Customer Reviews

Korean hapkido

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Though this book focuses primarily on the fundamental techniques of Hapkido, it is a Must Read. This book provided both the beginner and the long time practitioner (like myself) with essential information about the Korean art of self defense.

This provides a nice reference for everything in GM Myung's style of Hapkido from basic strikes to falls and various techniques.There is a wealth of basic material and lots of situational defense techniques, all clearly illustrated with photos and detailed captions. It is a good sized book, solid and sturdy, but a lot more portable and easy to handle than Dr. Kimm's "Hapkido I" (Hapkido Bible). It is also a bit cheaper. Combined with the second book ("Special Self Protection Techniques") it makes for a great depth of reference for Hapkido.

I have only two complaints about the book. The first complaint is that it is all in English and Romanized Korean. I would have liked to had have the Hangeul for the techniques as well. (The next book, "Special Self Protection Techniques", fixes this though)

My other complaint about the book falls within the "History" aspect, especially along the lines of of ignoring the influnce of Japanese arts and the notions of Choi Yong-sool coming up with Hapkdio after meditating in the mountains. The influence of Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu and the impact of other key players should have been explored more in this book, which really represented one of the first comprehensive books on Hapkido out there. Unfortunately, none of the following books or even magazine articles (in the early 2000s) have rectified this historical notion either. I wouldn't let that distract from buying this book, it really is a great book and valuable addition to the Hapkdio library.