The Way of White Crane Karate

Excellent history of White Crane's influence on Karate.

Well, the book is impressive by size, but I feel that is just filled with some stuff in order to get a bulky book !So , the basics, are taken from a basic shotokan karate of the 80's, it is not the author's picture doing the specifics of Hakutsuru Kenpo Karate and I wonder why... Then You have some kata, mostly of Goju Ryu, and again pictures are taken from various other books. Habersetzer is just the first example in hand. So, why do you give me Sanchin , mentioning it is Higaonna version, when your book is called Way of White Crane and you display proudly, so many pictures with You in China and Okinawa doping white crane and having a Menkyokaiden in Hakutsuru Kenpo .. (BTW, i am not sure that MenkyoKaiden is a tradition in Okinawa and I am not sure how many okinawans also posses the same rank / title / certification, because Menkyokaiden is a japanese tradition, not Okinawan / Ryukyu, etc ) So, most of the katas have big & clear drawing of their pure Goju Ryu version, taken from other sources with no bunkai and not even kata history or links between this katas and the Hakutsuru Kenpo. Tensho kata with the hand movements are so poorly scanned from other sources that you cannot understand the order of movements and images are blurry ( low resolution original image, scanned and resized too big) It really looks like a big mix of things from various sources put together with many many pictures of the author trying to prove his legitimacy... Then you have a poor chapter on Bubishi / Kyusho with very general informations and huge ilustrations of the meridians. The truly input of mr Alexander comes when he explains some kumite theory of the style, and some conditioning - kote kitai...but with no indepth explanation of white crane fundamentals like " floating" "spitting", etc . Just a very basic and correct karate of the '80 but, sorry, no real White Crane in this book. Huge book indeed with insubstantial informations and most of them surely not related to Hakutsuru Kenpo system. Despite the ultra exagerated claim " This is the first book dedicated solely to Okinawan White Crane Karate. This book will teach you the complete Hakutsuru Kenpo Karate system." - THERE IS NO HAKUTSURU KATA in this book , i mean the Hakutsuru katas that mr Alexander explains in his dvd's with the same subject, and which are included in his curriculum as well in his menkyokaiden :) Mostly is pure Goju Ryu and I am a goju ryu practitioner , I have too many books on the subject ...japanese and occidentals... Sorry, misguiding and a waste of money !

Great historical background of how White Crane was brought from China to Okinawa. I appreciate the explanation of how Hakutsuru Kenpo influenced many styles of Okinawan Karate (Shorin Ryu, Goju Ryu, etc) and captures some popular Kata in an earlier less “stylized” form.I attended a seminar hosted by an instructor from a different White Crane system who explained that many Hakutsuru dojo taught different kata and/or different versions of kata unique to their dojo. It was the same way in China. There were really only three Kata required to make a Hakutsuru “White Crane” system. The rest was up to each dojo.When I originally met George Alexander Hanshi on a trip to Okinawa some years ago he explained that since many of his students are familiar with the Shuri Te influence of White Crane (since he holds a 10th Dan in Matsumura Shorin Ryu from Okinawa) he chose to focus his Hakutsuru Kenpo system on the “Naha Te” influence to give them a broader exposure to the White Crane influence. Fujian White Crane routinely uses“San Chian” just like Naha Te uses Sanchin.Since most people see Dr. Alexander as a “Shorin Ryu guy” they don’t realize that he spent some years in the 70’s training under one of Morio Higaonna’s top students at that time (Ken Ogawa). This is why he credits Morio Higaonna’s version of several Kata in his syllabus. Morio Higaonna had also received a Menkyo Kaiden for Goju Ryu so it clearly does happen in some Okinawan styles of Karate. That year I saw George Alexander warmly received by Higaonna Sensei, Hokama Sensei and Toyama Sensei into their Dojos and discussed this book. That is a large part of the reason I decided to purchase it.There are a limited number of instructors in the world that have put in the years, traveled, trained with Masters and documented in an academic manner the the techniques and history of martial arts. I am grateful for all of them. If you ever have the opportunity to meet and train with George Alexander I recommend it!

This is an excellent book for those martial artist that want to delve deeper into the origin of karate and its roots in china. Hanshi George Alexander who is not only holds a 10 degree in Hakutsuru kempo he also has a PhD in Asian studies. He is well traveled in Asia and has visited those still practicing the White Crane techniques in China.. This is a comprehensive review and as a bonus it contains a lot of the " The Bushibi " , that classic manual of combat that served as a reference for the early founders of the various styles of Karate.I recommend this book highly for any serous martial artist.

Another excellent work by my Sensei, mentor, and friend of over 30 years.

Der Kung-Fu-Stil des weißen Kranichs ist vor allem in der Provinz Fukien in Süd-China verbreitet. Er gilt darüber hinaus als Ursprung vieler Karatestile. In den vergangenen Jahren gewann der Stil auch über das Kyusho-Jitsu an Popularität. Der amerikanische Karateka und Buchautor George Anderson erforscht die damit zusammenhängenden Karatestile schon seit Jahren. So hat er Anfang der neunziger Jahre als einer der ersten Autoren in der westlichen Welt eine Version des Bubishi veröffentlicht. Dieses Buch gilt als Quelltest für viele Kampfkunst-Bücher. Alexanders neustes Werk heißt „The Way of White Crane Karate“. Darin beschreibt er die Geschichte und Ursprünge des „Okinawa Hakutsuru Kenpo“. Ein Teil davon war schon in seiner Version des Bubishi zu lesen, doch vor 20 Jahren gab es noch keine Stilrichtung, die so hieß. Und auch die „Okinawa Hakutsuru Kenpo Association“ musste erst von Alexander gegründet werden. Im zweiten Teil beschreibt der Autor Techniken und Formen seines Stils. Leider fehlen bei den Beschreibungen der Formen gerade die für den Weißer-Kranich-Stil typischen Formen (Hakutsuru, Paipuren, Nepai). Die dargestellten Formen finden sich fast alle im Goju-Ryu-Karate wieder, einem Karate-Stil, dessenUrsprung bekannterweise in Fukien liegt. So ist Alexanders Buch zwar informativ, mit seinem großen Wissen hätte der Autor jedoch mehr daraus machen können.

...zwischen zwei und drei Sternen hin- und hergerissen. Das Buch hat viele schlechte Bilder, zu viele, um es als gelungen bezeichnen zu koennen. Dazu kommen die vielen Wiederholungen aus Alexanders frueheren Werken. Nimmt man noch den hohen Preis, dann hat man hier schon eine recht negative Bilanz. Fakt ist, dieses Buch ist recht überfluessig. Gerade zum Thema Karate gibt es wirklich viele Beispiele, die weit besser sind. Und zwar in jedem Aspekt. Die vorliegende Arbeit behandelt alles halbherzig und unfertig. Die Kata-Darstellungen gehen gerade noch so, aber die Partneruebungen sind ein Witz. Hier macht sich die schlechte Qualitaet der Bilder so richtig bemerkbar - zu klein und zu unscharf. Bei einem Buch dieses Formates waeren große, deutliche Fotos eine echte Wertsteigerung. Ich habe mich letztendlich fuer nur zwei Sterne entschieden, weil die eigentliche Materie, der Kranich-Stil, zu kurz kommt. Was wir geboten bekommen, kann man in nahezu jedem drittklassigen Karatebuch finden. Die ganz speziellen Techniken des Weißen Kranichs, die Arbeit der Muskeln und die unverwechselbaren Bewegungen, sucht man hier vergebens. Schade.