Prometheus: The George Dillman Story

by George Dillman

Overview

Prometheus is the first and only biography "authorized or otherwise"of Grandmaster 10th-Degree Black Belt, George A. Dillman . . . irrefutably one of the pioneers of the Eastern martial arts in post-World War II America. For anyone with an interest in the evolution of these arts in the West, Dillman's experience provides a veritable Who's Who of those exciting times. The author is acknowledged as perhaps the foremost authority on Pressure Point Theory applied to the martial arts in the U.S. Prometheus details the kind of hard science that Dillman engaged and sponsored (cadaver studies, EKG studies, electrical and neurological monitoring, thermal imaging) of Eastern Pressure Point Theory. Three medical doctors and a SWAT officer, among his highest ranking students, add their expertise to this book with reports of their investigations of Dillman's methods. Having trained under the likes of Harry Smith, Danny Pai and Hohan Soken, Dillman was one of the most-awarded competitors on the tournament circuit in the 1960s and '70s, and received advanced instructor certifications in a wide variety of martial arts. Dillman was always dedicated to sharing the work's benefits for both health and self-defense. During the 1980s and '90s, for example, he partnered with other great Headmasters, Wally Jay (Small Circle Jujitsu), Remy Presas (Modern Arnis) and Leo Fong (Wei Kuen Do), to give seminars all over the world. With testimonies from 50 of his peers and students (now teachers), the book is a record of his contributions to others, both personal and professional. As much of the narrative is offered in Dillman's own words, the reader meets the man himself, his unvarnished prose, his quirky interactions with animals (even cougars and bears!), his irrepressible sense of humor, and his sheer determination in pushing limits in whatever he undertook. George is now the CEO of Dillman Karate International, a global organization with hundreds of affiliated schools and tens of thousands of students.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935826330
Publisher:	Kalindi Press
Publication date:	11/06/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Dillman served in the US Army through the 1960s & beyond. He was among the first to introduce the Eastern martial arts to post-war USA. Trained under Harry Smith, Danny Pai & Hohan Soken, he received advanced instructor certifications in many martial forms. A friend to Bruce Lee, he also coached Muhammad Ali. In the '80s and '90s he pioneered use of pressure-point theory in the West. He partnered with other great headmasters to share seminars all over the world. In 1999 he was awarded the 10th Degree Black Belt. He is now headmaster of an international martial arts organization.

Read an Excerpt

In the beginning, I realized that everybody had been taught these different martial moves following World War II; basically, they were being taught by the people they had just defeated. So I tried doing these same moves in different ways, and found that there were ways to work them better. In fact, sometimes it took doing the exact opposite of what the servicemen had been taught. If they had been taught to hit up, I would hit down. If they had been taught to strike left, I'd strike right. If they had been taught to twist inside, I would twist to the outside. And it worked. But this was only the beginning.
I first studied polarity with Danny Pai. He talked about it over dinner with me and Bruce Lee. He explained the idea that there is a kind of "electricity" in the body; that there are positive and negative sides, and striking on one side and then the other works better.
Seiyu Oyata explained more about this same theory. He was the one who talked about dividing the body down the middle, as though it was cut with a sword. Hohan Soken and Seiyu Oyata both taught me that it mattered what angle and direction you would strike a pressure point. Up until this point, people thought it just mattered that you knew where the point was. As we learned more and more, we found out that the direction of the strike mattered as well as the type of strike. Was it a hit point? A rub point? A touch point? These things made a big difference.
At more advanced levels, we learned that the orientation of the subject relative to the points of a compass could even have an impact on the way techniques work, just as they do in the practice of feng shui.

Editorial Reviews

"Five pioneers shaped the 20th-Century world of martial arts: Jigoro Kano, Gichin Funakoshi, Morihei Ueshiba, Bruce Lee, and George Dillman."— Grandmaster Leo Fong

From the Publisher