Shotokan Karate Kata, Vol. 2 [Paperback]

Joachim Grupp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2003

A Kata is fighting, self-defence, precision and dynamic force all in one. It represents a fascinating multitude of logical, sequential techniques, with which the Karateka can demonstrate what he can do regarding his body control, powers of persuasion, perfection and fighting spirit. The repertoire of Shotokan Karate contains 26 Kata in all. The Master Kata described in this work belong to the advanced part of the repertoire and carry on from the 17 basic and advanced Kata introduced in Volume 1. This then completes the list of all the Shotokan Karate Kata. There are 9 Kata with Bunkai in this book: Sochin, Meikyo, Chinte, KankuSho, Wankan, Ji'in, Jitte, Gankaku, Unsu. There are approximately 600 photographs and detailed descriptions, which allow a deeper understanding of the Kata and their application. Armed with this information, it should be easy now for the Karateka to be able to improve himself in his routine training, grading tests and competition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joachim Grupp has been practicing Karate since 1976. He holds a 4th Dan in Shotokan Karate and he is the leader of a Karate Club in Berlin. His other books "Shotokan Karate -Kihon-KumiteKata" and "Shotokan Karate -Kata Volume 1" have already been published successfully by Meyer & Meyer Sport.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Meyer & Meyer Verlag (April 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841260916
• ISBN-13: 978-1841260914
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #723,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shotokan Kata Vol 2, May 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Shotokan Karate Kata, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

This book is useful for advanced Shotokan Karateka. Plenty of step by step and application pictures cover 9 Katas. Jitte, Meikyo, Unsu, Wankan, Sochin, Chinte, Kanku-sho, Ji'in and Gankaku. Shotokan Karate Kata Vol.2 gives good basis to learning new Katas but doesn't replace work done in the dojo.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars BOLLIXED AND PAINFUL, August 26, 2009

By 

Gary Kern (NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shotokan Karate Kata, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

At first glance, this volume of shotokan karate appears to be ideal: high credentials, handy size, numerous pictures. It has a foreword, an introduction and step-by-step instructions to go with the frame-by-frame portrayals of the forms. Everything seems great, until you begin to use the book.

It needs to be emphasized that the purpose of a kata manual is to teach the reader to learn, both mentally and physically, a set of katas. (Here there are nine, all advanced, beginning with meikyo and ending with ji'in.) It may be that the reader is in training and only wants a reminder of what has been taught in class. It may also be that the reader wants to prepare a kata in advance, before it is taught in class. Or he or she has moved to another city and wants to train alone; or usually does train alone. For whatever reason the reader wants the book, it should be able to teach a kata well enough so that it will only take a few adjustments by an expert in person to make its performance quite correct.

So we start, and notice that the photos are all rather small and indistinct. But that's no big deal, we've seen it before and can pretty much guess what the hidden hand or arm is doing in a given picture. So we start again, and find it unusually difficult to put our body in the same place as in the pictures. What's wrong? We do it again. Again not certain. Is the turn all the way to the left, or just half way? Are we moving straight ahead, or at an angle? We try again. And then we see it: a totally bizarre feature, never encountered before.

The author-model in the first picture of each kata (the starting position) is not directly facing us, as in every karate book I've seen, but rather standing 45-degrees to his left, so that all of his subsequent moves are seen at unfamiliar angles. When judging or watching a kata performance, after all, we always sit in front, not at an angle to the side. So now, when learning a new kata, we have to peer at faint pictures and guess the angle, and also guess what the hidden parts are doing. We go to the instructions for specifics and find that the angle of the first turn is always stated, but not always the subsequent ones. And here we encounter another strange feature, never encountered before.

In wankan, the model in picture 4 is facing to his right (on an angle), turns to his left in picture 5 (on an angle) and goes into a stance in picture 6 (on an angle). The instructions for number 5 say nothing about a turn, and for number 6 they say: "Go forward to the right placing the foot down into a Zenkutsu-Dachi." To the right? The picture shows to the left. You go over it again, trying to get your bearings from positions 1 to 5. You try it to the right--no, it's weird. It has to be to the left. Could the instructions contain a typo? No, it must be something else. Aha, "to the right" means "to the right foot." So the unmentioned turn is to the left, while the mentioned position is to the right foot. But now the phrases "to the right" and "to the left" have become suspect, and the book has become a pain.

It doesn't help that all the stances and techniques are designated by their Japanese titles. Yes, an advanced karateka perhaps should know them, but not every dojo insists on it and it isn't essential for the task of learning the kata. The better way would have been to give the English title with the Japanese in parentheses. The chapters are numbered in an odd formal way, like an Army field manual or a scientific treatise: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc. The thick glossy paper doesn't lie flat very well and has to be held down with a stapler, hammer or rock, whatever is near to hand, when trying to learn the kata.

In sum, if you are learning advanced shotokan katas at the dojo and your eyesight is sharp and you're up on your Japanese terminology, then this book could serve as a handy reminder before your test. Otherwise, it is painfully bollixed and obscure, and possibly could produce mistakes with a newcomer. For the reasons cited above, I found it next to worthless.