Mastering Kempo

by William Durbin

Finally, a book that covers all aspects of the “original martial art” is here! Mastering Kempo covers everything from Kempo's profound history to the techniques, tactics, and training needed to excel at any level of this art. Mastering Kempo is an exposition of Kempo as the masters originally taught it, featuring their methods of training and wealth of technical knowledge—much of which has been forgotten or ignored in modern times. Mastering Kempo introduces these techniques, skills, and advanced training methods to enrich the Kempo of any stylist and contribute to an in-depth understanding of the many martial arts derived from Kempo—including judo, jujitsu, and karate. This outstanding resource was written by William Durbin, a Kempo master and a premier martial arts historian with 30 years of training. As a soke (the highest ranking in Kiyojute Kempo) Durbin is considered one of the world's foremost authorities and historians on Kempo. The knowledge and insights he provides in Mastering Kempo will elevate you to your highest level, physically and spiritually.

With more than 130 photos as your guide, you will be able to improve stances, blocks, thrusts, strikes, kicks, and other defensive techniques. You will also be able to learn the keys to building a stronger mind and body with regimens that will empower you to maximize your abilities and advance quickly through belt rankings or competitive events. Becoming a master of a martial art requires that you learn, practice, and incorporate all aspects of the form's history, technique, tactics, and training into your life. For Kempo, the one source for all this indispensable information is Mastering Kempo .

Genres: Martial Arts

184 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2000

About the author

William Durbin lives on Lake Vermilion at the edge of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Wilderness. A winner of the Great Lakes Book Award and a two-time winner of the Minnesota Book award, he has published short stories, essays, and poetry, as well as fourteen novels for young readers, including The Broken Blade, Wintering, Blackwater Ben, The Darkest Evening, The Journal of Otto Peltonen, and El Lector, which has been optioned for film by Jane Starz Productions. His latest novel, co-authored with his wife, Barbara is The Hidden Room. For more information visit his website at williamdurbin.com.
Durbin's honors include a Junior Library Guild Selection, Bank Street College Children’s Book of Year list, the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer list, New York Library Books for the Teen Age list, Maud Hart Lovelace nomination, Jefferson Cup Series of Note Award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award, America’s Award commended title, Book Sense Summer Pick, Boy’s Life magazine serialization, St. Petersburg Times serialization, nominations for numerous state awards lists, and starred reviews in the major journals.
“William Durbin’s attention to detail—both historical and fictional—make him one of today’s masters of historical YA fiction.” -- David Gill of the NCTE

Reviews

[Kristofer Dubbels · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a very odd book - it has some info about how to execute specific strikes but overall, I'd put this in the category of more "philosophical" books about martial arts. There are also some rather odd historical claims about the genealogy of kempo itself (karate, kung fu, and tae kwon do are all treated as species of kempo? Big if true). This might actually be a great book for a serious kempo practitioner looking to learn more about its philosophical basis, but I believe it fares poorly next to the other books in this series that I've read (Mastering Judo, Mastering Jujitsu, Mastering Karate). While those other books are noteworthy for including both technical "how tos" and reflection on the evolution of their respective arts (and especially for the karate and jiu-jitsu books, serious reflection on how modern competition in the form of kickboxing and MMA have modified the conception of what "works" from within the style itself), "Mastering Kempo" seems to treat kempo as a basically mystical discipline that, despite any practical evidence, is also the most "realistic" and "effective" martial art.

tl;dr:

This is probably a great book for any kemp practitioner wanting to go deep on kempo's mystical/philosophical foundations. For people who practice other martial arts already, this probably isn't the book you are looking for if you want to learn what makes kempo distinct from, say, karate.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very excellent description of Okinawa based martial arts history, fills in a lot of gaps in other readings of Karate history. Descriptions of Durban's Kempo basics are ok but the photos of those basics are terrible. Worth a second reading and use for reference.