The Kata and Bunkai of Goju-Ryu Karate: The Essence of the Heishu and Kaishu Kata

An engaging read on the various katas of Goju Ryu, detailing their applications and the author’s personal experiences. It’s definitely worth having

I have read Giles Hopkins’ blog (goju-ryu.blogspot) for several years now and have always found it thoughtful and challenging. So when he posted that he was working on a book, I pre-ordered it immediately.Now Hopkins is an English teacher and the book benefits from it. It is structured basically as a 200+ page argument for what the kata of Goju-ryu mean. How they all follow the same principles, sometimes showing remarkable similarity, and are self-referential. Just as you would expect from the people that put this style together. Each chapter on each kata can be seen as evidence for this argument, culminated in Appendix A and Appendix B where Hopkins lays out the tools/ideas used to construct this argument.In between discussing the bunkai, Hopkins includes short vignettes of his own training experiences, a nice touch which was enjoyable to read and (I think) made his argument stronger. It is clear that this view of bunkai – radically different than what most karate-ka practice- wasn’t something he came up with overnight, but instead was a slow realization over time.Fair warning, the book is dense. It is something I had to read slowly to understand and I took my time visualizing the kata and bunkai being discussed. This is definitely a book that is worth bringing TO the dojo to work through some of the ideas with a partner. You’ve heard of active listening? Well this is active reading. Be prepared to stand up and go through the kata in between paragraphs.If you have been studying Goju-ryu for a while or if you know most of the classical kata, I cannot recommend this text strongly enough. It will probably challenge you – I know Hopkins’ view of bunkai was not the one I grew up training with. But his argument has convinced me that Goju-ryu is a system that works together in a way that is consistent and does not treat any random bunkai equally. If you would like to see a different view of bunkai, then order this book.

So, said Miyagi Chojun, the founder of Okinawan Goju Ryu. The "secrets" are not some hidden teaching imparted to worthy students late at night in the dark corners of the dojo. . Instead, they are discovered through diligent and mindful practice. Giles Hopkins has done a service for all serious practitioners of karate with his thoughtful analyses of the movement patterns in the classic katas of Goju Ryu. The clues to uncovering the bunkai (analysis) that Sensei Giles offers, provide a template for further, productive study.Each chapter provides a study of a major classical kata,providing step by step movements and some photographs. Probably the greatest weakness of any such book,inherent in the nature of simply describing movement that must be learned by doing, is the difficulty of understanding and applying (without which there is no true understanding) the described movements from a written text, even with accompanying photos. This book is best for someone with some practice performing the katas, who can bring greater knowledge and understanding into his or her practice of it. Each chapter concludes with a brief personal episode from Okinawa, an invitation to the warmth and humanity of the people who have invested their lives in training and teaching karate, and, at the same time, brings home a point about training and being trained by the katas. I have had the privilege of training under Kimo Wall, the same man who introduced Giles to Goju Ryu and taught him for many years. Many warm memories returned to me as I read those stories. True and joyful training of a serious art connects us not just to our own bodies, but to many generations of friends and forerunners, all who live on in our practice and fellowship.

Very informative book and prospect of Gikes’ interpretation on how kata speaks to him and how he believes kata and it’s bunkai should be applied. I like the pictures they help connect and describe his bunkai that sometimes is different to describe in WORDS!This book is very frank and Giles Hopkins throws some “pot shots “ at others and their prospective of bunkai.. I find it to be humorous.😊 nothing wrong with a little controversy!!Some of the applications probably would be best described via video because it’s too difficult to describe in words. Overall I thought it’s a excellent informative read for all GOJU PRACTITIONERS!!!!

This really is an excellent book for any Nahate practitioner. I have been reading through carefully and working through the applications of the kata I had been given. As a Shito-Ryu practitioner with past experiences with a Goju-Ryu instructor, I found the book to have many useful ways in which to look at kata and bunkai. The book is professional in presentation and well written compared to other martial arts texts out there.

It's a good book, but way too many neck breaks. Like the ones you see in the movies. As someone who spars and grapples quite frequently, i don't believe in the movie neck break where you twist the chin and forehead away from each other. At least half of his bunkai end with this exact move, so that kinda ruins things for me. The author would have you think the ninja movie neck break is the most important move in karate. Other than that, it's a good book. His other kata interpretations make sense and many are actually quite insightful.Also, note that this is not a manual for learning kata. It's more a discussion on kata application. It assumes you know the kata well already.

There is no possibility to learn kata without a deep understating of its bunkai. If you are serious about your karate this book is a must on your library. I hope one day I can visit and train at the barn Dojo!

Written really well and kept me coming back for more. I enjoyed the "opinions" and not having a book full of dogma and rhetoric. It also wasn't filled with egocentric stories made to make the writer more credible, but instead, it had good stories any karateka would enjoy.

The pictures are lacking in the angle they present

excellent travail pour retrouver le sens originel des bunkai

From the title, one would expect a step by step description of goju ryu katas followed by the bunkai of each kata. However, the author assumes the reader already knows the katas and jumps into explaining the bunkai of certain positions of each sequence of the katas. Come on, I would think a 6th degree black belt would appreciate that different schools of Okinawan goju ryu (Jundokan, Meibukan, etc.) each have slight differences in their katas. So a description of the kata author is explaining bunkai is necessary. Having said all that, I would still say the explanation of bunkai is very good. 2 stars off for not including a description the katas. Must try harder.

Master Giles Hopkins is a very interesting person.I have had the pleasure to exchange ideas with him, to discuss with him and also to finally met him in my Country, Italy.The book contains lots of the answers I were looking for, that I was unable to collect during our Italian meeting.I suggest this book to each real Goju Ryu pratictioner with an open mindset.The ideas of Master Giles will probably crush your belief, and will arise in you doubts as well to point out critics.For the Okinawan Goju enstablishment this book is a HUGE problem, since it brakes (with cold logical facts) much of the teaching out there.Master Giles changed the way I was used to think about bunkai, and gives new fresh points of view to start a new study.I enjoyed the book, very well written as well as goog presented.But I suggest to go deep in the Blog of the Master before reading it.In fact many of the aspects described within the book seems too difficult to the newbie on the Hopkins approach.I think Master should start thinking a new entry-level book, more easier to the outsider, to prepare the reader and give the proper value to this one.Anyway, I consider this work a real Jewel, since I never came across anything similar to this one.Read it and think about it. Probably you will be not with the same opinions of the author, but this allow you to think differently.This will be a new journey in your loved art: OKINAWAN GOJU RYU KARATE.Andrea

TO Similar to other books.