Lessons from the Eastern Warriors

by Fred Neff and Patrick O'Leary

The book discusses the beautiful and effective techniques used in kung-fu and kempo. Secrets of kung-fu and kempo that are covered including trapping and containing an opponent. There are lessons on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822511665
• ISBN13: 9780822511663
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.2" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Lessons from the Eastern Warriors explores well the hard-soft fighting approach

Fred Neff's book Lessons from the Eastern Warriors provides a fascinating exploration of the hard-soft fighting approach used in East Asian martial arts. The book integrates history, philosophy, movement and tactics to bring about the consistent message to the reader that some East Asian martial arts strive to fully develop a person's fighting ability so that he or she can efficiently and non-violently defend against attack. The detailed explanations and photo illustrations send a further message that when a practitioner achieves a high skill level, the soft and hard movements may blend to heighten overall effectiveness. Lessons from the Eastern Warrior exposes the reader to a broad overview of training to develop a strong hard-soft fighting approach. The author, Fred Neff, provides history, philosophy, physical conditioning, and postures, as well as the expected information on movement, methods of dodging attacks, blows, holds and grappling. The book does an admirable job teaching how to confound, dodge and set up your opponent for fighting moves. I especially appreciate the way Fred Neff maintains a balanced and socially responsible approach to the use of martial arts throughout the book, which appears consistent with the author's own approach to life. In addition to being an author and a martial artist, Fred Neff is a lawyer who has received numerous awards for involvement such as the the Presidential Medal of Merit, Citizen of the Month Award from the City of St. Paul, a Commendation from the Sibley County Attorney's Office, the WCCO Good Neighbor Award, the HLS Justice Award, the Lamp of Knowledge Award from the Twin Cities Lawyers Guild, and others.

ADD EASTERN WARRIORS TO YOUR PERSONAL LIBRARY

Having studied Chinese traditional martial arts for more than fifteen years, I really appreciated the fresh perspective presented in Lessons From the Eastern Warriors. The book explains the common historic and philosophic background for many of the Chinese fighting arts. Not being a Kempo practitioner, I was not familiar with its background and enjoyed reading about its connection to Kung-Fu. Explaining and illustrating common connections between Chinese Kung-Fu and Japanese Kempo is pulled off very well by this author. There is a superb cross-section of fighting techniques chosen for inclusion in this book. My training in Ch'ang Ch'uan, Northern Shaolin and Ch'in Na gave me a special appreciation for the book's lessons. I especially like the way the author teaches how to set up and counterattack an adversary. The book's discussion on blocking and countering with the same hand are very well explained. Closing an opponent's centerline and counterattacking is a vital area of defense often neglected in other works, but extremely well done in this book by Fred Neff. Trapping an opponent is apparently either avoided or not known by other authors, because it does not show up in their works, but is well covered in this book. Lessons From the Eastern Warriors has an excellent section systematically showing several ways to trap an opponent. Another unique area of presentation in this book is its section on grappling on the ground. This subject is neglected in many martial arts discussions, despite the fact that it may be an actual danger in a fight. It seems that many martial artists prefer to pretend that they will not ever end up on the ground with an opponent. This is very foolish. I was very happy to see this book not avoid the subject, but instead give some good tips for handling fighting on the ground. One of the greatest assets of the book is its willingness to avoid the stereotypical presentation of Kung-fu and to instead cut new ground with a presentation that is both fresh and very useful. I have added Lessons From the Eastern Warriors to my small library of martial arts books and strongly suggest others do likewise.

Bridges the gap from kung-fu to kempo

Kung-fu methods are heavily taught in the book on Fighting from the Eastern Warriors. The description and illustrations in this book are exellent. The approaches to fighting are exitingly different from the normal kick-punch covered in other karate-based books. The techniques are explored and illustrated so nearly anyone should be able to learn them from reading this book. It is a great guide to Kung-fu and its Japanese derivative art of Kempo. It is highly recommended as not only an enjoyable reading, but as a guide to help build a fighting repertoire.

Book to have for anyone interested in Kempo or Kung-fu

Lesson from the Eastern Warriors by Fred Neff is the best written introduction to Kung-fu and Kempo I have ever read. My passion is Kempo, so I really love the way the book explores both authentic Kung-fu and related Japanese Kempo derivative techniques. I started learning Kempo over ten years ago, but had to take a break from going to classes by my teacher to go away to college. While I was away from my hometown going to college, I was not able to locate a Kempo school nearby, so I took classes in Kung-fu. I observed that there were many similarities in approaches between Chinese Kung-fu and my first love of Japanese Kempo. This came as no surprise because of the influence of Kung-fu on Japanese Kempo. While studying Kung-fu a friend told me about this super book on Lessons From the Eastern Warriors that brought home the connection between the Kempo and Kung-fu. I bought a copy of that book and it has been helpful in both my study of Kung-fu and Kempo. Fighting techniques are well explained through the narrative and excellent photographs. The author's analysis of these eastern arts is right on point. Superlatives aside, Lessons From the Eastern Warriors is the book to have for anyone who's interested in Kempo or Kung-fu.