Harry Cook

Henry Wilson Cook (born 1949), widely known as Harry Cook, is a former British martial artist, teacher, and author, and convicted sex offender. He has written several martial art books, most notably Shotokan Karate: A precise history. Cook began training in karate in 1966, and was the Chief Instructor of the Seijinkai Karatedo Association, He holds the rank of 7th dan in karate. He admitted to numerous sexual offenses over the course of 26 years, including indecent assault, sexual assault, making indecent and possessing pornographic images of children, and was given a 10-year prison sentence in June 2012. which became affiliated to the Karate Union of Great Britain. A year later, he earned a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the same institution.

Cook founded his own school, the Seijinkai Karatedo Association, to teach his blend of Shotokan and Goju-ryu karate styles. He pleaded guilty to charges in regard to a female from March 2006 to February 2011 and was held on remand awaiting sentencing at Newcastle Crown Court. In January 2012, Cook pleaded guilty to a further 29 charges, including indecent assault, sexual assault, making indecent images of children and possessing indecent images of children, a pornographic image of a child and a prohibited image of a child. Cook's family, who have renounced him, expressed their support and sympathy for the victims, and their utter condemnation of his actions. An independent assessment by Rob Redmond concluded that, for students of Shotokan karate, "there cannot be a better resource than Harry Cook's famous Shotokan Karate: A Precise History." One criticism has been that Cook should have provided more interpretation of the verbatim quotations; "While [the use of exact quotes] is exemplary and well intentioned, it was, for me, one of the few 'turnoffs' in the book. Sometimes we need Mr. Cook to provide his view and interpretation of what those he interviewed meant, as the exact phrasings uttered often beg for such historical analysis," wrote Tom Militello. A second edition of this book was published in August 2009. The way of the warrior: Essays on the martial arts (1999/2004, two volumes), The Shotokan Karate book of quotes (2001, co-authored), Karate (2005), and Extreme survival (2006, co-authored). Cook is a Contributing Editor for Classical Fighting Arts, which was formerly Dragon Times until March 2003. He has written several articles for Dragon Times.

Reflecting on his contribution to karate scholarship, Cook has said: "I am deeply interested in history and I came to understand that many of the myths prevalent in karate were derived from an abysmal understanding of the history and evolution of karate. So I decided to light a candle against the dark!! Have I achieved my objective? Not really … the same myths are still heard over and over again … but maybe one [or] two people have been pointed in the right direction."