Don Cunningham
21st February 2003, 21:48
Naperville Daily Herald, Friday, Feb. 21, 2003 (http://www.dailyherald.com/search/main_story.asp?intID=3767373#)
Secrets of samurai weapons revealed
By Sarah Fowler
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Visitors to North Central College's Oesterle Library can check out books, periodicals, CDs - and Japanese weapons.
The weapons have to stay in the library, of course, but they are on display through March 5 as part of the exhibit "Arresting Arts of the Japanese Samurai."
Included in the collection are weapons used in martial arts, photographs from the 1800s and wood-block prints depicting martial arts from the Edo Period (1603-1868).
The exhibit features about 25 pieces, the oldest dating to the mid-1700s.
Exhibit creator Don Cunningham, a former international judo competitor, became fascinated with the weapons after the Navy sent him to Japan in 1974.
"I just got interested and it kind of became an obsession," said Cunningham, a resident of Aurora. "I just got hooked."
Most of the weapons in the collection are forms of the jutte, a narrow club used by police officers to arrest suspected criminals without killing them.
Decorative juttes eventually came to be carried by government officials as a symbol of authority.
"It was a weapon for arrest, but it was also a badge of office," Cunningham said.
The fact that the weapons were designed to minimize injury to suspects reflects a concern for civil rights, he said.
"It was the beginning of a system of human rights," he said. "And that's what I find fascinating about it."
He also became fascinated with the history of the weapons, much of which has been lost and must be gleaned from artwork and the weapons themselves.
"It was so unique," he said. "I enjoyed just doing the research on it."
Cunningham has been collecting for more than 25 years and is the author of "Secret Weapons of Jujutsu." He finds most of his weapons on the Internet and at Japanese flea markets.
The exhibit is being hosted by the North Central Office of International Programs as part of a yearlong Pacific Rim emphasis.
Cunningham taught a class on the history of Japanese martial arts at the college last fall and plans to teach another next year.
He said he hopes visitors will come to share his interest.
"I hope they'll get an appreciation for history ... and maybe an interest in learning more about the period," he said.
Scan of Daily Herald article (http://www.e-budokai.com/exhibit/images/dailyherald.jpg)
Exhibition web site (http://www.e-budokai.com/exhibit/index.htm)
Secrets of samurai weapons revealed
By Sarah Fowler
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Visitors to North Central College's Oesterle Library can check out books, periodicals, CDs - and Japanese weapons.
The weapons have to stay in the library, of course, but they are on display through March 5 as part of the exhibit "Arresting Arts of the Japanese Samurai."
Included in the collection are weapons used in martial arts, photographs from the 1800s and wood-block prints depicting martial arts from the Edo Period (1603-1868).
The exhibit features about 25 pieces, the oldest dating to the mid-1700s.
Exhibit creator Don Cunningham, a former international judo competitor, became fascinated with the weapons after the Navy sent him to Japan in 1974.
"I just got interested and it kind of became an obsession," said Cunningham, a resident of Aurora. "I just got hooked."
Most of the weapons in the collection are forms of the jutte, a narrow club used by police officers to arrest suspected criminals without killing them.
Decorative juttes eventually came to be carried by government officials as a symbol of authority.
"It was a weapon for arrest, but it was also a badge of office," Cunningham said.
The fact that the weapons were designed to minimize injury to suspects reflects a concern for civil rights, he said.
"It was the beginning of a system of human rights," he said. "And that's what I find fascinating about it."
He also became fascinated with the history of the weapons, much of which has been lost and must be gleaned from artwork and the weapons themselves.
"It was so unique," he said. "I enjoyed just doing the research on it."
Cunningham has been collecting for more than 25 years and is the author of "Secret Weapons of Jujutsu." He finds most of his weapons on the Internet and at Japanese flea markets.
The exhibit is being hosted by the North Central Office of International Programs as part of a yearlong Pacific Rim emphasis.
Cunningham taught a class on the history of Japanese martial arts at the college last fall and plans to teach another next year.
He said he hopes visitors will come to share his interest.
"I hope they'll get an appreciation for history ... and maybe an interest in learning more about the period," he said.
Scan of Daily Herald article (http://www.e-budokai.com/exhibit/images/dailyherald.jpg)
Exhibition web site (http://www.e-budokai.com/exhibit/index.htm)