Watatani Kiyoshi... others?

[durandal]

Hello every body!

I have been interested for many years in budô history,I have acquired some sources like the well known bugei ryuha daijiten, and others book from Watatani. But, the fact is I cannot allow myself search only from his books, and as I don't live in Japan and go there only once every two years, it's a bit difficult to collect some copy of scrolls or old administrative documents from japanese libraries and start what real research should be.

So, until i go back there and take pictures until the very death of my camera, does some one know some authors (I would prefer japanese ones) and books i could check against Watatani's writings? I try to center my studies about kenjustsu/ iaijutsu, but I'm also interested in general koryu history and their creators. That would greatly strengthen my knowledge basis.

thank you in advance!

[durandal]

what? 44 people read my post and none of them know at least another serious japanese budo historian?

[Ron Beaubien]

what? 44 people read my post and none of them know at least another serious japanese budo historian?

Probably not...

Unfortunately, many of the top budoka who have lived in Japan and read Japanese, either rarely visit E-Budo.com or no longer post here. The busiest area now seems to the the Shorinji Kempo forum and a lot of the other activity comes from automatic Japan Times RSS feeds it seems.

For general budo knowledge by noted Japanese historians and martial arts researchers, although dated, the encyclopedic Nihon Budo Zenshu and Nihon Budo Taikei would be good places to start. See which author's writing you enjoy and go from there.

As for me, I recommend the following individuals. All of them I have met and I have found them extremely knowledgeable and forthcoming:

Watanabe Ichiro sensei was professor emeritus of budo studies at Tsukuba University, one of the main academic research centers of budo studies, and author of numerous tomes on the subject. He was the most famous scholarly researcher of Japanese martial arts and held in high esteem. He is also listed as an advisor of the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai and assists them with historical matters. Even Dr. Karl Friday has referred to Watanabe sensei as "the premier scholar of bugei texts in Japan" ( http://tinyurl.com/ya6z6tn ).

Irie Kohei sensei is Watanabe sensei's successor and currently in charge of budo studies at Tsukuba University. He is, of course, also heavily involved in the research of budo studies and a high ranking teacher of kyudo, which he also teaches at the university.

Uozumi Takashi sensei who is a professor at International Budo University in Katsuura, Chiba is an excellent researcher in my opinion. His lectures at the annual International Seminar of Budo Culture were always the best in my opinion. He was concise, always stayed on topic, cited everything, and was a pleasure to listen to. That cannot be said about many researchers these days.

Nakamura Tamio sensei at Fukushima University has also come out with some really well-written works as well. He wrote an excellent series of articles in Gekkan Budo over the last few years. He can get the important facts across, back them up with proper citations, while not sounding verbose. I always take a close look at whatever he has written and find all of them worthwhile to keep in my budo library.

I hope that helps.

Regards,

Ron Beaubien

[durandal]

Probably not...

Unfortunately, many of the top budoka who have lived in Japan and read Japanese, either rarely visit E-Budo.com or no longer post here. The busiest area now seems to the the Shorinji Kempo forum and a lot of the other activity comes from automatic Japan Times RSS feeds it seems.

[lot of informations]

Regards,

Ron Beaubien

wow! indeed that might help me a lot! thank you very much Ron, i think your help was precious

and i'm gonna check them all, i'm hungry

edit: wow i checked, i'll have to save a lot if i want to get all the nihon budo taikei and zenshû volumes

[Joseph Svinth]

In English, articles by William Bodiford, John Rogers, and Harold Bolitho are worth finding. Budo Perspectives, by Alexander Bennett and Jigoro Kano and the Kodokan, edited by Alex Bennett, are also very useful.

In French, track down Henri Plee's material from the 1950s. It's dated, but not as much as you'd expect. Budokwai Quarterly Bulletin, also from the 1940s and 1950s, is even more valuable (though primarily for mid-century judo).

Ellis Amdur's three books provide a nice discussion of the development of the various aiki-budo.

[durandal]

In English, articles by William Bodiford, John Rogers, and Harold Bolitho are worth finding. Budo Perspectives, by Alexander Bennett and Jigoro Kano and the Kodokan, edited by Alex Bennett, are also very useful.

In French, track down Henri Plee's material from the 1950s. It's dated, but not as much as you'd expect. Budokwai Quarterly Bulletin, also from the 1940s and 1950s, is even more valuable (though primarily for mid-century judo).

Ellis Amdur's three books provide a nice discussion of the development of the various aiki-budo.

thank you too, Joseph