"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).
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