

This book is required in a library like mine. Espcially since I am a memebr of "Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai". The list of katas and the lineage of Taira Sensei is good. It is a little disapointing that almost every photo in the book is of McCarthy himself.

Mr McCarthy has disappointment me in this volume. Perhaps its due to the fact that I have trained in these traditional weapons for many years and under a number of highly knowledgable and wise teachers [Motokatsu Enoue, and more recently under his son Kisho Enoue (Hanshi) as well as a number of others; Mr Okawa (Shihan), Mr Mead (Shihan), Mr Jardine (Shihan) and Mr Masaru Shingai (8 Dan) all of whom are a part of the Yuishinkai & RyuKyu Kobujutsu Association (Yuishinkai & Ryukyu Kobujutsu Hozon Shinko Kai)].

I think that it would be better to use Mr McCarthy's book as a reference and learn form the people who still practice the forms and kata the way it was done 50 or more years ago. Of course there will be changes in the form and details but then again people are larger and our diets have changed significantly over the last 1/2 century.

I was also concerned with some of his photos where his shoulders seem to be raised - this was always a criticism I received from Inoue Gansho and from Shingai San during my training under their guidance. I was told that it was a particularly Western problem and it needed to be 'practiced out'.

I was also concerned with some of his postures when holding a bo especially the jodan uke posture. Of course photos in a book are always a problem as one tends to have to pose for them and this in itself is not a natural state, in any case. I have done this and suggest that it is very difficult to get it right. One needs a number of experts to be editors to ensure that the photos reflect the right moment.

In the sai kata there are distinct differences in moves and interpretation, not to say that they are wrong but that there are many different ways of performing the move/s and the reason for this varies from kata to kata. Some, as in photo 96 are performed differently, and has been done as a soto uke followed by a wrist strike and then a jodan strike. These are alternatives which photos and books cannot explain as they are linear and sequential but which live teaching can.

However, I think that Mr McCarthy's research and efforts are certainly well intentioned and valuable and at no time should a reading of his work be devalued because of some minor errors. I will continue to refer to this book along with others he has written and find then useful to compare. I will use these as a reference to changes and interpretations of kata and applications. Also his historical notes and records are vital for those who do not speak and read Japanese and Chinese.

The quality of the book is fine but the lack of occasional diagrams to show orientations and movement leave some critical gaps especially when compared with previous volumes (Classical Kata of Okinawan Karate for example). I think that too much was put into this book which is a pity because previous book shave been excellent.

The photographs are done well but at some points not taken at the right time. Slightly hard to follow. I sugest getting Fumio Demuras's books and learn from them. then get this book to try to learn kata from it. Also a video of the kata would not hurt.