Secrets of
Shotokan Karate
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| The Cover of Secrets of Shotokan Karate |
Note: This review has been re-vamped after reader protest (and rightfully so) that the author did not have his facts straight. Sigh, such things happen. But when you are wrong, you are wrong! So, once again, here we go!!
Not the greatest title for a book, Secrets of Shotokan Karate, suggests that by reading this book you will uncover the “secrets” of karate that have eluded us thus far by purchasing this text. Granted, this book has lots of good stuff, but none of it is particularly secretive. Nakayama-Sensei had said before that, “There are no secrets in karate” so either he, or Rielly are right. Taken into consideration that Shotokan karate is no older than about 60 odd years Rielly's title for this book is further disputed. I think that I will stick with Nakayama-Sensei's approach that all the things of karate are understandable, explainable, and teachable.
I actually wanted to like this book. And there are some very good things in this volume. In particular, I really enjoyed the Principles of Physical Movement and Strategy chapters. I thought they were excellent, and strangely enough, everything about them was explainable and teachable.
My previous review had some very strong reactions to some of the percieved “false zen” material that I had imagined I had read in this book. The truth of the matter is that most of that nonsense is found in Rielly's first book, “Complete Shotokan Karate”, a text that should have received a much more vitriolic review than it did. That text, by the way, suggests that “complete” Shotokan karate has its philosophical roots deeply entrenched in the samurai ethos and self-abnegation of the self, thus exemplifying the “zen” ideal. Bad history meets bad karate practice. Sounds much like a double-damnation for me, but we will just try to drop the whole thing together for now in terms of this book.
Secrets of Shotokan Karate has some bright spots in it. There are a series of different drills that might be interesting to do, although these pre-arranged kumite attacks tend to resemble more “kihon heavy” approaches to introducing jiyu-kumite, rather then illuminating what “secrets” we may find within the technique in a more real fighting environment. Despite more good than bad chapters, which though they are good are still much of what you can find in the much superior Dynamic Karate by Master Nakayama, this book, on the whole, gets a tepid reaction from me. This book is not one of the brighter jewels in karate text publication.
Lastly, this text, follows Rielly's previous book, “Complete Shotokan Karate”. Now that I think of it, this last book kind of begs the question, “If the last book was the “complete” Shotokan Karate why didn't you include these “secrets” the first time around?
No amazon link for this one. Sorry folks. Friends don't let friends buy “Secrets to Shotokan Karate”. Save your $25.00 and buy something more worthy of your hard-earned cash. There is no “kuden” here. No secret codes. No decoder rings included either.
Mark Groenewold
December, 2003
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