Customer Reviews

Stick Fighting: Techniques of Self-Defense

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Although most reviewers rated this book highly, a few panned it. With one or two of those reviews, I wonder if they're even talking about the same book. Crazy ninjas? Martial fetishism? I just don't see that here.

To answer a few of the more intelligible criticisms:

The low stances pictured in this book will not necessarily get you killed or "at least whomped" in a fight. If you're even a beginner in a style that uses low stances, you can use the moves presented here. Of course, if you try these stances for the first time having only seen them in a book, you'll probably do them wrong. Well, no kidding!

Some anonymous wit here remarked that you only need such fancy techniques if you "forget how to swing a bat"-- as if wielding a stick against an unarmed person is an automatic win. This attitude will get you killed faster than any karate stance. I am a small guy of not even intermediate skill, and I've taken bats away from far larger persons who were trying to knock my head into the bleachers! If I can do it, so can some street punk who's trying to put your lights out. This book shows exactly what to do when someone grabs you or your stick and tries to turn the tables on you.

Others accuse the authors of assuming your attacker will be unarmed and won't fight back. I can only say these critics didn't read this book. The authors are very clear on these points.

As for the complexity of some of the locks and takedowns, the authors state that you cannot always deploy these when you want to, and that in the meantime you should defend yourself with basic moves. They also stress that one technique will not always (if ever) be enough to end the fight. They emphasize that the complex techniques must be executed quickly and forcefully. This takes practice. You are not supposed to just flip through a martial arts book and go try this stuff on the streets.

Gee, no kidding!

Even if you never practice the advanced techniques presented here, they are interesting. And the basic techniques are, well, basic. I say buy this book, and to its detractors, I say read this book! And pay attention this time!

When I was a young martial artist 40 years ago, I always looked forward to any new books by Draeger or Chambers. You could always count on them for books on rare or interesting topics that weren't being covered by anyone else. For example, their two books on Indonesion Silat are classics and were the first published in the English speaking world on this fascinating art.

This book by Chambers and Hatsumi is another example of that, and it's a testament to it that it's still around after 34 years. Back then I remember looking at the locking technqiues with the stick and deciding they were too hard to learn from a book. Then many years later I took up kali and escrima, which has many of the same techniques, and recently when I picked up a copy of this book and look at the chapter on those techniques, I found they weren't so difficult to understand anymore, so I guess I've learned something after all. :-)

Actually, this isn't such a little book, because it contains 58 techniques, divided into about half a dozen different categories. These are techniques against fist attacks, foot attacks, wrist holds, sleeve and lapel graps, seizure from behind, stick holding, and immobilizations. Each category has at least 6 or 7 techniques, although some have more, so there's a good selection of techniques of each type. One nice feature is a section devoted to jutte techniques, a rarely seen art that I know very little about. The section on basic techniques includes footwork diagrams, something often lacking and neglected in many books on martial arts.

After a brief intoduction and description of the stick arts in the Japan and a short discussion of the basic concepts, the authors devote most of the book to the vaious techniques. Despite the plates probably being pretty old at this point, the photos are still pretty clear and although slightly lacking in contast. However, if I remember right, this was the case with the first edition 30 years ago. At the end there's a brief glossary of Japanese terms.

With over 300 photos, easy to follow text and photos, and almost 60 techniques, this is an excelent introduction to the Kukishin-ryu art of stick fighting.

I have been doing jo training for eleven years. This book has shown me things that I have never seen nor thought of. I own a dim-mak book as well and it is amazing how much overlap. In this book the author even uses accurate bone names.

Pay attention to the techniques using a hanbo or similar instrument. These techniques and weapons are more powerful than you may think. Many of these techniques would be impractical to use, and he points it out from time to time. Very refreshing. The point of the mover is not to memorize them, but to learn what the weapon and skill is capable of doing.

I looked at the back of this book and saw the rediculous pictures and poses. I though that this would be mostly fluff. Those moves are far easier and useful than it first seems. I have used technique 23(a strange cross-wrist scisoring) in too-rough sparing sessions and it worked to great success. My partner had no idea what had happened.

