Karate: Beginner to Black Belt

by Bruce Tegner

Book Overview

This complex tale of self-discovery -- considered by the author to be his best work -- traces the path of an aging idealist, Lambert Strether. Arriving in Paris with the intention of persuading his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553233092
• ISBN13: 9780553233094
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Only book showing the Shukohkai forms

I credit Tegner with making a great deal of good martial arts information available at reasonable prices, starting in 1959 I remember right, with his book, "Karate, The Open Hand and Foot Fighting." At the time there wasn't much out there on most of these subjects--for example, his book on Savate--not to mention all the books he did on the Asian martial arts. Also, the books always came out in soft cover and were very reasonably priced. You could find them in public libraries and bookstores all over the country. I once found several at a country bookstore in South Dakota back in the late 60's.The importance of this book for me is the presentation of the Shukokai style forms. You'll see these have significant stylistic differences from the well-known Shotokan and Goju-Kai forms. Also, the 90-move brown belt form is extremely long for a karate form--another interesting aspect of the book. The Shotokan Kwanku Dai form at 68 moves isn't nearly as long, although Goju-Kai has the Suparinpei form at 108 moves, which, of the 80 or so karate forms I learned at one time or another, is the longest I'm aware of.I'd like to know more about the origin of these, as the Shukohkai school has a reputation for being quite conservative and sticking to their tradition. Another characteristic of Shukohkai stylists is their preference for free-fighting from the front stance. Technically, if I recall correctly, the Shukohkai school is basically the Tani-ha Shorin-Ryu style, one of a number of Shorin-Ryu substyles. My main exposure to Shorin-Ryu has been to the Kobayashi and Matsubayashi-Ryu substyles, as well as Isshin-Ryu. (I am primarily Shotokan, and Taekwondo myself).Anyway, as someone interested in the history and evolution of the different styles and especially the forms, this is the only book I know of that presents these interesting forms. The book would be important and interesting if only for that, in addition to the presention of the basic karate techniques.

Unmodern Karate

This book teaches the old form of Karate which is much better than modern Karate. For info on modern Karate, buy Teach Yourself Karate by Steve Arneil and Liam Keaveney.