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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Early work but still great, October 5, 2000
Considering this book came out originally in 1960 and was the first large-format book on Karate I had seen up to that point, it is remarkable that it has rarely been exceeded in the all time since. The photos of the basic techniques are very clear. The applications sections are generous with good coverage of sparring and self-defense. I have a personal story about Nishiyama, although I didn't study with him myself, but someone I know did. Nishiyama was in Los Angelos for some time back in the 60's and he was conducting a training session. One of the students, a guy by the name of Ray Dalke, who later led the U.C. Riverside Shotokan club to the national championship title, was in the class. I met Dalke when I was a doctoral student at UCR back in the early 80's, but I actually heard this from one of his students. Ray had never been very loose in the legs, especially the groin stretch, where you sit on the ground in a quasi-lotus position and bounce your knees up and down and try to get them all the way to the ground. Anyway, Nishiyama came around to Dalke, and noticed his problem. He says to Dalke, "You want to have loose lap?" (Sometimes Nishiyama's English was a bit rough, but the meaning came through loud and clear). Dalke says, "yes, Master, I do." Nishiyama says again, "Are you sure you want to have loose lap?" Dalke says, "Yes, yes, Master, I want it more than anything!" At that moment Nishiyama jumps up into the air and comes down with both feet planted squarely on Dalke's knees, driving them all the way to the floor. Well, he said Dalke's scream of agony could be heard for two city blocks. They had to get an ambulance and take Dalke away. But he survived and was back later after he healed with the "loosest lap" you've ever seen. I hope Ray doesn't mind my telling his story. Like I said, I met Ray in about 1980 when he was the faculty karate instructor at UC Riverside and he was really a pretty cool guy, as well as an excellent instructor. He loved the Shotokan katas and I recall having an enjoyable discussion with him about some of the more advanced forms. Anyway, Nishiyama is one of the greats of the Shotokan style and this book is still one of the finest books on the subject. I will say one more thing about Nishiyama, which is that he has the most vicious-looking front kick I've ever seen. I've tried to emulate his style on this one but he's basically got the patent on it.
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