Armed Martial Arts of Japan

1998-07-11 History

Author : G Hurst I
Release : 1998-07-11
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 748/5 ( reviews)

Book Synopsis Armed Martial Arts of Japan by : G Hurst I

Download or read book Armed Martial Arts of Japan written by G Hurst I. This book was released on 1998-07-11. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique history of Japanese armed martial arts--the only comprehensive treatment of the subject in English--focuses on traditions of swordsmanship and archery from ancient times to the present. G. Cameron Hurst III provides an overview of martial arts in Japanese history and culture, then closely examines the transformation of these fighting skills into sports. He discusses the influence of the Western athletic tradition on the armed martial arts as well as the ways the martial arts have remained distinctly Japanese. During the Tokugawa era (1600-1867), swordsmanship and archery developed from fighting systems into martial arts, transformed by the powerful social forces of peace, urbanization, literacy, and professionalized instruction in art forms. Hurst investigates the changes that occurred as military skills that were no longer necessary took on new purposes: physical fitness, spiritual composure, character development, and sport. He also considers Western misperceptions of Japanese traditional martial arts and argues that, contrary to common views in the West, Zen Buddhism is associated with the martial arts in only a limited way. The author concludes by exploring the modern organization, teaching, ritual, and philosophy of archery and swordsmanship; relating these martial arts to other art forms and placing them in the broader context of Japanese culture.

Secrets of the Samurai

2011-12-20 Sports & Recreation

Author : Oscar Ratti
Release : 2011-12-20
Genre : Sports & Recreation
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 545/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Secrets of the Samurai by : Oscar Ratti

Download or read book Secrets of the Samurai written by Oscar Ratti. This book was released on 2011-12-20. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secrets of the Samurai is the definitive study of the martial arts of feudal Japan, explaining in detail the weapons, techniques, strategies, and principles of combat that made the Japanese warrior a formidable foe. The work begins with a panoramic survey of the tumultuous early struggles of warlords contending for political ascendancy and then outlines the relentless progression of the military class toward absolute power. In addition to illustrating actual methods of combat, the authors discuss in detail the crucial training necessary to develop a warrior's inner power and to concentrate all his energies into a single force. Secrets of the Samurai is an essential text for anyone with an interest in Japanese combat techniques, weaponry, or military history. This edition also contains a new foreword by Adele Westbrook and numerous previously unpublished illustrations by Oscar Ratti. Chapters include: The Bushi The Heimin The Centers of Martial Instruction Armed Bujutsu Unarmed Bujutsu Control and Power Strategic Principles Morality of Bujutsu

Classical Weaponry of Japan

2003 History

Author : Serge Mol
Release : 2003
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 416/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Classical Weaponry of Japan by : Serge Mol

Download or read book Classical Weaponry of Japan written by Serge Mol. This book was released on 2003. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic Weaponry Of Japan is a Kodansha International publication.

Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Meiji Japan

2013-08-22 History

Author : Denis Gainty
Release : 2013-08-22
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 905/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Meiji Japan by : Denis Gainty

Download or read book Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Meiji Japan written by Denis Gainty. This book was released on 2013-08-22. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1895, the newly formed Greater Japan Martial Virtue Association (Dainippon Butokukai) held its first annual Martial Virtue Festival (butokusai) in the ancient capital of Kyoto. The Festival marked the arrival of a new iteration of modern Japan, as the Butokukai’s efforts to define and popularise Japanese martial arts became an important medium through which the bodies of millions of Japanese citizens would experience, draw on, and even shape the Japanese nation and state. This book shows how the notion and practice of Japanese martial arts in the late Meiji period brought Japanese bodies, Japanese nationalisms, and the Japanese state into sustained contact and dynamic engagement with one another. Using a range of disciplinary approaches, Denis Gainty shows how the metaphor of a national body and the cultural and historical meanings of martial arts were celebrated and appropriated by modern Japanese at all levels of society, allowing them to participate powerfully in shaping the modern Japanese nation and state. While recent works have cast modern Japanese and their bodies as subject to state domination and elite control, this book argues that having a body – being a body, and through that body experiencing and shaping social, political, and even cosmic realities – is an important and underexamined aspect of the late Meiji period. Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Meiji Japan is an important contribution to debates in Japanese and Asian social sciences, theories of the body and its role in modern historiography, and related questions of power and agency by suggesting a new and dramatic role for human bodies in the shaping of modern states and societies. As such, it will be valuable to students and scholars of Japanese studies, Japanese history, modern nations and nationalisms, and sport and leisure studies, as well as those interested in the body more broadly.

Samurai Fighting Arts

2003 History

Author : Fumon Tanaka
Release : 2003
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 983/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Samurai Fighting Arts by : Fumon Tanaka

Download or read book Samurai Fighting Arts written by Fumon Tanaka. This book was released on 2003. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces the 18 traditional Japanese martial arts and provides readers with a deeper understanding of the styles formulated in the samurai era - both those that are little known and those still being taught today.

Popular eBooks

Armed Martial Arts of Japan

Secrets of the Samurai

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Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Meiji Japan

Samurai Fighting Arts

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