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Author: Clive Sinclaire
Publisher: Chartwell Books
Published: 2009-09-01
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780785825630
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFor 700 years Japanese civilization was dominated by a single warrior caste. This project looks at the weaponry of Samurai men and women over the centuries with specifically commissioned photography of reenactors wearing and museum-quality clothing and weaponry.
Author: Cary Nemeroff
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: 2014-09-02
Total Pages: 459
ISBN-13: 1462916252
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMemorialized in countless books and movies, the history of Japan's fearsome samurai warriors is known all over the world. Who can forget these Japanese masters' skills with the sword? Today, samurai warriors no longer exist, but their legacy of swordsmanship endures. Now, the way of the samurai sword is learned in the martial arts Iaijutsu and Kenjutsu. This book is the perfect introduction to using this beautiful and ancient weapon. In Mastering the Samurai Sword, you'll learn the sword's fascinating history, its evolution, and the philosophy behind its use. You'll also learn practical guidance for mastering the sword itself. Full-color, step-by-step photographs detail many of the most useful and famous samurai moves, including: drawing the samurai sword guard positions, cutting blows, and blocking falling and rolling techniques, and evasive strategies standing forms and kneeling forms All of the martial arts techniques discussed in the book are performed for readers in the downloadable material to help you perfect your form. Beginners will learn everything from proper attire and behavior in the dojo to how they might practice at home, while more experienced samurai swords people will find a new appreciation for the deeper meaning and tradition behind the graceful way of the sword.
Author: Kohshyu Yoshida
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: 2014-06-13
Total Pages: 374
ISBN-13: 1462909906
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Samurai Sword is the essential illustrated guide to the Japanese way of the sword. Japan's famous samurai warriors were more than just soldiers -- they were adherents to a strict code of honor who respected the deeper, spiritual meaning of the way of the sword. To the samurai, battle was sacred. This indispensable guide to theory and practice respects both the physical and spiritual aspects of martial arts practice with the katana. This sword book features: Beautiful, step-by-step photos and easy-to-understand text Guidance for selecting, maintaining, and using your sword Wisdom about the practical value of meditation Inspirational biographies of some of the greatest samurai swordsmen, men whose words and deeds embodied the true spirit of the samurai warrior Downloadable video Whether you're a beginner or an experienced swordsperson, this book will broaden your practical knowledge with detailed instruction on stances, cuts, guards, forms, and sparring techniques and strategy.
Author: John M. Yumoto
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: 2013-01-08
Total Pages: 208
ISBN-13: 1462907067
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe samurai sword: a symbol of the spirit of old Japan, it embodies the samurai's steel discipline, unswerving devotion and peerless skill. With its creation, a feat of craftsmanship passed down by generations of artisans, the samurai sword is generally considered to be superior even to the famed blades of Western Damascus and Toledo. The Samurai Sword Handbook is a precise exploration of the samurai sword designed for sword collectors as well as anyone intrigued by these ancient blades. Detailing the origins and development of the samurai sword, its historical background, styles, famous schools and differences in construction, this revised edition of the classic reference outlines methods of identifying and researching the sword, as well as caring for it properly. This must-have for sword lovers is sure to be a bestseller. Topics of this Samurai book include: Japanese History and the Samurai Sword Types of swords Parts of the sword Blade shape, construction, and grain The making of the sword Inscriptions and their readings Care and maintenance Appraisal and value Relative point values
Author: Kōkan Nagayama
Publisher: Kodansha International
Published: 1997
Total Pages: 384
ISBN-13: 9784770020710
DOWNLOAD EBOOKConnoisseur's Book Japanese Swords is a Kodansha International publication.
