Secrets of the Samurai (1 Viewer)

[Currahee Chris]

Not sure if we have too many fans of feudal Japan here on the board but I read "secrets of the Samurai; the martial arts of Feudal Japan."

Decent book but I should have paid better attention to the martial arts aspect of it as it discusses many different applications of the martial arts for the last half (220+ pages) of the book. I should have known this as the authors- Michael and Adele Westbrook are big martial artist fans.

Some interesting stories- one story/legend described a Daimyo who overtook another daimyo's castle and was going to take his slain opponent's wife as his own. She agreed to marry him on the highest tower of the castle. As they were preparing to take their vows, she threw herself over the tower!! The Code of Bushido applied to the women of the nobility as well and to her, it would have been dishonor to her husband to have married this new Daimyo.

Various discussions about Sumo as well- I always wondered why the Japanese were so infatuated with this sport. Well, I got an excellent answer for it in the concept of Harakagi (sp?). This is one of the core beliefs of martial arts that all power comes from the center or the abdomen and that sumotori have this power, well, in abundance much like a powerlifter has strength in their upper body.

All in all, a good book though a little repetitious. I think it was a little over my head but I did get some clarifications on the Heian period which was nice. I will probably revisit this one in 10 years when I know a little more about the material. But hey, for $9 at Barnes and Nobles, it was definately worth it.

CC

 

[kilted vampire]

So the reason for the infatuation of Sumo is?

 

[Currahee Chris]

So the reason for the infatuation of Sumo is?

Good Question KV-

I was a grappler in High School- enjoyed the sport immensely. Sumo just seems to go against the grain of traditional and Greco Roman grappling. With traditional, you have 2 guys dueling for 6-8+ minuntes. GR, the focus is a lot of precision moves and takedowns. You have to be in pretty extraordinary shape to do that. Sumo, appears to be nothing more than two humongeous guys smacking into each other and driving each other out of the ring. I have seen some world class Canadian Sumo weighing in at 225 pounds best some of the Giant Japanese.

I always wondered where these guys came from too- is there some kind of island called Sumotori? Maybe somewhere East of Monster Island where we can find Godzilla and his ilk?? Most of your Eastern cultures are very very fit and athletic lean people- these sumo just seemed to go against that notion completely.

The discussion on Sumo was interesting to me as it discussed that this is an ancient art and that there is more to it than two massive mountains of men slapping each other around. In fact it is a respected, though obscure martial art; at least that was what I took from the book.

I think, if I didn't have these two herniated disks (L4 and L5) that I would have been a better Sumotori than traditional grappler. I was a football player as well and a lot of the movements in Sumo focuses on optimizing balance with leverage and power- a lot like playing offensive line (I was a Tight End)

 

[tsukaiban]

Not sure if we have too many fans of feudal Japan here on the board but I read "secrets of the Samurai; the martial arts of Feudal Japan."

Decent book but I should have paid better attention to the martial arts aspect of it as it discusses many different applications of the martial arts for the last half (220+ pages) of the book. I should have known this as the authors- Michael and Adele Westbrook are big martial artist fans.

Some interesting stories- one story/legend described a Daimyo who overtook another daimyo's castle and was going to take his slain opponent's wife as his own. She agreed to marry him on the highest tower of the castle. As they were preparing to take their vows, she threw herself over the tower!! The Code of Bushido applied to the women of the nobility as well and to her, it would have been dishonor to her husband to have married this new Daimyo.

Various discussions about Sumo as well- I always wondered why the Japanese were so infatuated with this sport. Well, I got an excellent answer for it in the concept of Harakagi (sp?). This is one of the core beliefs of martial arts that all power comes from the center or the abdomen and that sumotori have this power, well, in abundance much like a powerlifter has strength in their upper body.

All in all, a good book though a little repetitious. I think it was a little over my head but I did get some clarifications on the Heian period which was nice. I will probably revisit this one in 10 years when I know a little more about the material. But hey, for $9 at Barnes and Nobles, it was definately worth it.

CC

Good to hear their is a fellow enthusiast in Japanese Feudal History. It is a good book I read it when I was stationed in Okinawa Japan.
If you are interested more of Samurai History check this website:

http://forums.samurai-archives.com/

A forum website that gives you info on history, films and weaponry...Thought you interested..just putting it out there.