Product Details

• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Tapeworm
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B00004TJI4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,398 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

T Shimabuku features the founder of Isshin Ryu Karate Tatso Shimabuku. He is seen demonstrating kata, and as well weapons associated with his style. He is performing one particular weapons kata which has three sais. This is in itself a rarity. Shimabuku can also be seen performing empty hand self defense techniques and several weapons self defense techniques against an opponent. This film is excellent quality and was filmed in the 1960’s.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed with video quality..., February 20, 2002

By 

"jaesonk" (boalsburg, pa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vol. 7-Part 1 T. Shimabuku [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I realize that many historical films are not of the quality we are accustomed to today. However, I was disappointed with this video because it appears to suffer from several generations of video copying and not a direct transfer from the original films. This is evidenced by artifacts common to video duplication and not film. The colour is poor and bleeding off the image. There is video dropout throughout this tape and a lack of sharpness associated with multiple generations of video dubbing.

A professional direct transfer from film to video would look much better. This is an amatuer job at best.

If you haven't seen Master Shimabuku perform before, it is worth getting for historical interest but be advised that the video production quality is very subpar. I was especially disappointed since the back of the box says "this film is excellent quality..." The film may be but the video is far from excellent quality.

The tape includes a very brief commentary on Master Shimabuku that could have been expanded upon to fill the entire tape. After the commentary ends, the remainder of the video is shown accompanied by music.