Mastering Karate

Originally published in Japan as What Is Karate?

The authoritative, illustrated guide by world-famous karate champion and teacher Masutatsu Oyama.

Masatatsu Oyama was born in Korea in 1923 and came to Japan in 1938. He first mastered Kodokan judo, then took kup karate, in which he progressed so

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rapidly that at seventeen he was a second dan (grade) and at twenty-two, fourth dan. In 1947 Oyama won the All-Japan Karate Championship and then retired to teh mountains where he lived alone practicing strict physical and psychological discipline. He came to the United States in 1952 to represent the karate world of Japan. While here he demonstrated the astounding power of karate to thousnds of people in exhibitions all over the country.

Contents

Preface
Foreword
Photographic Prelude
Part I Basics
1 Introduction
Ancient combat technques in the west
Combat technques in ancient India
Chnese Fithging techniques
Karate and Resistance movements
Okinawa-te
Japanese Jujutsu
2 Karate Weapons
Principle Weapons: Hands
Forefist; Inverted fist; Inner knife hand; Palm Heel; Wrist; thumb one-finger fist; Spear hand; Chicken' beak; Half-clenched fist; Elbow
Principle Weapons: Feet
Knife foot; Instep; Heel; Knee; Ball of the foot
Principle Weapons: Head
Head thrust
3. Thrusts
Forefist middle thrust
Right-left inverted strike
Forefist strike to the chin
Forefist roundhouse strike
Front inverted strike
Knife-hand strike to the face
Inverted-fist strike to the spleen
Upper elbow strike
Knife-hand strike to the collarbone
Rising elbow strike
Two-hand thrust
Chinese thrusting methods-double-arm upward thrust; Upper thurst; Parrying thurst; Forward thrust
4 Kicks
Front kick
Groin kick
Knee kick
Side kick
Side high kick
Ankle kick
Roundhouse kick
Roundhouse kick to the neck
Back kick
Heel kick
Jumping front kick
5 Blocks
Upper block
Middle outside block
Middle inside block
Lower parry
Palm-heel block
Cross block
Thigh block
6 Stances and breathing
Stance
Froward leaning stance
Back leaning stance
Sumo stance
Straddle stance
Sanchin stance
Cat stance
stable stance
Normal stance
Pigeon-toe stance
Open-toes stance
Parallel stance
Breathng-Ibuki; Nogare I; Nogare II; Nogare I and Nogare II
7 Daily training methods
Preparatory exercises-wrist exercisesp stomach exerscise; ankle exerscise; crotch stratch; finger joints exercise
Thrusts and kicks training
a Forefist; Dry-run thrust training; Padded-board training; sandbag training; punching-ball training
b Inverted fist-dry-run thrust training; padded-board training
c Knife hand-ddry-run thrust training; Padded-board training; sandbag training
d fist edge-straw-sheaf training
e elbow-dry-run strike; staw-sheaf training; sandbag training
f spear hand-thrusting into beans
g kicking methods-dry-run kick; padded-board trainng; sandbag training; punching-mit training
Part II Formal exercises
8 Formal exercises-Pinan II, III, IV; Yantsu; Pinan V; Saiha
9 Basic formal practice fighting
Basic formal practice fighting
Free-style practice fight postures-two-hand position; knife-hand two-hand position; double-layer two-hand position; two-hand swing position; spear-hand two-hand position
Part III Applications
10 Self-Defense techniques
Protection against a knife
Protection against a pistol
Other attitudes and positions
Self-Defense for women
Part IV Appendix
11 New directions in karate
Into the supernatural
Preserving the spirit of the martial arts
Unification of Karate schools
Women and karate
New match methods Asian combat techniques
Author's note
Index

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