What do you think?
Rate this book
Hidden Karate: The True Bunkai For Heian Katas And Naihanchi
Hidden Karate -The True Bunkai For The Heian Katas And Naihanchi- 100 years have passed since Karate was first introduced to the public. It has since then become a common word all over the world. Today, it is said that 40 million people practice karate throughout the world. While karate itself is well known,karate bunkai (explanations for use) is sometimes used incorrectly. This book took 313rd place at bookstores at the beginning of sale, and serves as a best seller in Japan. This book is extremely helpful to all people who train karate. More than 1,000 detailed pictures of bunkai allow readers to clearly understand the secret meaning of the karate kata. Chapter 1 What Is Karate? Chapter 2 Problems Facing Karate Chapter 3 Questions Facing Karate Chapter 4 Consideration Of Kata Chapter 5 Hidden Karate Chapter 6 Combat Techniques Of Karate Chapter 7 Oral Instruction of Bunkai For Kata Chapter 8 bunkai For Kata
Hardcover
First published September 15, 2006
29 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 18, 2025
Excellent book for learning how to analyze (shotokan style) Katas! Good pictures, rigorous analysis and thoroughly explained (though a bit long winded). It gives you a sort of framework for your own continued study of kata.
I do have thoughts, though. Continue reading only if you like nerdy stuff!
I am of Shotokan, which is a long distance style. About ten years ago I discovered "practical Karate" and the movement that is spearheaded by Iain Abernethy, Patrick McCarthy and others, and dove deeply into that rabbithole. They tend to analyze real live violent behaviour, and investigate if the Karate techniques are applicable to self defence. They are, but the funcitonal distance is always very short range. You need to be up in each others' business for stuff to work. A bit of digging in Karate History reveals that Shotokan is quite different from most other styles in that it is very stylised and that it is long range. It is basically tailor made for competition; If not by intention, then by necessity (very simplisticly).
For the mythical "Real world applications" (i.e. Bunkai) you are going to be close, like in boxing, jujutsu or perhaps muy thai. My only issue with this book is that the author stays mostly in the long- and medium range of applications. Sure, someone might throw a long punch at you, but violence usually starts within conversation distance; Insults, grabbing and pushing. If that premise is true, then many of the applications in this book need to be modified.
To be fair one book can only show a part of the whole, and this book gives you a rather big part of it. But I suspect that the infuriating tradition of secrecy in the martial arts world is still lingering. "We show you some of the stuff, but keep the really juicy bits for ourself. For safety...". In a world where old school martial arts is archaic to say the least, where guns, knives, pepperspray and other things are widely available, I have a hard time to see the need to keep techniques hidden from the public.
Anyways. Read this book! It's quite good :-)
I do have thoughts, though. Continue reading only if you like nerdy stuff!
I am of Shotokan, which is a long distance style. About ten years ago I discovered "practical Karate" and the movement that is spearheaded by Iain Abernethy, Patrick McCarthy and others, and dove deeply into that rabbithole. They tend to analyze real live violent behaviour, and investigate if the Karate techniques are applicable to self defence. They are, but the funcitonal distance is always very short range. You need to be up in each others' business for stuff to work. A bit of digging in Karate History reveals that Shotokan is quite different from most other styles in that it is very stylised and that it is long range. It is basically tailor made for competition; If not by intention, then by necessity (very simplisticly).
For the mythical "Real world applications" (i.e. Bunkai) you are going to be close, like in boxing, jujutsu or perhaps muy thai. My only issue with this book is that the author stays mostly in the long- and medium range of applications. Sure, someone might throw a long punch at you, but violence usually starts within conversation distance; Insults, grabbing and pushing. If that premise is true, then many of the applications in this book need to be modified.
To be fair one book can only show a part of the whole, and this book gives you a rather big part of it. But I suspect that the infuriating tradition of secrecy in the martial arts world is still lingering. "We show you some of the stuff, but keep the really juicy bits for ourself. For safety...". In a world where old school martial arts is archaic to say the least, where guns, knives, pepperspray and other things are widely available, I have a hard time to see the need to keep techniques hidden from the public.
Anyways. Read this book! It's quite good :-)
Displaying 1 of 1 review