Book Review: Practical Karate 5: Self-Defense for Women

The Cover of Practical Karate 5: Self-Defense for Women

Authors: M. Nakayama and Donn F. Draeger

Reviewer: Mark Groenewold

Date: October, 2002

It has been awhile since I have tackled some book reviews, but that may be because I have been busy with my own book writing. Lord help me when I have to face the reviews of other reviewers who savage my writing, mock my bad haircuts, and call me what they did when I was a child, “stinky boy”.

Anyway, I must save some of my own savage comments for this book, try to refrain from serious mocking, and keep my malodorous problems to myself for the time being. This book, much like a couple in this series of “Practical” karate is not as sweet-smelling as I had hoped.

In this series of reviews I have tried my best to impress upon visitors the significance of these kinds of books. These books are supposed to be the answers to the questions, “How can I make karate really work?” and “How can I keep myself safe through karate?”. If the answers to these questions are not satisfactory we have a serious problem, and unlike other books where we can say, “I liked part A but I didn't like part B” we can't be such generous readers with books that contain information on how we can stay alive in a violent conflict. Just like a fight that is for real, it is an “all or nothing” situation.

I also want to address, in brief, the issue of being too forgiving on these kinds of books because they were authored by Nakayama-Sensei and Draeger-Sensei. Both men have tragically died young and are no longer around to explain or develop further these texts. Nevertheless, in light of the seriousness of the objectives of books on personal self-defense, although I have no desire to wrongfully speak ill of what they have put together, I cannot spare them criticism that is merited or deserved.

This book, Practical Karate 5, is supposed to be the one that helps women learn how to keep themselves safer from physical attack or rape. Sadly, this book mostly fails to deliver. It begins with over 40 pages of wrist seizures and how to do nifty twisty tricks to get out of them. This section of the book begins with:

The lone male `animal' who molests and attacks a female by simple hand or wrist seizures does so for various purposes that include plain anger, robbery, or sexual lust for her bodily charms.

The simple campy opening to this section should be warning enough to women looking at it not to bother carrying it to the book store cash register. A woman who is being attacked by a man is usually in fear for her very life. Every action that she takes needs to be effective and brutal. Each technique she uses has to deliver the maximum amount of pain to the attacker in order for her to survive and escape. A bunch of twisty wrist things just is not going to cut it, particularly when the man is enraged, outweighs the woman by over a hundred pounds, and is fighting with intent to assault and rape.

Nowhere in this book does it talk about biting your attackers nose off, sticking a thumbnail in someone's eye and holding it there, or ripping off someone's ears. But there are nifty wrist twisting things here. God help us.

Other low points in this book can be found on:

Page 38 This technique is impractical. The woman is held by her wrist, and then swings around to get behind the assailant in her high heel shoes. The attacker would not necessarily be standing in a static position. Furthermore, she is too far away to attack with the heel of her shoe.

Page 65 God save us from the yama-zuki. The most impractical punch ever designed by kata-daydreamers. I can't say I haven ever seen yama-zuki in a tournament, have you? A woman who punched to the abdomen of her attacker is going to have a hard time doing enough damage to stop him cold. Punch to the throat, then you see some reaction. Punching, let along double-punching, to the abdomen and chest of a grown man is not going anywhere. I recommend seeing how effective this punch is on the heavy bag, or even another student. I think you will quickly see it is superfluous and inneffective. Beautiful in kata, hopeless on the street.

Page 96 and 104 The single-knuckle punches on these pages look woefully inadequete, and tricky to do. This book is supposed to be for all women, not just women who are accomplished in karate. I think this more than borders on Impractical Karate.

Page 106 Here we see a hard to execute elbow attack where the woman is actually inside the man's embraces. I think that the “gaijin attacker” is playing along much more than he ought to throughout. If he was a real rapist he would not be so easy-going.

Page 114 Here we see the woman victim attacking the hands of her assailant with single-knuckle punches. Great Scott. I think if any woman tried to use this in a real life and death situation she would be giving up precious seconds in her self-defense and be hopelessly lost to the whims of her attacker. Stupid technique. Punching someone in the hand? You must be kidding.

There were a few good things too, however:

Pages 91 and 118 Good throat attacks with elbows. I like to see this kind of technique. It takes some of the hardest parts of the body and uses them to their best advantage. There is nothing like an elbow to the throat to help someone get away from an attacker.

Pages 31,32, 72, 84 and 117 all have some good foot stamps. The key point about stomping on someone's foot is to have a number two technique to finish off the attacker. I recommend an elbow to the throat. The foot stomp by itself makes your attacker angrier so you really need to think of what to do for the follow-up.

Page 81 has a good groin attack. But attacks to the groin are dangerous and tricky. Most boys and men have natural reactions to protect their genitals. Most do not keep them so accessible to attack, and missing further angers your attacker. After all, he may be hoping to use his pocket furniture. I suggest eye-gouges, throat attacks, biting, elbows to the head and throat, head butts to the nose, stomping the tops of his feet, and also screaming your guts out.

I don't know what it is about this book. It mostly is utter nonsense, and the wishful thinking of trying to apply things in the dojo directly to street situations. I find the approach flawed in some serious ways and wish that some experts in self-defense in the Shotokan world would remedy this situation with a much better book. I would certainly like to see it and would be glad to recommend it to others.

Part of the problem may be that physical assault and rape in Japanese culture are so hushed up all the time that it is hard to really talk about how to defend yourself. We all know that rape goes on in Japan, just like it does in all countries, but how to deal with it, defend yourself, or survive beyond it are largely taboo subjects. In such instances the Japanese seem to close their eyes extra tight and just wish the whole thing would just go away.

But it doesn't go away. And that is what predators count on. That is precisely the reason why self-defense is such a critical thing for karate students and teachers to focus on. We need better material for this kind of thing, explicit education in such matters, and rigorous training to help people stop becoming victims.

So don't buy this book in the hopes of having your questions answered. It just does not deliver in so many ways.

Lastly, I have no idea why they couldn't have a Japanese assailant vs. the innocent Japanese girl victim. Looks like Donn Draeger got the assignment to play “menacing gaijin”. It seems like no one is safe from us after all.

Sheesh.

One more depressing review in this series coming next.

Mark Groenewold
Kanazawa, Japan
October, 2002

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