Vital Karate

by Masutatsu Oyama

1967

Library's review

Karate, the fountainhead of the Japanese warrior code and today a subject of worldwide interest, is one of Mankind's most priceless pieces of wisdom. Everyone prizes the sort of incredible strength the karate master uses to smash wood and stone with his bare hands, because it is a sort of magic
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that brings the impossible into the realm of possibility. Though the history of karate is long, its power and techniques are forever new. Karate extends back to Man's origins and continues in usefulness to the present.

As a means of defense, karate has a vigour and power that other martial arts lack. Conceived from the wisdom and strength that made life possible for Man's ancestors, karate has fused with modern rationaliity to become a truly miraculous art of self-defense.

Karate has been the last stronghold of defense for tens of thousands people; it can be yours too.

In this book, Masutatsu Oyama, a karate master standing at the very pinnacle of today's karate world, makes available to everyone the essence of his thirty years of karate study and training. Mr. Oyama poured his whole being into writing this book and has included a large number of special techniques.

Oyama karate begins and ends with points and circles, in which lie the miraculous strength and the life of the system. Through these points and circles, a sense of flowing motion calls forth dynamic waves and creates great billows of strength. Mr. Oyama, whose psychology is based on Zen buddhism and Shinto, has developed a karate that is serene in movement, and refined and stable in form.

Masutatsu Oyama, born in Korea in 1923, began studying Korean kempo at the age of nine. He came to Japan to study at an aviaton school, in 1938. He first undertook to master Kodokan judo, but later switched to karate, in which he made such amazing progress that at 17 he was second dan (grade) and at 22, fourth dan.

In 1947, Oyama wion the All-Japan Karate Championship.

In 1952, he travelled to America to represent the karate world of Japan. While there, he proved to thousands ofpeople in over 200 exhibitions how astounding the power of karate is. H also set a new record for undefeated contests with some of America's most noted boxers and wrestlers. When he returned to Japan, in 1953, he engaged in unarmed balttle with a bull sporting horns four inches in diameter. After a fierce struggle, Oyama snapped one of the bull's horns off at the root. This feat of strength amazed the entire world, but it was only the beginnng of a long series of such thriling contests for Oyama. In his lifetime, he has battled 52 bulls. He has dealt sudden death to 3 of them and has broken the horns off of 48. No other man has ever surpassed his record for smashing a stack of 30 roofing tiles or two bricks with a single blow.

Through writing books on the subject Masutatsu Oyama has introduced this exciting martial art to over 350 thousand people in 180 training halls in 43 nations.

Contents

Preface
Photographic prelude
1 Karate weapons
1 Principle weapons: Hands
Forefist; inverted fist; knife hand; middle-finger one knuckle fist; dragon's head fist; spear hand; forefinger spear; two-finger spear; sword peak hand; wrist palm heel; fist edge; chicken-beak hand; inner knife hand; half clenched fist; forearm; thumb one-finger fist; elbow
2 Principle weapons: feet
knife foot; ball of the foot; knee; arch; heel; instep
3 Head-head thrusts
2 Preparatory calisthenics
Ankle exercise; acchilles tendon exercise; leg-spreading exercise; knee exercise; hip exercise; thigh joint exercise; forward bend exercise; toe joint exercise; pushups with legs spread; hip and back exercise; neck exercise; arm exercise with clasped hands; variations on the push-up
3 Stances
normal stance; open-toes stance; forward leaning stance; back leaning stance; sanchin stance; straddle stance; cat stance; sumo stance; hooked stance; crane stance
4 Thrusts
correct thrusts; forefist middle thrust; forefist strike to the chin; forefist roundhouse strike; front inverted fist strike; right-left inverted-fist strike; inverted-fist low thrust; invertedfist strike to te spleen; knife hand struke to teh collar bone; knife-hand strike to teh face; driving knife-hand strike to teh collar bone; upper elbow strike; rising elbow strike; descending elbow strike
5 Kicks
high kick; groin kick; knee kick; side high kick; roundhouse kick; roundhouse kick to teh neck; side kick; ankle kick; heel kick; back kick; jumping front kick
6 Blocks
upper block; middle outside block; middle inside block; lower parry; palm-heel lower block; palm-heel middle block; palm-heel upper block; forefist middle block and low parry; wrist middle inside block; the roundhouse block
7 Practice Fighting
three-step practice fighting; one-step practice fighting
8 Self-defense Techniques
one against two; self-defense for women
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ISBN

706317874

Publication

Ward Lock Limited London
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