Tag Archives: martial arts

BOOK: “Senjutsu to Ninjutsu” by Doshi Shigetsu (Trans. by Eric Shahan)

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Senjutsu to NinjutsuSenjutsu to Ninjutsu by Doshi Shigetsu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Author’s Amazon Site

This essay presents thoughts about the practices of what Taoists would call “Immortals.” (The work was apparently created as a speech or lecture.) The translation used in the book is “mountain ascetics,” which might lead readers to believe that it is talking about Shugenja or Yamabushi. I don’t know a great deal about the Japanese language or those systems, but the character used — 仙 (Xiān, in Chinese) — is almost always translated as Immortal in the Chinese language. Shugendo is a syncretic tradition of Esoteric Buddhism, Shinto, Taoism, and folk religion, and it certainly has some overlap (mountain setting, Taoist influence, harsh training practices, etc.) but I don’t know that the two systems would be viewed as equivalent. (Though maybe they were considered so at the time and place of publication.) The author does try to clarify who it is he is talking about, largely by distinguishing them from Celestial Maidens (天人) and Tengu (天狗, crow-goblin-swordsmen.)

At any rate, the primary objective of the lecture / essay is to counter the tendency to be dismissive of these systems. The piece is dated 1901, and so there was an increasing proclivity to dismiss the supernormal as mere superstition. The author argues that practitioners who develop unwavering self-confidence through the practice of intense / death-defying activities (e.g. fasting) may be capable of things that would be unfathomable by ordinary people, leading ordinary lives.

The “ninjutsu” bit of the title results from the proposition of a linkage of the methods and approaches between Japan’s famous caste of warrior-spies, i.e. the ninja, and the ascetics / immortals discussed throughout most of the book.

This is an interesting read, particularly so because of its timing (after the era of Samurai and Ninja, but before modernity so advanced that the supernatural was entirely relegated to a societal fringe.)

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Slaughter-bot [Free Verse]

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Image generated by CoPilot from the prompt: "Draw me a Kung Fu Robot."
Image by Microsoft Copilot (AI)
Clumsy Kung Fu robots
   will become slaughter-bots
      in our time.

What they lack in Zen spontaneity 
   and warrior ethos they will make 
      up for in speed, power, and
          dense metal alloy.

Replaced limbs will make them more
   -- not less -- capable fighters.

Will a battling robot ever wonder
    How did we get here?
                   or
    What is the point?

Or will it only wonder why it is
    using its feet as impact weapons
         when it has ray-guns?

(It is a little like building a typing pool
    of robots... only way, way cooler.)

BOOK: “Among Warriors” by Pamela Logan

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Among Warriors: A Woman Martial Artist in Tibet (Vintage Departures)Among Warriors: A Woman Martial Artist in Tibet by Pamela Logan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Author Site

This is an interesting travelogue describing Logan’s 1991 journey through Tibet and Nepal via bicycle, foot, and hitchhiked rides in trucks. It’s reminiscent of Alexandra David-Néel’s description of a journey in Tibet, though Alexandra David-Néel’s trip was both successful in ways Logan’s was not (e.g. in 1924 the former reached Lhasa, which Logan is turned away from,) and Alexandra David-Néel had to go full native — i.e. she couldn’t have completed her trip without convincing all the locals she interacted with that she was, in fact, from the region, herself. Still, Logan comes across as no slouch, heading out even when permits were denied or stalled, getting turned back, and making legitimate attempts to sneak her way to her objective. One must acknowledge that late 20th century China is a very different world than early 20th century Tibet, and so it may not be a fair comparison.

It is Logan’s stating of her objective that sets this book up to be anticlimactic, despite its thrilling elements. Her initial objective was to come into contact with Khampas — nomadic Tibetan warriors who were legendarily hard. While Logan has many adventures and fascinating experiences, she doesn’t succeed in her stated objective. I found it bold, but perhaps ill-conceived, to so ardently discuss said objective (even in the back blurb,) knowing that — adventures or no — it would feel like a let-down to many readers.

