BO: Karate Weapon of Self-Defense

I recently received this book and it is the best martial arts book I have ever read. It had a plethora of pictures and clear writing. Most importantly it thoroughly covered the basics such as hand position, basic strikes, and basic blocks. The kata in the end left a little to be desired, but I could find no other flaws in the book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and I plan on buying Fumio Demura's other books on weapon fighting now.

My brother has the first (original) publishing of this book. When we were kids, we self-taught ourselves martial arts weapons. In the 1970s and 1980s most Karate, Tae Kwon Do schools did not teach weapons unless you reached brown, red, or black belt. So we bought this book to teach ourselves. Although I specialized in the nunchuckau, my brother loved the staff.Fumio Demura is a karate legend. His books are easy to follow and understand. This is a MUST HAVE book if you are learning the Staff, Kwon, or Bo. And everyone should learn how to use a staff.... lots of the techiniques can be used whether you have a staff, broom stick, mop, long umbrella, or cane.I bought this book again to teach my daughters. Get the book over the DVD. We bought both, because I thought the DVD would help more. But the DVD doesn't do justice for the student.

The only thing I didn’t like was the overuse of Japanese terms. You had to remember them from previous chapters.

The book is in excellent condition and it's what I'm looking for. The book has a different cover, being a 1976 edition, but it has the same content. I can't wait to add it to my collection! Thank you!

As is my wont, I regularly spend a bit of time searching for " magic bullets". We all do it. However, truth is, you simply need to train more, create a regular home practice, using effective study guides. Mr. Demura's books have consistently fit the definition of "useful tool" for such a practice.Nothing replaces the actual experience of learning under a qualified instructor, but home practice often requires a "bridge" for the classic "Nuts, now what?" moment when one forgets the next transition step. Demura Sensei's Bo text serves this purpose. I highly recommend it. Nothing fancy. Just the basics.Ha! Just "Kihon". Oss!

I like how inexpensive this manual is and it's abundance of images. I'm using it to help lead a workgroup on basic weapons techniques and it provides more than sufficient information to get a feel for the the basics of bo-jitsu.Obviously, taking classes from a trained instructor would be superior, but for the price, this is a worthwhile reference or starting book.

A good book for the novice student of bo or jojitsu, although I am honestly unsure as to whether an experienced practitioner would find it useful. The photo illustrations are particularly helpful; although I would second the comment by a different reviewer that this book would be just that much better with the creation/addition of a three-ring or spiral bound edition.

This is my second book I have purchased from this author. I had trouble figuring out maybe 1-2 techniques at first, out of the entire book, based on the images provided. Otherwise, everything else was easy to follow. It seems like he covers most if not all the Bo moves on defense and offense. Any techniques that are not in this book would be more along the lines of fancy Bo work because he seems to cover all the steps.

Great book to my collection

Altes Standardwerk zum Bo-Karate des Kobudo. Gute Beschreibungen, dem Alter angemessene Abbildungen. Das Buch deckt von den Griffen und Ständen über die Schlag und Blocktechniken auch Partnerübungen, Schwünge und eine Kata ab. Bin zufrieden.

The pictures may be a bit old and black and white but they show the proper flow of the movments which is quite rare. When an unusual hand position is needed there is an inset close up of the hand to show it. This just makes it so much easier to understand whats going on. There are still some parts you will have to think about but it is all shown, its just that some parts are not easy.The selection of movements shown was exactly what I was looking for with a good mix of strikes, blocks and twirls/transitions. Personally I would have prefered it if they had dropped the long kata at the end and filled the space with more instruction but it appears you have to have a kata in a book like this.

I have been practicing and teaching karate, mostly Shotokan, for 50 years now, but have not been very interested in the traditional weapons. A couple of my 3rd dan black belt students have become interested in Bo katas and techniques, and their interest has rubbed off on me. One of these students has been practicing Bo for a few years now, and has become quite competent with it. He recommended this book, so I have bought it. So far I am impressed with the wealth of knowledge in the book. There seems to be not many books covering the traditional Bo training methods. So, based on my own knowledge of martial arts, and my students' recommendations, I believe this may be one of the best books available for Bo training.

Exactly what I wanted. I am a beginner in Bo training and application. So, this is just perfect information recourse for me as a beginner. Simple basic exercises in striking, poking etc. If there is a need to advance the methods of training just use your imagination and common sense. Once again, as I said this is perfect basic information recourse for beginners.