This book has some great concepts and examples of self defense with a stick. One of the reviews complained that it wasn't "practical" and I would argue that any information read in a book is going to be just part of the puzzle. The techniques in this book are sound, but you cannot expect to gain a practical knowledge of ANYTHING from one book. The diagrams are well done, but due to the complicated nature (foot work, hand positioning, etc) it is a little difficult to follow some of the technqiues. Overall, a good book with some really good technqiues. Worth owning and learning.

After reading the reviews offered above, I ordered this book with GREAT anticipation. And was I ever disappointed! The huge, exaggerated, stylized moves would get a person killed (or at least whomped) if used in a street encounter. I'm a student of Escrima, which might sacrifice the elegant for the practical, but having your feet 36 inches apart - as this book shows - during a fight causes you to lose your balance and flexibility of options.

All of the examples show the stick fighter facing a single, unarmed opponent. How often will you be attacked by one empty-handed person when carrying 3 feet of hickory, and just how much training would you need to win this encounter?

Finally, nearly the whole book is filled with tricky holds, traps and pins most of which are so involved that the bad guy would have to wait patiently while you slip your hand around, grab the other end of your stick and perform a flashy half turn to force him to the ground. The photos show no attention paid to the baddie's left hand where he's probably holding a broken beer bottle and will have loads of opportunity to jam it in your ear. Locks and jams take time and a cooperative or at least drunk, adversary, and give away the greatest advantage a stick offers: reach. If attacked when carrying a stick, don't lock his elbow, hit it! Then hit his collarbone, then his knee cap.

If you want to learn to stick fight, get an Insanto book or a tape from Latosa and learn to fight. And save your big fancy moves for the dance floor.

Masaaki Hatsumi and Quintin Chambers have presented us here with a fantastic book. It must be understood that Hatsumi is not only a Ninja Grandmaster but also an authority on Japanese weaponry. The text begins with a section on the basic movements.The later chapters deal with techniques against:Fist Attacks, Foot Attacks, Wrist Holding, Lapel Holding, Seizure from behind and Stick holding. Lastly the book is rounded off with a bone crunching section on immobilization techniques. A must for the student of Ninjutsu or weaponry. The photos are very clear and lead you through the journey of knowledge. Buy, enjoy, absorb and compliment your training.

When I first got this book, I was just beginning to study martial arts. I looked through it for a few days, but found that even the simpler diagrams were confusing, even when practicing with a partner. If you are a super fast learner when it comes to books, this book is ideal for you. But since the diagrams are just black and white photographs, they are sometimes hard to put into prospective. However, this contains many useful techniques for using sticks. You will get more techniques then wasted filler stuff on the philosophy of stick fighting. To sum it up: This is an excellent book for visual learners.

Like other books from Kodansha publishers, this is a very informative book to read, and it avoids repetition of identical moves. Each page is a new technique, and the techniques are grouped in a very logical way. The pictures are extremely clear, the clearest of any stick-fighting book I have seen. If you were going to buy one book on stick fighting, this should be the one!

The techniques in this book are efficient and to the point. They work and work well. I have taught them to law enforcement and military police. If you are going to pratice these techniques with a partner I suggest you use a length of PVC pipe of the appropriate length and pad it with foam insulation and go slow, otherwise you will need to find a new partner each time and shortly run out of people to be your partner.

The "SECRET" to this martial art is the same as every martial art: pratice, pratice, pratice.

Unlike Hatsumi-sensei's other works the style, approach and general feel of this book are completely different. This book presents itself as nothing more than a technical, training manual and on this point alone, one would have to conclude that Hatsumi-sensei basically provided the photographic material and Mr. Chambers completed the rest. Certainly the style is unlike anything that Hatsumi-sensei has done.

The book is very technical with no hint of the abstract which normally permeates Soke's writings. And while the photos are quite clear and the descriptions detailed enough there is no exploration of the 'feeling' of the martial arts. Given the emphasis that Hatsumi-sensei places on such feeling, then this book ought to come as a disppointment for serious students of the Bujinkan.

This book is useful in the sense that one can quite literally mimic the techniques presented (and there are quite a few of them) but how much of a help that will be in understanding the feeling of Soke's art will depend entirely on how much access the reader can have with Hatsumi-sensei himself.

In the end, this book does very well what it set out to do, and that is to provide a dry look at one aspect of Soke's Bujinkan art. Don't linger too long though or as they say you'll "miss out on all of the heavenly glory".