Do you still have your Uechi book?

[gmattson]

Now that word has gotten out that Uechi-ryu Karate Do is "out of print", your book may be worth more than you paid for it!
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Uechi-ryu Karate Do
by George E. Mattson
Edition: Paperback

Used 1 to 2 of 2

Price Condition Seller Information

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$249.95
Good Seller: bookwood (Safe buying guarantee)
Seller Rating: (based on 126 ratings)
Availability: Ships from CA, United States; item usually ships in 1-2 business days; expedited shipping available. international shipping available. (See shipping rates)
Comments: G+++ Trade PB with minor shelfwear. Contents bright tight and excellent. Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.


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$399.99
Very good Seller: parkslopebooks (Safe buying guarantee)
Seller Rating: (based on 239 ratings)
Availability: Ships from NY, United States; item usually ships in 1-2 business days; international shipping available. (See shipping rates)
Comments: 1983 printing. VERY scarce. Minor edgewear and small light creasing, otherwise fine.

[f.Channell]

Sensei,
The question is not if I have it.
But how many I have!!!
f.

[2Green]

In my opinion the the value of the contents far exceeds its monetary value.
Mine is pencil-commentaried, dog-eared,pages falling out,signed by Jim Maloney and David Mott, and a constant reference in my training.

My question is...what has replaced it as the definitive Uechi Ryu reference text?
My feeling is that there should be a single, comprehensive and authoritative source of Uechi Ryu in the same way that for example, Tae Kwon Do practitioners have the CD ROM to refer to if they need to clear up a detail or check a technique.
If the Uechi book is discontinued with no "official" text to replace it, then to me that is a big gap.
I could care less what the 492 pages are worth on eBay.

NM

[f.Channell]

It's not the value it's the thrill of the hunt.
I spent years looking for a copy of the fabled "Way of Karate" in it's original hard cover.
I felt like Indiana Jones when I finally found it.
The internet has taken away that fun, all you need is $$$$$ now.
f.

[gmattson]

limited edition hard-cover Uechi-ryu book? I'm looking for one for my library!

Susan sold the last one, thinking I had put one away. . .

[Bill Glasheen]

I have one, and you can't have it. I also have a copy of the "yellow" book. I've collected quite a few of the rare Uechi books from this and other continents over the years. Like you, I wish I had more.

there should be a single, comprehensive and authoritative source of Uechi Ryu in the same way that for example, Tae Kwon Do practitioners have the CD ROM to refer to if they need to clear up a detail or check a technique.

Hmmm... I disagree. I'll be damned if I'm going to have some pinhead - of any ethnicity - tell me that Joe Blow's book on Uechi kata has the "authoritative" version of sanchin or seisan or sanseiryu kata. An "authoritative" version of a kata is like an authoritative version of a jazz song or a Grateful Dead song.

Kata are encyclopedias of techniques. But techniques within kata can be done many different ways, depending on one's level of understanding, the intent when one performs the form at that point in time, the context of the technique in the form (and whether or not you choose to acknowledge that), and one's athletic potential at that point in time. Perhaps the closest thing you could come to an "authoritative" version of a form would be to have the choreographer do one or more personal versions of it when (s)he was in reasonably good athletic condition. But even then, one will do it differently, depending on the mood.

Take for example the books and videos of Uechi Kanei doing sanchin. He is doing the kata in a rather pedantic fashion. He was being filmed, and he knew he was being filmed. He was performing kata the way I might read a piece of material if I knew folks were taking dictation as I spoke.

Take a single move in a form. Just last Saturday I was teaching "chef" two different ways of doing the fancy circle motion of seiryu kata - both forward and mirror image. And neither of the ways I was doing the motion were exactly like the way Uechi Kanei does it when you see the famous 16 mm films. I was teaching her versions of the move that were "context specific" - expecting her to perform the total kata at an advanced dan level rather than a karate-by-numbers shodan level. That gets quite complex, and it is subject to personal interpretation.

And I ask my own students to go to camp, and get other teachers to critique their forms. If they come back with something different, like what they do, can execute it well, and can justify their personal choice, then I give it the stamp of approval.

Every book and every video is a unique contribution. I like it all, and I want it all. And from it all, I will create my own personal versions of Uechi's style. And that will never be a fixed entity.

- Bill

[f.Channell]

Hardcover...... back to the used book bins!
Along with the elusive first edition of the Way of Karate with the green "grass cover".
I have a "yellow book" but it's been seriously used and worn out.
It's the book from Okinawa I recently bought that I could do without.
Written in Japanese with pictures of their trips to europe.
Save your cash.
F.

