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Thread: Good kenjutsu books

  1. #1
    hiroyuki Guest

    Question Good kenjutsu books

    Can anyone recommend me a good complete kenjutsu book (not iaido), -in english, french or italian- , whatever style, with detailed describtion of the basics like postures, waza, strikes, blocking, counters etc...

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    Default Complete Kenjutsu?

    I think Bruce Tegner wrote that one

    Just kidding.

    I don't think you'll find a 'complete' kenjutsu book, especially not in English. There are several good books about various aspects of sword arts out, but off the top of my head, I don't know of any ryuha that would put the entire syllabus out in the public's hands like that.

    For a good overview of a couple of systems:

    Deity and the Sword (3-parts), about Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu

    Legacy of the Sword, by Karl Friday, about Kashima Shinryu

    At www.budogu.com, you can order several excellent books, DVDs and videos about various ryuha, but most will be in Japanese.

    In English, there are lots of good books detailing seitei iai, and a few intro-level books about various koryu iai systems.

    Not sure what you're really looking for, but you won't learn kenjutsu from a book. Too many subtleties.

    Chuck
    Chuck Gordon
    Mugendo Budogu
    http://www.budogu.com/

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    Default re: English

    Sameer,

    Forgive the blatant advertising, but I have a copy of Shinkage-ryu Sword Techniques listed on ebay now. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ESSE%3AIT&rd=1

    It is Volume 2. and shows the Shinkage ryu (14) forms by picture.

    Hope this helps.

    R. Kite
    Budoka 34
    "Study hard and all things can be accomplished; give up and you will amount to nothing".

    -Yamaoka Tesshu

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    Default Re: Complete Kenjutsu?

    Originally posted by me
    At www.budogu.com, you can order several excellent books, DVDs and videos about various ryuha, but most will be in Japanese.
    That link ought to read: www.budogu.com ... the comma got trapped in the URL code somehow.

    Chuck
    Chuck Gordon
    Mugendo Budogu
    http://www.budogu.com/

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    Default Deity

    Originally posted by Chuck.Gordon
    ...And yeah, Diety is awfully pricey. Makes me kick myself when I think that I passed up a deal a few years ago for the hard-bound set for under $100 USD. Sigh.
    I had the First Edition of the three volumes in hardback. I had them at work, and a broken fire-sprinkler system caused a flood that ruined them.

    The same flood took out my hardbound Japanese Swordsmanship: Technique and Practice, and one volume of Draeger's Classical/Modern Bujutsu/Budo.

    I have them all in softcover now, but it's just not the same.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

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    Default Re: Re: Sorry for the tangent...

    Originally posted by Chuck.Gordon
    (How do I make the smileys do raspberries?)


    That's ":p" on the keyboard.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

  7. #7
    Okashira Guest

    Post The Spirit and Practice

    I found Fumon Tanaka's book "Samurai Fighting Arts:The spirit and the practice" on Kodansha very informating and nice.

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    Default

    The one Soke tells us all to read is fairly complete and concise. There is another one by the same author that kept us up until three this morning trying to figure out its complexity.

    Hey where are those sleepy Smilies?

    ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz
    Hyakutake Colin

    All the best techniques are taught by survivors.


    http://www.hyoho.com

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    I have never been able to find a definitive book on Keicho-ryu, the metropolitan police style of kenjutsu and have not been able to find much about it or its history. Is there a reason that there is so little material about this? I thought certainly that KORYU or BUDOGU would have something. Thoughts? Anyone?

    Best Wishes,

    Bruce
    Bruce W Sims
    www.midwesthapkido.com

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    Default

    Bruce --

    There are a couple pages of historical background in Hilary Conroy, Sandra T.W. Davis, and Wayne Patterson, editors. _Japan in Transition: Thought and Action in the Meiji Era, 1868-1912_ (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984). See also http://www.uni-hamburg.de/Wiss/FB/10.../meijipol.html (in German)

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    Default

    Thanks, Joe. The German article will give me something to polish my Deutsch on. In the meantime I stole the bib from the end and note more than a few citations in Japanese. Any recommendations for academic sources to check these against?

    "......
    Aoki Hideo: Yôhatsu no rekishi. 1971. Yûzankaku.
    Ema Tsutomu: Nihon keppatsu zenshi. 1960. Sôgensha.
    C.R. Hallpike: "Social Hair", in: MAN.N.S.4.1969, S. 256-264.
    Albert G. Hess/Shigeyo Murayama: Everyday law in Japanese folk art. Aalen: Scientia Verlag 1980.
    Dr. Hoffmann: "Die Heilkunde in Japan", in: Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens.1.1873-1876:4.
    Kainô Michitaka: Keisatsuken. 4.Aufl. 1965. Iwanami shoten.
    Katô Hidetoshi et al.: Tsuiho. Meiji-Taishô-Shôwa sesôshi. 1982. Shakaishisô-sha.
    Obinata Sumio: Tennôsei keisatsu to minshû. 1987. Nihon hyôron-sha.
    Wilhelm Röhl: "Das Goseibaishikimoku", in: Oriens Extremus.5.1982:2, S. 240.
    Sugimura Toshimasa, Mitsudô Kageaki, Higashihira Kôshi: Keisatsuhô nyûmon. 2. Aufl. 1981. Yûhikaku.
    Tagami Shôji: Keisatsuhô. 1979. Yûhikaku.
    Uno Hisao: "Heafasshon no nagare to chôsa", in: Gendai fûzoku.1.1977, S. 74ff.

    ........."

    Best Wishes,

    Bruce
    Bruce W Sims
    www.midwesthapkido.com

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    Default

    The chapter in Conroy, et al., is about policing Meiji Japan, so its references should lead you to English-language sources. Meanwhile, a potentially useful bibliography appears here: http://www.oriental.cam.ac.uk/jbib/meijisoc1.html

    Also check Duke University or UCMI, both of which should have a copy of the 1975 dissertation on which James Leavell's article in Conroy, et al., was based. Alternatively, write Professor Leavell and ask: http://www.furman.edu/depts/asianstu...ty/leavell.htm

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    Default

    Many thanks. I'll chew on this a bit and let you know where it takes me. Thanks again.

    Best Wishes,

    Bruce
    Bruce W Sims
    www.midwesthapkido.com

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    Default which one is best to buy first

    I am confused to choose which one to buy first, considering my limitation of budget. I hope you guys can help me on this:

    - Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido Book + DVD by 8th dan Kyoshi Teruhisa Nanno instructs the art of Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido in this text. The content is bilingual - in English and Japanese and DVD is content of the waza.

    $49.95

    - Shokai Iai: Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu $65 (http://budogu.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page16.html)

    I am planning to go back for good to my origin country in Indonesia. Therefore I really need heaps of reference since there is no MJER iaido available there. Hope you guys can help me to decide which one first from above options

    thanks in advance
    Umar Sesko A. Tri Hananto
    "high quality single man"
    "low profile but high product"

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    Default Shoukai Iai

    I am confused to choose which one to buy first...
    I can heartily and strongly recommend Shoukai Iai. That being said, I've not seen the other you mention. However, Shoukai Iai is by far the best I've seen in the 12 years since I've owned it.

    Regards,
    Guy
    Guy H. Power
    Kenshinkan Dojo

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