Karate Fighting Techniques: The Complete Kumite

Hirokazu Kanazawa, President of Shotokan Karate-do International Federation, has complied an outstanding book that balances history and tradition with the different forms of kumite. This book is not the normal primer. If one does not know at least the basic punches and kicks, do not get this book as a novice guide to learning karate. Kanazawa's approach assumes the person has these basic techniques down. If you are one of those people, still buy the book only if you plan on learning karate in the future when the opportunity arises.In addition, while this book is primarily a Shotokan text, he does review the major Okinawa/Japanese karate styles, goes over terminology, and a particularly nice paragraph on p. 19 on the "verbal greeting `Oss'" The photos are of high quality, which is important in a text that demonstrates many sparring steps via pictures. The explanations are thorough enough to get the point a cross, but not unnecessarily tiresome and too detailed to loose the reader or make the book overly cumbersome.A nice companion martial texts to a martial artist's library.

The book is obviously great for reviewing that you are doing the kumite correctly and adjust accordingly. However rather than just look at the pictures read the story at the start. The story goes into Sensei Kanazawa's life as a boy, and as a student. It gives a great insight to the respect Sensei Kanazawa had for his mentor Master Gichin Funakoshi. One story in particular as a young student Kanazawa was riding in the back seat behind his mentor Master Funakoshi.... Kanazawa tells you his thoughts, and the pivotal point in Kanazawa's life when Master Funakoshi said "What are you thinking right now?". There are also some great pictures of a young Kanazawa. and if you have ever wanted to know things like where the word "OSS" came from, there is two pages on that as well as many other snippets of information about things you have always wanted to know. I am only 1/3rd of the way through the book, and I am impressed at what I have read so far. This is a great "Keep Sake" book for any budding Shotokan Karate student through to expert, always on our way to Master.

Clear concise step by step explanation Witt outstanding photography. A must have for any student or instructor of Shotokan

You can get a lot a knowledge from this book.

This book is a primer, nothing short of it - it provides excellent detail about Kihon-Ippon kumite, Sanbon kumite, Jiyu-ippon kumite, etc - all standard parts of the SKI training program! Additionally, there's a lot of guidance about how to prepare yourself for tournament or match kumite, via several examples of actual attacks and defence/counter-attack steps. The best book on the subject, IMO!One drawback I found was - I regularly study Soke Kanazawa's Kata book in detail, and I found that that book was much more rigourous about naming each step (the stance, the attack/block, etc) - in this book, some of the steps remain un-named, so you wonder, for example, in Sanbon Kumite 3, whether the stance is a Kokutsu or a Zenkutsu, and need to rely on the photograph to draw your conclusion. However, the book is very detailed in its photographs of each and every step, with several supplementary photographs to show different angles of the same step - so no complaints!

It's Kanazawa Senior. One of the legends of Karate. Very comprehensive and a great addition to my karate library.

A must have by Kanazawa.A good companion to any karteka who's working with a competent instructor.

I would like to put a great comment on the book but I had never actually received it when purchasing it. However based on his other books I am sure it is equally as good.

used this book to increase my knowledge on shotokan karate and improve my basics kata and kumite in shotokan

Belle illustration

Un livre très bien fait, clair, avec des photos explicites et des bons commentaires. Kanazawa, connu pour avoir été un excellent tacticien et combattant, nous explique en détails les différents types de kumite et expose de façon simple et détaillée une foule de techniques de blocages et de contre-attaques qui sont bien utiles pour être appliquées en entraînement ou même pour un passage de grade. On est parfois même étonné de la variété des techniques et de leurs combinaisons qui peuvent être utilisées, et qui ne sont pas toujours toutes abordées en cours.J'ai acheté ce livre d'occasion en anglais pour 13 euros, car il était impossible de le trouver neuf, et la qualité est quasi-parfaite. Je prends plaisir à le consulter régulièrement et j'y trouve toujours des informations nouvelles ou des précisions pour telle ou telle technique.Un livre qui complète merveilleusement les ouvrages de Funakoshi "Karate-do Kyohan" et "My way of life" que tout karateka sérieux devrait posséder et surtout avoir lu.

Libro que se pude utilizar como guía para enriquecer el entrenamiento del kumite deportivo y mas si se dedican a dar clases. De la calidad de uno de los Maestros Pilares y difusores a nivel mundial del Karate Deportivo (Jka-Nakayama), y posteriormente del SKIF.

Good deal