Harrison, E. J.

New York: Overlook TP, 250 pages (1988)
ISBN: 0879511540
141 Wooster Street

Highly Recommended

A reprint of an early work, perhaps one of the earliest, on Japanese martial culture from the perspective of a Westerner; although the content may appear to be irrelevant, or even naive, in our modern society, however, one must appreciates the fact that this piece of work was probably the first attempt to critically discuss and dissect the Japanese martial culture.

Harrison focuses on the spiritual component of Japanese martial arts, since he believes this is the key component that decides whether one can conquer his opponent. As Harrison mentions, Japanese martial arts contests were extremely jarring, even to the extent that a contestant must have expected death as a possible result and bade their families' farewell. In essence, a person who can have the spiritual preparedness similar to the 300 Spartans when facing the Persian armies will surely succeed and defeating his opponent both physically and spiritually, even if he does not live to tell the tale.

This book includes discussions on jujutsu/judo, kendo, aikido, karate, and even sumo. Harrison declares that the Japanese, by means of their martial arts training, will always defeat his Western opponent due to their fighting spirit, whether armed or unarmed. This situation, however, must exclude modern firearms since the traditional Japanese warriors are not accustomed to long range weaponry with such powerful destructive capability.

Annotated by: Edward Wang (March 2007)

Martial Arts: Aikido | Iaido | Judo | Jujitsu | Karate | Kendo | other martial art: sumo

Topics: philosophy |