I will be the first one to tell you, Im a nerd! I am! No matter how long and spikey my hair gets, no matter how close I get to finishing the tattood sleeves on my arms or how loud I jam out to my rock music, Im still very nerdy. No matter how many skulls and cross bones I have printed on my shirts and backpacks, the truth is there is probably a book on history, theology or some type of fighting art inside that rockstar backpack. Infact, on nights I have to close, at work, I now make it a morning routine to go to the local Mc Donalds and drink coffee and read all morning. But you can call that my failed attempts to post a young revolution against the Amen Corner and make Mc Donalds the new young coffee shop... Among my readings, both in books and via internet, I always try to find new links to the history of Hapkido. Anyone who studies the history of Hapkido knows its a very tough subject to follow. Theres so many arguements and politics, some stories go down one road some go others. But the peices never really come toghether. Thats why whenever I meet a new HKD Grandmaster, one of my first questions is always whats your take on the history?. I enjoy hearing about it through different views. When I lived in Korea, I trained in a very, ROUGH, Hapkido Dojang and to be honest they were more interested in learning how to grab my roundhouse kicks, twist my knee and throw me across the room than talk about history. And I was ok with that! But now, as I help instruct HKD classes under my instructor, who is GREAT, I enjoy talking the history and the origins. I feel if you know where something came from, and what was going on during that time you can better understand why its done like that. I remember when I saw the first few UFCs and noticed Royce Gracie always moving in with a low (at the time, in my opinion very weak) front kick I thought to myself, hmm this Gracie Jiu Jitsu has some areas of opportunity in their stand up. Years later I read an article about the origins of Gracie Jiu Jitsu, how the Judo/Jujitsu master turned Catch Wrestler fighter Mitsuyo Maeda crafted up a way to close the gap. In the East, the matches had no stand up attacks, only grapples mostly starting on the ground in sitting positions, to europe where they were from stand up, clinch to the ground, into the Americas where boxing was always a major part of the fight. Master Maeda spent years developing a way to move from the boxing range into the grapple without exchanging blows with a better boxer. Even later, most recently, I was given the best Christmas present ever, the complete Gracie Combatives Train at home course. A box full of DVDs a hand book and a training poster. On the poster it illustrates the Gracie Combatives (not to be mistakken for Gracie Jiu Jitsu or Sport Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) principles. These are to 1)Close the distance 2)Get the take down 3)Establish the dominant position and 4)finish the fight. So after learning who, where and why these skills were developt I understood the low sliding forward front kick from the original UFC matches of Royce Gracie. Wow it all makes sense like that. Thats what Grant Miller has done in his book! He has takken this aspect, the WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE AND WHY of the Daito Ryu Aiki JuJutsu art, and mother art to so many other arts. Arts like, Aiki BuJutsu, Aikido, Hakko Ryu Jujutsu, Kokodo Jujutsu and even their Korean cousin HAPKIDO! Master Miller has even added a VERY INTERESTING fact to my collection of Aiki JuJutsu/Hapkido history. FACT, when Sensei Tekada was only 16 years old, before he became the Famouse instructor of Daito Ryu to the public, he set out on a trip to go fight in the revolution of the Samurai Vs the newly formed modern Japan. But he was too late. Imagine the movie THE LAST SAMURAI (and if you havnt seen it your wrong) go through that whole movie, and picture the final battle, the one where Tom Cruis character and all the other Samurais are defeated. Now imagine across the battlefeild walks up a young 16 year old Samurai warrior who just got there. Ready to fight for his honor and the honor of the whole Warrior class, the Budo. Only hes too little too late... And now the movie has a part II, its the life of Sensei Tekada who grows up to be one of the most famouse warriors and instructors ever. And if anyone makes that into a movie they have to break me off with a few hundred dollars (or at least a new flashy HKD uniform ;) That, alone, really cleared up a lot and changed a lot for me! I always knew Sensei Tekada came from a wealthy family and was able to travel around Japan and learn different warrior arts, arts I cant even spell right now and am too lazy to research. I always knew he was an even better sword fighter than a fist fighter, and he always carried his kendo gear just in case. I even knew he had well over like 600 fights in his life, against other Jujitsu groups. But I never knew he was about to be part of the huge Samurai Revolution and put it all to the REAL TEST. Not to mention at the very young age of 16! What a man! Thank you Master Miller for adding that information to the books history. Ive already highlighted it and plan to use it in later discussions and lessons. But the history doesnt stop with a few fun facts about Sensei Tekadas early years. Master Miller walks us through the history from the Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu, to the early Korean years with Grandmaster Choi and his first student, and the many names used. To the Dojunim Ji Han Jae era and the development of Hapkido as we now know it. With, again, the WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE AND WHYS of how certain techniques were added, like the kicks and meditaitons. Skipping to the back of the book, Master Miller even examines certain aspects of the Owkinawan Karate Do styles and their links and roots. He through in another very cool fact, about how the founder of a very popular Karate Dojo traveled and trained closely with the founder of Aikido. I literally highlighted almost the entire history seciton of this book. Yes I highlight in my books, Im a nerd remember ;) But this book isnt only a history work. This book examines the three major wrist locks of AIKI JUJUTSU, AIKIDO and HAPKIDO and explores the simularities and differences as well as list the japanese names and meanings of them. And if Im a nerd, Id have to give it to Master Miller, he can speak, read and write Japanese very well (and that was totaly a complement Sir!) Master Miller shows the meanings of the Kanji Writtings, and breaks them down to explain what the meanings mean seperate and together. By the time you finish this book you will have a grasp on the history of the Aiki Arts, the likeness and differences of certain techniques, the meanings and terms in its original language. The best part is, not everyone is a book worm. Some Martial Artist get books and want to skip through to the kick em in the face pictures and learn some new moves. This book is one of the more shorter reads, in my collection, but full of knowledge and know how. I was able to read through the entire book in one sitting but my mind was still blown away! I totaly reccomend this book for any martial artist of the aiki arts, as well as Karate based arts, where I mentioned above Master Miller did a great job linking the Karate styles to his theory. One of my favorite points about this book, is Master Miller! Like I said earlier, Hapkidos history is a sensitive subject with blankets of politics over it! If you only talked to a Jin Jung Kwan HKD Master you may only hear one side of it. If you only talk to a Han Ki Do stylist you might hear a different sound to the drums. When I read Master Millers bio, at the begining of the book, I noticed he was an out sider looking in. He seemed to have roots and ties with other arts, thus making his findings inpartial. Purely facts from research not one source. I can say I now know SO MUCH MORE about Hapkidos history and the principles of the Aiki arts from reading this book! If you own a gym, dojo or Dojang and have a spot to put a few books for sale, PLEASE MAKE THIS ONE OF THEM! My only regret is I read it at McDonalds thus associating weak naasty coffee with such a tasteful read! Oh well all the more reasson to read it again! ;) Thank you Master Miller, and for anyone wanted to get a copy quickly, Master Miller sells them himself, autographed! I will tag his face book page for anyone who wants to contact Master Miller and order one! Just please dont trump my book review with a better, more organized one!
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 03:25:38 +0000
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