Customer Reviews

Koryu Aikido

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The information in the book is good. It covers the advanced Katas of the Tomiki Style of Aikido. The cover was nicely done, but the book itself was horrible. The photos look like the original manuscript was done on a xerox machine. They were grainy with little or no contrast. Gray blobs is more like it. I have one of this authors books on the Basic 17 Hon Kata. It was much better. If you can't find information on the advanced kata anywhere else then bite the bullet and buy this book. But be prepared for a disappointment. It looks like a book quickly done by a college professor to make a few bucks. Kind of what I saw a lot of in my days as an assistant in the Physical Education department of my university.

Keith Patton
Nidan, Fugakukai Aikido

For anybody practicing Shodokan Aikido and in training for their 1st dan, this book is invaluable. The quality of the text and diagrams are only average, but this is the only book that I could find (anywhere) that covers the goshin no kata in detail. There are a few very minor diffrences in the techniques shown to those of Shodokan Aikido but this book is an excellent resource.

This book is by Nobuyoshi Higashi 7d of the Japan Aikido Assn. It includes the San Kata and Yon Kata (3rd and 4th sets of classical forms) created by Kenji Tomiki, as well as some of Higashi's own self-defense forms. The descriptions are rough, and exclude finer points which would lead to proper execution of the techniques. This book would serve as a loose reference for Tomiki practitioners, and might be of histographic interest to others who study Aikido. One interesting point was relating the jo (stick) techniques to their origin as spear techniques, which makes sense out of the formal, thrusting attack. Tomiki's katas are remarkable in their comprehensiveness and depth of principle, and this is the only reference widely available