If you are interested in learning more about the highways, byways, and villages of Tibet, particularly how it was back in the early 90’s, I’d recommend reading this book. However, I wouldn’t go into it with any blurb-generated expectations.

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BOOK: Bokuden Ryu Jujutsu by Otsuka Nobuyoshi; Trans. by Eric Shahan

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Bokuden Ryu Jujutsu: A Record of Intensive Lessons in Jujutsu with Additional Secret Teachings on ResuscitationBokuden Ryu Jujutsu: A Record of Intensive Lessons in Jujutsu with Additional Secret Teachings on Resuscitation by Otsuka Nobuyoshi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Translator Amazon Page

This is a manual, written in 1916, of the Bokuden Ryu school of Jujutsu. Tsukahara Bokuden was a sixteenth century samurai and is one of the most famous of Japan’s swordsmen, having been instructor to a Shogun and a Provincial Governor, and the school of Jujutsu described in this book was said to have been founded by him.

The manual mostly consists of textual and line drawn descriptions of thirty techniques of the system, mostly throws and takedowns. Each page has an English translation appended to the original manual’s text and drawings. Most techniques are explained over two or three pages (i.e. two or three drawings.) The book also includes three resuscitation techniques and a few odds and ends. There is also a nice set of atemi maps – i.e. drawings showing various vulnerable spots on the body, and a brief biography (a few pages) of Tsukahara Bokuden.

The translator points out errors in the original and corrects them in the translation (e.g. there are a couple of techniques in which attacker and defender labels are swapped.)

If you’re interested in Japanese martial arts and the evolution of Jujutsu, I’d recommend this manual. There is not a great deal of fine detail to be gleaned, but the concise descriptions do offer insights into what is unique and what is common to the system.

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BOOK: “Shuhari” by Nobuo Suzuki

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Shuhari: The Three-Step Japanese Path to Lifelong Growth and SuccessShuhari: The Three-Step Japanese Path to Lifelong Growth and Success by Nobuo Suzuki
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Release date: August 11, 2026

I was introduced to the concept of “shuhari” as a student of Japanese martial arts, and over time I discovered it to be one of the most useful concepts for personal growth and development. Shuhari is by no means exclusive to martial arts and is applied to arts in the broadest sense — really to endeavors of any type (as is true in this book which references not only martial arts, but literary arts, graphic arts, cinematic art, and even sciences.) The idea is this: one begins by repetitively practicing what one is taught in as close to an exemplary fashion as possible (shu,) then one starts adapting the principles one has cultivated to changing and unpredictable circumstances (ha,) and finally one abandons the forms and embraces the spontaneous (ri.) In short, we follow the rules (shu,) break the rules (ha,) and abandon the rules (ri.)

Recent years have seen a flood of books on cultural life philosophies, starting and continuing with those of the Japanese culture, but venturing out into Scandinavian (Sisu and Lagom,) Goan (Susegad,) and many others. One could easily fill a shelf each with the popular books on “ikigai” or “ganbatte.” It’s kind of a surprise to see that it’s taken this long to venture into the invaluable concept of “Shuhari.” It is an idea whose time has come to go global.

In a broad sense, this is a book on learning and creativity, and I’d highly recommend it for anyone looking to reevaluate their approach to learning and / or creating.

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PROMPT: Self-Confidence

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Daily writing prompt
What’s the best way to build self-confidence?
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Going the places that scare you.

I’m fond of primitive living skills and unarmed martial arts that train against armed opponents. There’s something about stripping away all technologies that you can’t build yourself in the moment that gives one faith in one’s capability far deeper than a high GPA, a good paying job, or any of the usual markers of success in today’s world. I highly doubt any cavemen experienced Imposter Syndrome. If you managed to be alive into adulthood, you had an intuitive understanding that you were some kind of awesome. Not so in the modern world.

