Customer Reviews

Secrets of the Samurai: The Martial Arts of Feudal Japan

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am writing this review, because people are erroneously using this book as a source for research into pre-modern Japan. It should not be used for this purpose. It belongs to a genre which I call "gosh golly" books. I will proceed to comments relating to previous reviews.

1. The illustrations are modern and appear to have been drawn by a western artist. What it does not contain is reproductions of premodern woodblock prints, paintings, &c. or photographs of actual artifacts.

2. While it has a large bibliography, the works are pretty much exclusively in English and appear to be popular rather than scholarly publications.

3. This book contains descriptions of Japanese "martial arts" such as "tessenjutsu" which do not appear in reliable Japanese literature.

4. This book contains descriptions of highly improbable "martial arts" such as the supposed ability for a seated practitioner to kill an armed opponent by shouting at him.

5. The historical descriptions in the book betray a woeful ignorance. For example, chapter 1 includes a claim that Buddhism is "monotheistic". This makes me wonder how the authors managed to use the correct Japanese words for the military class and the court nobility. Saddly, the scattering of accurate information in this book makes it even less desireable as it lends credance to the book's fantasy elements.

6. One commentor recommended the books by Stephen Turnbull. If you are interested in more scholarly treatments of Japan's medieval period, I recommend consulting books by Marius B. Jansen, Paul Varley, John Witney Hall, William Wayne Farris, and Jeffrey P. Mass. Heavenly Warriors by Farris specifically deals with the origin of the buke class going beyond earlier work by Mass.

7. If what you are looking for is battle paintings, pictures of military artifacts, &c. then you should cosider ordering books from the Mook Series published by Gakken. These can be ordered online from amazon.co.jp. A representative title in this series can be found by entering the following ISBN number into their search engine: 4056042489.

In short. If you are seriously interested in Japan, please buy better books.

Samurai is a very good work on several levels. It contains very entertaining illustrations, good detail on obscure topics and based on excellent research. The authors brought to light many of the obscure ideas and overall feeling of the martial arts. This book is not full of legend but appears to stand on verifiable, historical facts. On the downside, it was too wordy. I spent extra time rereading the text to get the idea when a simple and direct way to get the point across would work. Critical ideas were not upfront and some chapters went on and on and in the end, said very little. In popular and in martial art writing, it is usually better to stay away from words like phantasmagoria, oscillate, and integrative. Recommended reading for the mature martial artist and for those cross-training into other branches of self-defense.

While this book cannot cover all aspects of every Ryu, it is the most comprehensive guide to the subject yet encountered by this reader. Being an all inclusive guide to Nipponese martial arts means history, backround, & extras not expected. Some information is almost too comprehensive, descriptions of armour styles and stages being one. However, I enjoy reviewing this text often and find new nuggets every time. This Senpai recommends the book without reservation. After being loaned the book for some time, I bought the first one I found.

This is truly an impressive attempt to cover all of the martial skills that the fuedal warriors of Japan studied. Unfortunately, their section on Aiki-jujitsu and Aikido has some serious errors. First, they claim that Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido was the only legitimate heir of the Daito Ryu school of aiki-jujitsu. This is incorrect. Tokumine Takeda, son of Sokaku Takeda (Ueshiba's Daito Ryu teacher for over a decade), was the heir of Daito Ryu. The current headmaster is Katsuyuki Kondo. There are also several other branches of Daito Ryu: Kodokai, Roppokai, and Takumakai, which were started by students of Takeda Sokaku who were actually senior to Ueshiba. Ratti and Westbrooke also stated that Daito Ryu no longer exists, and that we have no way of knowing today the techniques of the the Daito Ryu. Again, untrue. Daito Ryu is one of the most widely practiced traditional styles of martial arts (Koryu Budo) in Japan. Finally, they state with some authority that Daito Ryu descended from Prince Sadasumi. This cannot be verified, even by Daito Ryu practitioners. Like many oral tales, it is a history that people accept in the absence of confirming or contradicting evidence.

What is disturbing is that after twenty years, this information was never updated. Perhaps this was because Ratti and Westbrook did not use any original source, i.e. Japanese, material (at least I did not see any when I glanced through the glossary). Perhaps it was because they felt some need to promote aikido at the expense of Daito Ryu. It does not matter, really. Writing a traditional Japanese martial art out of any book that purports describe the history of Japanese martial arts is a gaffe that makes me wonder what else about the book they have gotten wrong.

I give the book three stars for effort, but let the buyer beware. When reading, don't believe anything until you verify, verify, verify.

I bought this book, and wow, I was so engrossed in it that I read straight through it in a week. There is an impressive amount of information on Japan's martial history. This is a must book for any one interested in the roots of martial arts or Japan history.

I'm not very familiar with Japanese culture or the Samurai. My area is the Roman Empire, but this book is impressive. I've always had a mild interest in the Martial Arts and Feudal Japan and this book delivers. The writing is concise and easy to follow. The book is lavishly illustrated and the illustrations are fantastic. Instead of leaving it to the reader to try to figure out what the author's are describing the illustrations are there to demonstrate. It's a great book and a wonderful read for the beginner. As far as the historical errors referred to by earlier reviewers, I can't comment on. But this book is worth the money. It will make a nice addition to any military history collection.

After reading AIKIDO AND THE DYNAMIC SPHERE, by the same authors, I heard about this book. What a find! In words and images, it conveys the spirit of the ancient martial arts of Japan -- their histories, cultural impact, right down to their strategies and equipment. Part III, in particular, is magnifique!

IF YOU COULD READ ONLY ONE BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE MARTIAL ARTS, THIS WOULD BE THE ONE. WITH AN EXTENSIVELY RESEARCHED, WELL-DOCUMENTED TEXT AND HUNDREDS OF WONDERFUL ILLUSTRATIONS, THERE IS NOTHING ELSE IN PRINT THAT EVEN COMES CLOSE. ANYONE WITH A GENUINE INTEREST IN THE ANCIENT JAPANESE SAMURAI CLASS, ITS WARRIOR ARTS, AND THEIR MODERN INHERITORS, MUST HAVE THIS BOOK.

Solid research, great writing, and illustrations that bring the world of the martial arts of feudal Japan to life on the page.

I approach this book not as a student of martial arts, but as a student of Japan and Japanese culture. As such, I was not looking for an overly technical, elaborately detailed survey of the theories and applications of the martial arts, but instead a broad overview that encompasses the ideas of the martial arts, and the practical application of those ideas with a generalized view. In that respect, this book does not disappoint.

Covered are all the basics of the art of Japanese warfare in the individualistic sense. First is an overview of the country and the time in which the warrior obtained prominence, setting the scene for the development of a unique figure in the history of worldwide combat. Then covered is the aspects of battle such as armor, weapons, various techniques (archery, swordplay, etc.) and finally an overview of the ideals and a bit of the philosophy of the martial arts, starting with the concept of Ki and going then from Bushido to Aikido and Judo to the ideals of Sumo. It is all covered, at least briefly.

The book itself is full of illustrations, though I found many of them distressingly lacking in detail. It would have been nice to have seen photographs of many of the items talked about, or at least more detailed and realistic diagrams. Yet, they do an adequate job of conveying the images of these items.

All in all, the book does its job. For this student, I was left wanting an even more indepth review. Or perhaps a section about warfare in groups (something the book never covers). Yet, for all of that, perhaps it's best that it does not. The authors are a bit droll, and certainly their understanding of the history and the technical aspects of armor or weapons are much stronger than their understanding of the theories.

But again, highly recommended, to students of Japanese culture, or those interested in the martial arts.