Masatoshi NakayamaBest Karate, Vol.5: Heian, Tekki (Best Karate Series)

The book is great. I plan on buying the whole set in time. I'm a 8th kyu yellow belt in Shotokan and this book has helped me greatly with my kata. The step by step instructions are great and it makes learning the a lot simpler, it's great being able to double check that you're in the right stance, aiming at the right spot, or doing a technique correctly when practicing on your own. I'm a collegiate competitor who started karate last fall, and all ready I'm beating entire teams of orange belts in competitions. After buying this book I've taken first in all my kata competitions (there's only been one, but still, I was the lowest rank =P). You won't regret buying this book, it's great.ps: I can't wait to go to Master Camp this summer being a yellow belt that knows all the kata's a purple belt should have learned ;D

Photos show a series of pictures, which lets the reader view the entire process of moves to go from step to step (not just the ending pose). Kata lines and overhead photos let you view directions to be facing with foot, hand, body, stance, and posture. English and (Romanized) Japanese help the user understand and connect with what is taught in the dojo and training seminars. If you are needing a first or only book for a starting Shotokan karate athlete, this is the one you should buy (Volume 5)! All of Nakayama's Best Karate series books are the standards that organizations depend upon.

I bought this book many years ago, when I first started Shotokan. Recently, when my young daughters began their Shotokan training, and were begging to learn their first katas, I wanted to review the early Heians to make sure I was accurate on some of the more obscure hand, foot and body positions. Unfortunately, I could not find my old copy, so I order another from Amazon. Wonderfully precise instruction on the basic mechanics of Shotokan Karate, or traditional Japanese karate. It is an outstanding resource for karateka of Shotokan.

The finer point of JKA-style Shotokan kata through first brown belt. Karate-do Kyohan is an absolutely essential test, but for those practicing most modern Shotokan styles, the Best Karate series shows and tells the kata, well, best.

Great book to draw from when studying Shotokan Karate.

solid karate

Top diagrams showing foot placement with knee spot are very helpful. Detailed description of movement (eg hip pulls back leg up until even, then former front leg pushes) are also great. Very good text if you want to learn /practice on your own.

These are a great set of books for Karate. I use them in conjunction with Karate class. In case I forget a little detail in a kata.

Nakayama's Best Karate was published in English in 1979, but remains the definitive guide to Shotokan Karate.Eschewing modern trends for more showy, exaggerated katas, intended to wow tournament judges, these volumes retain an old school economy of motion that older karatekas and those whose interest is more in karate as a practical fighting corpus will appreciate.Each of the kata volumes includes some written notes on the execution of each kata, well translated and clearly presented. But the bulk of the book is taken up with photographs of the proper execution. Gratifyingly, these include transitional steps that clarify many executions. There are occasional areas of ambiguity, but these are minor and leave the practitioner are small margin for imagination and interpretation.This volume includes all the Heian katas from Shodan to Godan, and all three Tekki katas. The only omission I've noticed so far is a failure to indicate the second kiai in Heian Godan.

This is my core learning book at the moment. I like using the first and second volume (I don't have any of the rest yet) as more detailed guides to individual stances, movements, etc. at the side. This book is a great book for beginners like me, but also advanced belts as it is very specific and has great pictures. They're black and white and pretty old, but really, I've bought much more recent books with disappointingly bad colour photographs where I could never learn any Kata without youtube, whereas for this book youtube has not been necessary for me to understand the movements.

This book is a classic. Well compiled.Its excellent for reference and for practising katas at home when one doesn't have one's sensei attention.I thoroughly recommend it.

The 'Best Karate' series of books are considered the bible of karate. Nakayama was the head of the JKA, after Funakoshi.A 'must buy' for any serious karateka !!!

This is a very good book and a must for my Karaty library. Clear pictures and easy to understand. As I progress I will get the others in the series.