Author: Stephen Turnbull
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-01-01
Total Pages: 170
ISBN-13: 1849086583
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Samurai sword of Japan is probably the finest edged weapon ever made. This volume by leading Samurai expert Stephen Turnbull reveals the story of how and why it achieved this distinction. Particular attention is paid to the development of the familiar curved blade from the original straight blades, the associated development of Japan's famous steel-making techniques and the challenges from contemporary warfare. Together with the technical details of forging, polishing, mounting and testing; this volume is brought to life with details of the great swordmakers themselves. Moreover, no history of the sword would be complete without a detailed examination of its use in combat, from the greatest Samurai armies to individual duels and revenge killings. Personal accounts allow the reader to discover the art of Japanese swordsmanship in the hands of masters such as Miyamoto Musashi to the unnamed Japanese warrior defending his family's honour. This lively text is perfectly complemented by artwork reconstructions of the sword in use and colour photographs of the swords in use.
Author: Miyamoto Musashi
Publisher:
Published: 2020-11-18
Total Pages: 48
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKLimited Time Promotional Offer The Book of Five Rings In "The Book of Five Rings," Miyamoto Musashi takes the reader into a world filled to the brim with devotion, self-respect, discipline, honesty and purity of thought. Written originally for warriors and samurai in a completely different time and culture, Musashi's book provides a remarkable source of inspiration for self-development today. His teachings are concise and to the point. He uses phrases like "you must understand this" and "you must practice diligently" and explains only general, but unquestionable and fundamental, concepts of the Way of the Warrior. While some of his guidelines are are not directly applicable in our time and age, those about striving to achieve improvement on the inside as well as the outside couldn't be more on target. Taken literally this book is about how to become an efficient, albeit enlightened, killer. It's value comes from reading between the lines... lines which speak volumes. About Miyamoto Musashi: Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), was a Japanese swordsman and ronin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age. The founder of a style of swordsmanship, he also wrote The Book of Five Rings, a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today. Miyamoto Musashi is widely considered a Kensei and one of the greatest warriors of all time.
Author: Ben Hubbard
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2014-06-02
Total Pages: 183
ISBN-13: 0750957255
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe true nature of the samurai warrior is an elusive and endlessly fascinating enigma for those in the west. From their inauspicious beginnings as barbarian-subduing soldiers, the samurai lived according to a code known as bushido, or ‘Way of the Warrior’. Bushido advocated loyalty, honour, pride and fearlessness in combat. Those who broke the code were expected to perform seppuku, or suicide through belly-slitting. By its very design, seppuku aimed to restore honour to disgraced warriors by ensuring the most painful of deaths. But as the samurai grew into large warrior clans, the bushido virtues of loyalty and honour fell into question, as control was seized and the emperor supplanted by a powerful military ruler, the shogun. Samurai tells the story of the ensuing centuries-long struggle for power between the clans, as Japan’s martial elite rose and fell.
Author: Phyllis A. Whitney
Publisher: Fawcett
Published: 1958
Total Pages: 206
ISBN-13: 9780449703670
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhen Celia and her brother Stephen visit Japan, they discover a guest with a message from the past--the ghost of an ancient samurai soldier.
Author: Joe Earle
Publisher: MFA Publications
Published: 2011-03-31
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780878467754
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAs the "soul of the samurai," the sword is famously both the symbol and instrument of Japanese military prowess. Less known, at least in the west, is its role as a fashion accessory or status symbol. More than the weapon itself, it was the sword's metal fittings--from the hand guard to the small decorative plates on the hilt--that reflected the complexities of samurai life. Some fittings were meant to convey the honor and self-control expected of a samurai, while other, more flamboyant fittings reflected the samurai's leisure-time persona as "man about town." Later, when the wearing of swords spread beyond the samurai class, both the decorative function of the fittings and the variety of their designs increased, leading to some of the most accomplished metalwork ever created. Now in paperback for the first time, Lethal Elegance presents 150 of these remarkable sword fittings, and is one of the few books to focus on their styles and techniques. It discusses the visual effects achieved with different alloys, the evolution of fittings following changes in warfare, symbolism and standards for connoisseurship. Though these objects were created for violent ends, their variety and beauty also reveal them as wonders of self-expression.
