Published by The Hanford Press, a division of Suarez Corporation, the 1993 Hikuta: The Art of Controlled Violence text was written by DOK ("Defender of Kings") Lee with Tim Dimoff. I obtained a copy of this (I believe out-of-print) book used through eBay, but the video that was intended to accompany the text was more elusive.  After my review of the book was published, a couple of helpful individuals contacted me to send me a copy of the video.  It is this video that I review here.

As the video begins, DOK Lee is on a pleasant walking path somewhere outside -- perhaps in a park.  He introduces the tape, his deep voice at times verging on a croak.  It is immediately apparent that he's either reading from cards or simply not in good health.  I believe the latter was the case, as he died only a few years after making the video.  More than once during the demonstrations on the tape, it appears as if he's having trouble catching his breath.  (The way he leans on a table at different points made me wonder if he's using the table for support, too.)  He does, however, appear to have been a genuinely friendly fellow.

Tim Dimoff, a former law enforcement officer, also introduces himself.  The patter offered by Lee and Dimoff is not as good as that on many tapes I've seen, in that the two offer lots of redundant statements.  Lee tends to pause and ramble a bit -- the natural reaction of someone looking to fill what would otherwise be dead air.  This is not much of a problem, though it does mean several phrases are repeated over and over again.  The sound is quite audible and production values are good by the standards of instructional videotapes of this kind.

Each segment of the tape is separated by a shot of the Hikuta book cover (above) with a graphically produced title for the segment -- a nice touch, even if that book cover begins to seem tiresome after several segments.

The tape begins with a discussion of levels of force.  Dimoff explains the low, medium, and high levels of force -- a discussion that mirrors that of the book.  As an example of a low level of force, he demonstrates a basic roll out from a wrist grab.  When he demonstrates a medium level of force, the roll out is followed up by another move from the attacker.  The attacker's right arm grabs Dimoff's shoulder.  Dimoff grabs the offending limb while delivering a nerve hammer hit to the top of the forearm with his free hand -- all the while ignoring the cocked left fist of the attacker.  As an alternative, Dimoff demonstrates following the wrist grab roll out with a knee strike -- again ignoring that cocked free fist.

The discussion of high force levels brings us to specifically Hikuta techniques.  This introduces us to a segment in which DOK Lee talks about developing the Hikuta Hand using a phonebook resting on the table in front of him.

First, Lee demonstrates raising his hand up, closing the fist before opening it again as he drops it down for a resounding empty hand slap.  This is a good technique and one that corresponds to proper body mechanics.  Lee then demonstrates a "C" hand position, in which he's delivering a cross between a hammer blow and an edge-of-hand blow. The fingers are curled inward loosely (hence the "C" configuration), but he's striking with the base of the hand's edge, as is correct.  So this technique, like the empty hand slap, is a good one and worth learning.

Finally, Lee demonstrates the Hikuta Hand.  He points his fingers toward the phonebook and then collapses his hand onto the target, his thumb on top, his soft fist absorbing the impact so that he can deliver maximum force (one presumes from the text discussion).

Here, Lee and I part ways significantly.  As I said in the book review, I do not like the Hikuta Hand.  I cannot see punching with a deliberately loose fist as an advisable technique -- though, to be fair, more than one person has told me they have tried this and believe it to have merit.  I, too, have tried this, in sparring as well as with a phone book while reviewing the tape.  With the phone book, a proper punch -- the muscles loose, the arm snapped out and through with the hand contracted into a hard fist at the moment of contact -- was a little uncomfortable but not painful, as striking any barely yielding surface would be.  The Hikuta Hand, however, consistently left several of my fingers feeling jammed.

In sparring, I had my teacher punch me several times -- first with the Hikuta Hand technique, then with a proper punch.  Each time the Hikuta Hand was less painful (for me as the recipient) and generated less power through my chest, prompting me to move back less.  My teacher is easily the best martial artist I've ever met in person, and neither of us is a novice to the self-defense field.  But neither of us is a Hikuta expert, so I'll allow that it's entirely possible we just don't get it.

DOK Lee's segment on developing the Hikuta Hand continues with a discussion of "grabbing" the air as you move your arm, a technique that helps you move more quickly.  A padded assistant then appears, chewing away on a huge wad of what must be gum.  The assistant stands there while DOK Lee -- who moves very quickly, particularly for such a large man -- puts one hand in his pocket and takes the other hand off the table to quickly strike the assistant in the chest.

While Lee is, I believe, demonstrating the Hikuta Hand, the angle at which he is striking the assistant's chest pad makes these look more like backfist strikes than punches.

