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View Full Version : FINALLY! Hidden in Plain Sight - the new edition - Released



Ellis Amdur
9th May 2018, 16:16
"I am very pleased to announce the release of Hidden in Plain Sight: Esoteric Power Training within Japanese Martial Traditions (Tracing the Roots of Ueshiba Morihei's Power). (https://www.freelanceacademypress.com/tracingtherootsofueshibamoriheispower--signedspecialedition.aspx)

It is truly a new book, ⅔ larger, 441 pages with over 100 photographs. Two-thirds larger, this second edition is so much more. Amdur digs deep into the past, showing the complexity of human strength, its adaptation to varying lifestyles, and the nature of physical culture pursued for martial ends. Amdur goes into detail concerning varieties of esoteric power training within martial arts, culminating in a specific methodology known as ‘six connections’ or ‘internal strength.’ With this discussion as a baseline, he then discusses the transfer of esoteric power training from China to various Japanese jūjutsu systems as well as Japanese swordsman-ship emanating from the Kurama traditions. Finally, he delves into the innovative martial tradition of Daitō-ryū and its most important offshoot, aikidō, showing how the mercurial, complicated figures of Takeda Sokaku and Morihei Ueshiba were less the embodiment of something new, than a re-imagining of their past

Chapters include:
SECTION 1 -- THE CULTIVATION OF POWER
Chapter 1 -- Physical Culture: A Uniquely Human Preoccupation
Chapter 2 -- The Development of Specialized Martial Strength
Chapter 3 -- Connected Strength -- a Comprehensive Form of Physical Organization
SECTION 2 -- HEAVEN AND EARTH WITHIN MAN
Chapter 4 -- The Chinese Connection
Chapter 5 -- Kitō-ryū: Rising and Falling
Chapter 6 -- Yoshin-ryū: A Garden of Willows
Chapter 7 -- Tenjin Shinyō-ryū: Heaven and Man
Chapter 8 -- What Happened to Jūjutsu?
SECTION 3 --DAITŌ-RYŪ: THE PAST IS FUTURE
Chapter 9 -- Aizu Bujutsu: Takeda Sokaku's Birthright
Chapter 10 -- Takeda Sokaku: Opening our Eyes to True Budō
Chapter 11 -- The Heart of Aiki is the Sword: Takeda Sokaku's Legacy
Chapter 12 -- Aiki Nitō Hiden
SECTION 4 -AIKIDŌ AND UESHIBA MORIHEI: MORE THAN A MARTIAL ART & MORE THAN A MARTIAL ARTIST
Chapter 13 -- Is the Heart of Aikidō the Sword?
Chapter 14 -- Aikidō is Three Peaches
Chapter 15 -- Hidden in Plain Sight
Chapter 16 -- Circle, Square, Triangle: How to Be O-Sensei in Sixteen Easy Steps
EPILOGUE -- ‘Mada! Mada!' (‘Not Yet! Not Yet!')
APPENDICES

Lance Gatling
10th May 2018, 12:51
Thank you for the notice. I really look forward to diving into it - the original was great.

Ellis Amdur
22nd November 2018, 17:54
This is an updated message concerning one particular error in HIPS (https://edgeworkbooks.com/hidden-in-plain-sight/). On page 64.
Some time ago, I wrote: Vincente Bosch alluded to the fact that my description of circular breathing on my KogenBudo blog was different than that in the book. Others have noted the error directly. ON the blog, I wrote, correctly: "The truth is, however, we ALWAYS execute diaphragmic breathing unless something has gone terribly wrong. When we inhale, the diaphragm always pulls downwards, creating a vacuum that draws air into the lungs. When we exhale, the opposite. The movement of the diaphragm may be constricted or inhibited, but it is always the main ‘driver’ of breathing.” But somehow, in HIPS, I wrote "the diaphragm is drawn upwards," an anatomical impossibility I read it and think, “how the f**k did I type that? Why didn’t I catch it? What didn’t my editor, my three critical readers who are supposedly educated. And every person with an axe to grind is going to jump all over that and discount the whole book!"
And although I can accept many editing errors, something substantive as this is something I cannot abide. First of all, because it's wrong, and secondly - to be honest - I am aware that some my discount my entire work because of this error, which is so fundamental. My publisher, Gregory Mele, agrees with me. So what we have done: At the following link is a downloadable label, formatted exactly to that passage on page 64. If you follow the instructions, you can print it out and paste it directly into the book. Of course, new print runs will not have this regrettable error, but this way, I can assure myself that it can be corrected, even in the original. Freelance Academy Press (http://www.freelanceacademypress.com/pdf/HIPS_Errata_P64.pdf)

pgsmith
5th December 2018, 00:04
That is a rather ingenious way to edit a book after it's been sold.

Kudos Ellis!