Zen Combat

By Jay Gluck

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345237781
• ISBN13: 9780345237781
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A great primer, Zen approach to...

Karate, Kendo, Kyudo (archery), Aikido, & Bojutsu (stick warfare). Plus, book includes practice drills, exercises, special breathing control, techniques of world masters, firewalking, meditation, yoga, and more.

If you can find this book, buy it! You won't be disappointed!

Being the author of several books on the martial arts and fighting, I am always looking for books of exceptional quality to add to my library. If I have a book in my library, it's definitely worth owning. One such book is Jay Gluck's, "Zen Combat." This is a very well written book and one that I don't believe is in print anymore. The copy I have I ended up finding in an old book store several years ago. This book gives you some outstanding information on the history of primarily the Japanese martial arts and their philosophy. 1. The Bull Story; Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama and Kyokushin-kai Karate: This section covers a lot of, although brief, biography of Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama and how he came to learn the art of Karate. Included in this biography are stories about his training style or technique, his first U.S. tour in the early 1950's, which was also the first time that the art of Karate had been demonstrated in the U.S. There is also a story about how Mas and the author visited with another famous Karate master, Gogen "Cat" Yamaguchi. This section of the book concludes with some basic information from Mas on training techniques and methods, etiquette and principles of karate, descriptions on various punches, blocks and kicks, kata or forms with Heian or Pinan Nidan being described and illustrated. There is also a very good section on belt rank and the importance of it. Of particular note, there is a terrific section on how to form a proper Shuto or knifehand strike, and on how to condition your hands for delivering powerful blows. 2. Why the Zen of Zen Combat; Martial Arts Philosophy: This section is primarily devoted to the early history of the martial arts and their philosophy, and how Zen compliments them. This is really a very good although brief section on the history of martial arts. 3. Kendo; The Way of the Sword: In this section, the author talks briefly about Miyamoto Musashi who was Japan's greatest samurai swordsman. In addition to Musashi, he also talks about the art of Kendo and the samurai sword, and the basic techniques that are used when yielding a samurai sword. These techniques include; the proper grip, en-garde, touché, and the I-ai or "quick draw." The rest of this particular section is devoted to various weapons used by the samurai such as; the naginata, bo staff, spears, etc. 4. Kyudo; The Way of Archery: This section starts out with a brief history of the bow in Japanese history and then quickly dives right in to how Zen became incorporated with Japanese archery and why it is still practiced that way even today. The author gives a very detailed explanation on the equipment, ritual, and techniques associated with Japanese archery. This is a very thorough and well presented, yet basic, analysis of this very impressive art form. 5. Dancing; Dervishes of Strength: We begin this section with a trip to Iran and its traditional dance at their House of Strength. This was very informative and was totally new to me, althou