Customer Reviews

Hapkido: The Integrated Fighting Art

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

 

 

I've heard good things about Mr. Spear's knowledge and skill but this book really doesn't show that in the best light in my opinion, although it might be adequate as a basic introduction to the art. I agree with the other comments here that the photos are a little dark and could be better, although they're not bad. However, the comments by another person here that the material seems a little skimpy is addressed by the author, when he says the material in each of the colored belt sections is only a sample of the actual syllabus.

For someone without access to other material on Hapkido, this would probably be okay as an introduction. However, what with the advent of very high-quality videos on many martial arts, I find it amazing that anyone is still writing and publishing books on the martial arts. Many of these videos are available used on e Bay for less than one would pay for a new book, and one can actually see the martial arts in action and get some idea of what they are like in practice.

However, there is some useful information here. The author says that Hapkido is a combination of the ancient tae kyun art and modern Japanese jiujutsu, which I always suspected. There was another early Korean art called soobak that could also have contributed, but there's no mention of that. But tae kyun was adopted for training the sons of the nobility in earlier centuries because of its reputation as an effective fighting art.

After a brief history of the art, most of the book is divided into technique sections which give some of the required techniques for each belt rank, which are green blue, red, and black. There are also sections on cooling down exercises, pressure points of the human body, breakfalls, and some knife and club and weapons defenses.

After looking at the pictures of knife defense, I would have to say this is not the system's strong suit. Knife defense and tactics are handled much better by the Indonesian systems of Silat and the Filipino kali/escrima systems, which are far more well known today than when this book was published back in 1987.

One of the more interesting sections is on escape from chokes and throws, but only three are shown. This could have been a longer and much more interesting section. There is a brief presentation of upper level black belt techniques such as cane, short stick, and umbrella defense, which are some of the better material in the book.

After 40 years of studying and teaching martial arts, Hapkido is one of the few arts I don't have at least some exposure to or formal background in. I would have been less impressed with the art had I not already had a Hapkido video that was quite good and showed how it looks in action, and it appeared to be an art with a good integration between hand and foot technique and locking and throwing. Even today there aren't many videos on the art available, but I've heard the one from Palladin Press is quite good although I haven't seen it personally.

Robert K. Spear's introduction candidly cautions as follows: "The important aspect of this book is that it is just a beginning." The 184 page manual neither purports to be an exhaustive study of this complex, pragmatic martial art nor does it suggest that Hapkido can be mastered from a book alone. It is what the author says it is: a beginning. The author provides just enough information on the history, philosophy and instruction of Hapkido for the reader to decide whether it is a combat system suitable for them warranting further examination. The clear instructions and not-so-clear photographs provided are adequate to arm even the neophyte student of hand-to-hand combat with useful techniques in addition to a sampling of how the system operates. Only enticing glimpses of advanced levels of study with and without weapons are provided. The book gets five stars because you get more than you bargain for considering the price: you get a great beginning to a fascinating martial art. My only disappointmet with the book was that it was not 500 pages longer.

I thought this book was too basic and not very well put together. Being a student and teacher of Hapkido, I was very disappointed at the lack of knowledge the author exhibited. I would not recommend this book.

After I earned my yellow belt in hapkido about 5 years ago,I
decided to learn as much as I could about the art.Mr Spear's
book was advertised in a martial arts magazine I was reading,
so I decided to order it.To this day I still refer to it a lot
when helping my senior instructor plan class.He owns it as well
and thinks highly of it.I highly recommend it to anyone interested in hapkido(especially beginners).
Mitch Jenkins

Though I do not have any rank in the Korean art of Hapkido, I do feel a bond to that particular system of combat. Seeing the techniques of Hapkido reminds me of my own experience learning Jujitsu, Judo, Karate and Aikido. Indeed, the history of modern Hapkido demonstrates the strong influence of Daito Ryu Jujitsu in its techniques. I also agree with the author that Hapkido, like combat Jujitsu, is an integrated art. This is because Hapkido has blocks, punches, strikes, kicks, wrist throws, wrist holds, armlocks, arm-bars and all types of throws and ground techniques. Hapkido also has weapon defense and weapon use techniques as part of their curriculum. In conclusion, this is a good introductory text on Hapkido.

Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tanto-Jutsu Official Manual: Bushi Satori Ryu).

Some of the previous reviewers have been exceptionally tough on this book. My copy is dated 1988, and I believe that this was an exceptionally good book for its time.

Within this book, there is a good history of Hapkido, and as well some basic dojang rules. An instructor might want to repeat these to his students or include the thoughts in an introductory handout for new students. There are many good black and white illustrations for the new student, and I would think that this is a very good purchase.

As an instructor of Combat Hapkido, (dare I call it John Pellegrini's syllabus) I was interested in the similarities and the differences, and I found it enlightening. Spear did a very good job, and I will keep this book on my Martial Arts shelf. I doubt that I will re-read it again, but it served its purpose for me.

There are some critical remarks made by other reviewers about the reality of being punched, and simply leaving the punch out there for someone to work on. While it is true that this does look artificial, how does one capture the speed of a punch with a black and white photograph? Spear makes it clear in the text of his book that this is the problem, but I guess one of the harshly worded reviews was written by someone who only looked at the pictures.

Examining the notion that someone would "leave their" arm out there, I find that this is EXACTLY what happens when an attacker gets a little tired. As well, I find that small joint locks, e.g. Hapkido joint manipulations can easily be done on a person when the fight goes to the ground. If you find yourself on the top or the bottom, hit someone in the face, and they will push you away with both hands. They will want to keep you away, and "give you a hand, or wrist, or elbow" for you to "play with". As well, some people like to grab you with one hand, and strike you with the other. Gee....there are many situations that would apply to small joint manipulations. I hope that the harsh and negative reviewers return, and consider these remarks. A text is supposed to teach you something, and because you can not figure it out immediately, this does not make the book useless. It may speak to the reader, more than the author.

This book is NOT about everything to be said about Hapkido, but it is a good introduction. While I wish that it dealt with more joint locks, and used Korean terms, it is an above average book. Thank you Robert K. Spear.

As one of the first, mass-market, books to be published on the subject of Hapkido, I believe that this book is good for what it is. It presents a good overview of the techniques of Hapkido and provides the reader with important food for thought.

There is many way to second guess, critique, and criticize an author and publishing company regarding any book on the martial arts. But overall, I believe that the presentation of techniques and the overall understandings of Hapkido that are presented in this book are a good source of information to readers at any level of expertise in Hapkido.

I am a hapkido instructor and found this book to be a very good all be it brief summary of hapkido. I was impressed with what was covered and how it was covered. I just wish the book was longer:) It is not the type of book you are going to read and become a hapkidoist, but if you are interested in refining your own techniques or just getting another view of the world of hapkdio then I recommend it.

Although I added this book to my library I did so as a collector or martial arts material verses as a textbook to help me with my studies. It would have been better in my opinion to do a good job on some of the basics of the art rather than to approach such an intricate discipline in such a general manner. The quality of photographs could also be improved in further editions. A follow-up book would be appreciated to allow the author to impart more details and sequence of learning the art.

I found this book to be a very simplistic review of the various aspects of Hapkido. In the author's defense, Hapkido is a mindbogglingly broad art, and so it is difficult to cram even a 10th of the possible technical variations into 184 pages. Mr. Spear gives an adequate history and a good explanation of the basic philosophy of Hapkido. Some very basic kicking and striking techniques are illustrated and discussed, as well as a few self-defense techniques, which, after all, is what Hapkido is all about. However, the techniques required in this book for red belt and first-degree blackbelt are ridiculously sparse and simple, at least for that level of supposed sophistication. It made me laugh. As a beginner's introductory guide to Hapkido, this book is adequate. It's certainly not going to overwhelm the reader with an overdose of information. You can't learn Hapkido from a book, anyway - it takes experience in the dojang, plain and simple.