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Michael Hodge
07-24-2009, 11:13 AM
Hey guys,

The other day I ran across a nice kendo-specific document that was quite nicely written, referenced a lot of older material like the oft-quoted Five Rings and other historical texts and offered a fair amount of esoteric viewpoints and quite strong analogies:

When thrusting thrust with the feeling of thrusting two or three feet through the back of the opponent. In jujitsu-keiko you will have difficulty in throwing your opponent if you only think of throwing him to the mat. It must be through the floorboards and three feet into the ground. Kaiho Hanbei, of the Itto-ryu once said that when striking the men of the opponent from jodan you should strike it with the feeling of cutting right through to his anus.

I believe this document might have been translated from Japanese judging by the format, but anyhow -- I'm looking for recommendations on similarly styled documents. I have the usual Takuan stuff, maybe some other texts buried in my collection (Hagakure, etc.), but if anyone is able to point out others, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

Michael Hodge

pgsmith
07-24-2009, 05:16 PM
Lots of good stuff in the Iaido Journal over at EJMAS ... http://www.ejmas.com/tin/tinframe.htm
Also some very good articles at Koryu.com ... http://www.koryu.com/

Chris Hellman
07-25-2009, 03:37 AM
You might try John Stevens' book about Yamaoka Tesshu. It's a good read, has nice pictures (calligraphy etc.) and some translated documents at the back.

Chris Hellman

Michael Hodge
07-25-2009, 04:27 AM
Great sources, guys! Thanks! Just did a quick lookup of Stevens' book and was led to another that he wrote as well as books from other authors like The Sword and the Mind by Hiroaki Sato. Good stuff.

If anyone knows of any more, please tell.

Michael Hodge

BJohnson
07-25-2009, 04:42 AM
Great sources, guys! Thanks! Just did a quick lookup of Stevens' book and was led to another that he wrote as well as books from other authors like The Sword and the Mind by Hiroaki Sato. Good stuff.

If anyone knows of any more, please tell.

Not weapons-specific, but Kano Jigoro's Mind Over Muscle (http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Muscle-Writings-Founder/dp/4770030150/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248518141&sr=1-1).

-Beth

ichibyoshi
07-26-2009, 12:06 AM
Maybe this is the one (judoinfo.com/pdf/KendoReader.pdf) you've seen already.

Takano Sasaburo's treatise (http://kenshi247.net/blog/category/series/prewarkendo/) on kendo, lovingly translated.

b

Usagi San
07-26-2009, 06:04 AM
Although it's not a "kendo-book", kendo is referred in a lot of ocasions in this excelent book called Ki and the way of the martial arts by Kenji Tokitsu.
A quick "Tokitsu" search in the amazon website and you'll find it easily.

Michael Hodge
07-27-2009, 07:48 AM
Maybe this is the one (judoinfo.com/pdf/KendoReader.pdf) you've seen already.

Indeed. That's the one I pulled the floorboard quote from. Strolling through a few sites, tripped and fell on that one. Lucky me.

Michael Hodge