[JaySal]

Hi George:

Reading all about these books made me pull out my copies to see exactly what I have. Lets see, I have two copies of the original “Way of Karate”. I got the first book way back in 1969, when I started training at the “Mattson Academy of Karate”. The books Printing date is 1968. The other book is dated 1973. I also have the second book. I have the original yellow copy with everyone’s promotional dates in the back. I have a couple of the yellow books. I also have the book in Gold, and Red. I should not forget the original series of five books you wrote and put together back in the early 1960’s. I have them also…

I also have the “Hard Cover” copy of the book you asked about in a prior post. You gave me the book as a gift about 10 years ago.

Take care

[Halford]

I bought THE WAY OF KARATE in a bookstore in Hilo,Hawaii, in 1963, just prior to leaving for the Philippines and I started seriously reading it on the plane, a Pan-Am flight to Manila. I bought Tomiki's judo and aikido book at the same time, if I recall. Anyway, I had the book until around 1968 when a friend/student,etc. asked me if I had anything that dealt with the Shaolin Temple(which was getting popular due to the Kungfu show on TV,etc.) and so I loaned him the book along with about ten or more otehr ones at the time, including Smith and Draeger's Asian Martial Arts. The books totaled at that time around $100.00 bucks and as I find now, probably worth much more, despite any reprints,etc. I had returned to the States in 1968-69 and this was 1971-72 when I was going back to the Philippines and I asked the guy, whose name I will not mention here, to bring them to my parent's house when he was finished. He was writing a thesis for his college courses at the time. Being a nice guy, I thought he would have the integrity to return them and I should have known better,having been burnt before by lending books,etc. Anyway, when I returned in 1981 I found he had kept them. Some years later,maybe in the late 80's or early 90's this same guy saw an article of mine and wrote me and asked me if I remembered him,etc. and he told me he was a probation officer in Florida. I replied,if I recall to this extent,"Of course I remember you rather well. I lent you over a hundred dollars worth of martial arts books which you never returned!" I never heard from him again! Cest la vie!

[Topos]

I was privileged to have read and reviewed GEM's manuscript prior to publication, among many other students. That was the day he showed up as the 'big, bad, biker' (on a Vespa, rain coat to sutdio). I also remember when he was laying out the steps on the floor or the 'meat locker' on the 3d floor with Don M and his posing for the famous book cover shot. To this day I hear GEM's "turn out your back heel", shoulder down, etc. Often revisit Original along with the 1974 'let our nukite do the walking' thru the Yellow Pages .

When GEM first was teaching Cat Stance to us he was told by Onkinawa that it was 'too soon' and stopped for a while. But we did learn to do it in 4 directions smoothly and somewhat to his satisfaction.

[Topos]

I forgot to mention this tidbit. GEM told us when he sent book to Okinawa Master Uechi replied why he had NOT included Sanseiryu " have you forgoten it?". GEM chuclked at that 'review'. Guess even best authors get some bad reviews

[gmattson]

I suspect you remember many of the "secret" techniques that was part of the "1959 - 60's" era. . .

A kinder, gentler time. . . when we thought a "karate kick" would kill!

[CANDANeh]

Bumper stickers?.. recently seen a mint condition Mattson Academy bumper sticker apparently from the sixties, I believe it was found at a yard sale here in NS. It didn`t come up here on a bumper so go figure?

[Topos]

GEM is lucky that my ormer agency taught us that Secrets ARE just that, Secret .

One of the 'declassified' ones: GEM told a few of us gathered about his desk one day was that if we could knock out a candle with a quick punch we would have a super 'killer' punch. He lit a candle and told me to puch it out. HUH? "Are you sure, George?" "Yes!". OK, I lined up, took Uechi stance and with 'lightening speed' punched the candle across the desk :):). Stunned silence from GEM and the other guys around. "I meant that you were to stop short of the FLAME". "Oh, you mean develop a shock wave, right??".

GEM would not let me try again. (Wonder why??)

At home I could put out the flame ON THE CANDLE, stopping a respectful distance from the flame, with the shoken fist. And as GEM also demonstrated himself, I would hang newspaper from a hanger and could tear sections across with the same punch.

As to developing a 'killer punch', I relied on my cognitive self awareness as to my limitations and chose to trust in 1911 A1 John Browning.

But, seriously, when I taught I made sure to say precisely what I expected.

Other 'secrets' out of the past might be revealed as they become declassified

[Halford]

In the Philippines where candles were cheap and plentiful, I found I could work up a good sweat at night(even in tropical heat) with this exercise. You could also receive the same benefits to your arms,etc. from punching air,of course, but somehow candles made a difference. Then you can try kicks,etc. with the candles. Larger candles are harder,especially if they have large wicks. Some persons can put out the candle on the first try, while others take many trials. What else have you observed in this practice?