Tamashiwara

The Art of Breaking Bricks and Boards with Your Hands and Feet

 

By Renardo Barden

(Contemporary Books, 1985, 78 pages)

 

 

Review by Christopher Dow

 

 

 

Probably just about anyone who has practiced the martial arts has at least dreamed of breaking stuff with their hands and feet. Movie martial artists who’s punches or kicks miss the target often smash through wooden pillars, crunch holes in brick walls, and otherwise tear up the furniture so much one has to wonder why those punches and kicks don’t do the same to their opponents. Well, in a movie, the fight must go on for a satisfying amount of time before one of the combatants is victorious. That’s the nature of drama. But what is the true nature of tamashiwara—breaking—how does one do it and train for it, and most importantly, why does one do it? Renardo Barden is here to explain.

 

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