Practical Karate Volume 2 Defense Agains. Donn F. Draeger

      AUTHORS' FOREWORD

      THIS BOOK is written for every male and brings to him a chance to improve his personal self-defense abilities without engaging in the severe discipline and dedication to daily training required by classical karate. It is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of karate methods, but it does set down the "meat" necessities for practical application. In choosing this book's methods and techniques, careful consideration was given to the practice time available to the average person. The many complex movements of classical karate can never be efficiently learned by the casual practitioner who, by less than daily training, can never attain the flexibility and reflex action essential to the acrobatic movements of a karate expert. Therefore, a simplified, direct method of self-defense is necessary.

      You will notice that the arrangement of this text is a categorized collection of self-defense situations and recommended karate responses. Here you can readily find common self-defense problems and an efficient response thereto. If you have already studied and practiced the necessary karate fundamentals found in Book one of this series, the situations in this volume will be easy to learn. Otherwise, after reading about the situation and response herein, you may find it necessary to turn to Book one to find the movements and exercises which are necessary to make these responses work effectively.

      All methods described in this book are workable karate self-defense responses based on facing an unarmed assailant. The subjects of self-defense against an armed assailant or multiple assailants are not treated, since they are highly specialized and beyond the scope of this book. These topics will be covered in Books three and four. Likewise, self-defense for females is not included due to the limitations of their physical abilities and restrictions of dress. This subject will be covered in Book five of this series.

      The reader is reminded that even mastery of what is outlined in this text will not make him invincible in personal encounters, but it will certainly better prepare him should defense of his life or that of others become necessary. He is further reminded that mere reading, together with one or two rehearsals of each response in this book, will not produce results.

      The authors are indebted to the Japan Karate Association, Tokyo, japan, for the use of their facilities and hereby acknowledge with pleasure the assistance of those members and officials who have made this book possible. Additional thanks is due to the excellent photographic skills of Akira Kasahara, which has given this book its illustrations, and to James S. Bregman, a student of combative arts who posed as the "assailant" in the illustrations.

      Tokyo, Japan