Next, Lee discusses the startle motion that is supposed to be the key to Hikuta's speed.  He spends some time on developing the startle motion and transitions from bringing his hands up and striking to bringing his hands directly into a strike (with the off hand coming to the chest).  I was again impressed by how quickly he moved.

The following segment is a comparison of the Hikuta soft fist to a closed fist.  The padded assistant holds a phone book over his chest while DOK Lee punches it, first with a clsoed fist and then with a Hikuta Hand.  (Interestingly, it at first appeared to me that Lee was punching as I have advocated punching.  On slow advance, though, it was obvious that Lee closes his fist and contracts his muscles long before his hand has reached the target.)  The Hikuta Hand moves the assistant back significantly farther than does Lee's closed fist.

In the next sequence, Lee discusses using your body weight.  He demonstrates getting behind your body with a blow, with one hand coming to the heart while the other snaps out.  The leg on the striking side starts forward and the other leg backs it up.  (Curious about the observation I made during the book review regarding when to land the step versus the strike, I watched this segment several times and repeated it on slow advance.  Lee's strikes land an instant after his step is completed, or at the same time.)  Lee then demonstrates a series of moves and strikes.

The next demonstration is on delivering a blow.  Lee presents the application of that open hand slap, hitting  the (now helmeted) head of his padded assistant.  Not only is the technique similar to the offensive and defensive slaps I described in my review of a tape from Clear's Silat, but the "hands up" stance from which Lee delivers the blows is very close (though higher) to the stance on the Silat video.

Lee also demonstrates the "C" edge-of-hand/hammer blow before moving into combinations of strikes.

DOK Lee performs a series of speed drills -- moving the hand to the chest versus moving the hand to strike -- and takes the drills into the Hikuta Hand, again striking the padded chest of his assistant.  The first of two blows makes the assistant move back, but the second barely touches the surface of the pad.  Lee then demonstrates a whipping strike (which is also a good technique in terms of the body mechanics of the arm movement).  Again he performs at least one blow that doesn't reach the target.  On slow advance, I noticed that the gap between Lee's completed strike and the surface of the assistant's chest pad was at least an inch or two.

The next sequence is a multiple attacker demonstration.  DOK Lee tells us to strike the farthest attacker first.  "You always put your body behind your weight," he intones.  "You must move as naturally as possible."

First two, then three, then four attackers surround Lee, and he strikes them all in turn with a combination of Hikuta Hands and slaps and such.  (During the four-attacker sequence he demonstrates a blow that uses the top of the arm.)  In all cases, the attackers simply stand there, their arms clasped behind or in front of  their backs.  Never was Hikuta's lack of attention to blocking techniques more obvious to me -- for in a real multiple assailant scenario, any and all of these men could be executing attacks while the defender delivered blows to their fellows.  I know the emphasis in Hikuta is on speed, but I doubt very much that four successive attackers can be neutralized before even a single one of them manages to deliver an attack of his own.

Finally, DOK Lee takes us on a tour of a house -- it may be his own house -- stopping in the kitchen, the living room, and the bathroom to identify numerous improvised weapons.  (The wallpaper in Lee's bathroom is really ugly.)  In the kitchen, the padded assistant appears -- I had a humorous image of him just lurking in DOK Lee's house around the clock until needed -- and Lee beats him up with a dinner plate (among other items). 

Most of the improvised weapons shown are perfectly usable as such, though I didn't like the "push-dagger" type technique Lee used with a toothbrush.  It involves holding the brush such that the end of the brush pokes out between the fingers.  This is a bad technique because it will jam the other end of the brush into the palm on impact.  I believe an implement of this type should be held in a hammer grip like a small knife.

The tape concludes with DOK Lee back outside. Once again he sounds like he's reading from cards:

 admit that I really don't have a favorable opinion of the Hikuta book.  The tape's addition to the training package improves the combination, though.  The techniques described in the text (of those with which I took issue) don't seem as far fetched when they're demonstrated on video.  But my primary problem with the Hikuta system -- the soft fist -- was not in any way mitigated by the video, and the lack of blocking techniques -- something that didn't really catch my attention reading the book -- was quite glaring on the tape. 

If you have the opportunity to view the training package in whole, and you're curious about Hikuta, by all means take the time to do it.  But view it critically and cautiously. Try the soft fist yourself to see if you can make it work.

I haven't, so far.

For my review of the book that originally accompanied this book as part of the 1993 DOK Lee training package, click here.