BOOK: “Ninja Weapons” by Charles V. Gruzanski

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Ninja Weapons: Chain and ShurikenNinja Weapons: Chain and Shuriken by Charles V. Gruzanski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Online – Internet Archives

The first item to get out of the way is that this book doesn’t have a particularly apt title. The book was originally released with the more accurate (but less sexy) title, “Spike and Chain,” and then this edition came out in early 90’s when fascination with all things ninja was high. An accurate title would be “Masaki-ryu Chain Fighting Basics with Information on Throwing Blades on the Side.” But, of course, that would be a horrible, wordy, and tremendously unsexy title. Still, the bulk of the book is a description of the postures and fundamental techniques of fighting with a short weighted chain (called manriki-gusari [10-power chain] in Masaki-ryu or by the more literal kusari-fundo [chain (w/) weight,] elsewhere) and then there is a section on shuriken (throwing spikes and stars) to pad the book out into a three-digit page count needed to be a proper book back in the day.

I should point out that I don’t mean this all as a criticism. I am much more pleased with a book on Masaki-ryu weighted-chain technique than I would be with one that rambled on speculating about the vast number of weapons associated with the ninja. But it’s important to know what the book is about because if you are looking for a guide to the weapons used by ninja, you would probably find this weak sauce. First, there’s little to no mention of ninja in the text. Second, the story given for the development of the manriki-gusari is that of a gate guarding samurai, Dannoshin Toshimitsu Masaki, who didn’t want to have to sully the Imperial grounds with blood and so took up the chain as an alternative to sword fighting. Finally, while shuriken were said to be used by ninja, they were not exclusively so and the history in this book also cites Edo period samurai with developing the art.

If you are interested in Japanese weighted chain weaponry, and specifically Masaki-ryu, this is an excellent book for you. If you’re interested in throwing blades, you might be a little disappointed with how thin that part is, but it does discuss a lot of the fundamentals in a concise and practical way. If you are looking for a book on all the weapons used by ninja, this is not the one for you.

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BOOK: “Mallapurana” ed. by Bhogilai Jayachandbhai Sandesara & Ramanlal Nagarji Mehta

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Mallapurana: A Rare Sanskrit Text on Indian Wrestling especially as practised by the Jyesthimallas (Gaekwad's Oriental Series No. 144)Mallapurana: A Rare Sanskrit Text on Indian Wrestling especially as practised by the Jyesthimallas by Bhogilal Jayachandbhai; Mehta Sandesara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Available online – Internet Archive

The Mallapurana is a several hundred-year-old Sanskrit manual on wrestling as practiced in India, specifically by the Jyesthimalla caste. In 1964 two scholars from the University of Baroda released an edition that included a summary and detailed elaboration for an English-language readership, written to be understood by a reader without a background in the Indian wrestling tradition. (The text does include the original Sanskrit text for those who can read it, but I can’t comment on it.)

The manual is not just a discussion of wrestling techniques. In fact, a good portion of the manual covers issues like diet, training, the rites and logistical details of wrestling matches, characteristics of wrestlers, and strategies of matches. The authors include discussions of training methods and other details. The material is presented for a scholarly audience. While the readability is not challenging, it is arranged in a way that may feel tedious for the general readership. There are occasional descriptions that may leave a general reader befuddled.

I found reading this manual to be informative. It turned me on to many ideas with which I was unfamiliar. I’d highly recommend it for those interested in wrestling, martial sports, or the evolution of fitness practices.

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PROMPT: Read Over

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Daily writing prompt
What book could you read over and over again?
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孙子兵法, i.e. “The Art of War” by Sunzi (孙子) is one that I can and have read more than twice.

I’m not a huge re-reader, but others include “Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras,” “Hamlet,” “Leaves of Grass,” and Miyamoto Musashi’s “Book of Five Rings.” Translated literature is often good for more than one read because translations vary so much.

PROMPT: Movies or TV Series

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Daily writing prompt
What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times?
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Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Hustle, and The Matrix. Together, they contain the sum of all wisdom.