Customer Reviews

The complete book of karate weapons

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

 

 

This book has an excellent title - makes you think that it is a good reference. Right? Wrong! This book takes "basic" to a new level. I have never seen a reference book as simplistic and amateurish as this. It is obvious in many of the descriptions and pictures that the instructors were making up stuff as they went along. I am a kubodo instructor for a martial arts school in Colorado Springs and I was trying to find something that my students could use as a reference. This was definitely not the book. My white belts in their beginner classes could come up with more professional moves than this. This book was printed in a decade were the hype surrounding martial arts made unscrupulous people "professionals" in an underhanded way to make a quick buck. It is obvious that this is one of those cases.

I recently bought this book at a used bookstore. I have a collection of books on martial arts weapons both kobudo and others. There is no comparison. Either every weapons expert is wrong or Gambordella is. What do you think the answer is? This book is almost in complete disagreement with the easy to find Demura books. Make up your own mind but it is funny that three of the positive reviews are from Gambordella or his friends.

This book is somewhat dated (1981) but has some informative material on the basic use of several martial art weapons. This text is organized into seven chapters. The first chapter deals with using and defending against the knife, but I personally did not care for his knife handling or many of the knife defense techniques shown in this text. The second chapter covered Yawara stick techniques and this section showed some interesting short stick techniques, as well as a kata using two mini-batons(Yawara sticks). The third chapter demonstrated the basic use of the Tonfa. The fourth chapter explained the basic use of the police baton or medium size (Hanbo) stick. The Bo (6 foot staff) techniques were shown in chapter five. Chapter six covered the nunchaku and the final chapter showed basic Sai techniques.

In my humble opinion, the high stance and poor form shown by the author performing the techniques in this text is completely opposite from the karate style (Shotokan)and Judo/Jujitsu system I learned in my more than 50 years of combat arts, self-defense and law enforcement training. Nevertheless, beginners may find some value in reading this book. Experts may also be amused and even entertained reading this book.

Rating: 3 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Wakizashi-jutsu Manual)

The book is a basic manual on weapons. The book starts off strong with very good techniques with the knife (with the exception of attacking with them.) Mainly the self-defense applications. Dr. Gambordella coverage of the yawara, tonfa ad Jo is adequate. But his coverage from there on shows poor technique. From the basics of how to hold the nunchaku, Bo or sai are wrong.

If you where to hold the sai as is shown in combat or kumite, you would break your fingers. It appears that Dr. Gambordella is self taught with these last three weapons and has no practical experience.

This book really shows the reader how to use the weapons safely and effectivly. They have easy to follow pictures and instructions to make you become proficient in no time at all. They make use of all the 296 pages worth of information. From the books that I have read this has to be the best of them all. It really captures the purpose of the title of the book. A great read and plenty of useful karate information.

If someone wanted to decide on the weapon(s) they wanted to learn and train in, this is the book for you. Someone here wrote that this was a basic guide. OK if covering all the major Martial Arts Weapons by one of the true legends of Martial Arts is considered basic, fine.

Now I understand what they are saying, but I believe the idea of Grandmaster Gambordella was to introduce the World to these weapons. This came out at a time (70's) when everyone knew very little about these weapons, and it remains a timeless guide to this day, and well worth anyone's purchase. This is like your first date with each weapon of Martial Arts Legend. This is not the last book you will ever buy, it is however a wonderful strait to the point no BS introduction to the World of Martial Arts Weapons.

In Martial Arts the true masters understand that you can study just the basics for 35-40 years and still become a true legend. The idea of the arts in general is progressive improvement, continuous improvement every single day. Why the study of the Tea Ceremony alone could take a lifetime. So this is a great reference and a wonderful starting point. As a 6th Dan I have all of my Students read this book cover to cover then site what interested them in the weapon of choice before I order them a weapon to train with.

This is the best karate weapons book for the money, it is really 7 books in one. The knife, tonfa, bo, staff, yawara, sai, and nuncahaku are all taught in a detailed manner allowing you to learn each weapon.There might be better books on idividual weapons, but none compare to this all inclusive title.