Westbrook/Ratti, Adele/Oscar
(Editor/Translator: Dennis Clark)

North Clarendon : Tuttle Publishing, 369 pages (2001)
ISBN: 0-8048-3284-6
Airport Industrial Park, 364 Innovation Drive

Highly Recommended

Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere is one of the best books that I can suggest for anyone involved or interested in aikido. This book begins with the introduction of the basic philosophy and ideology of aikido coupled with the author's outline on the theory of attack and theory/ethics of defense. The book gives a general background of Japanese arts and ideology that have come together to make up aikido.

The meat of the book consists of a wide variety of attacks combined with a myriad of possible defensive aikido techniques. The organization of the attacks and techniques described in the book is wonderfully done. The authors begin with a chart that lists the possible attacks versus the possible aikido maneuver, then the individual combinations are explained and illustrated in great detail and classified by aikido technique (projection or immobilization).

Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere wraps up with brief sections on "randori" or multiple attackers, weapons techniques, more advanced movements, kneeling techniques, and philosophy.

The illustrations that permeate the book are the icing on the cake. Oscar Ratti is a talented artist whose drawings bring the movements of aikido to life to seem truly dynamic.

My only reservation about the book is the fact that the authors have chosen to, for the most part, neglect the use of the Japanese terms for the attacks and techniques themselves. But other than this small quibble I would highly recommend this book.

Annotated by: Michael Jones (February 2005)

Martial Arts: Aikido |

Topics: instruction | philosophy |