Product Description

A manual on jujitsu, the predecessor of judo, designed for the serious martial arts student.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #278111 in Books
• Published on: 1995-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent history and discussion
I'm surprised I'm the first person to review this book. This book discusses classical Japanese jiu-jitsu, presenting the history of the art as it can best be reconstructed, along with many illustrations and discussions of the techniques. Just as with the approximately 200-300 schools of swordsmanship that existed between 1000 A.D. and the mid-1800's, when they went into decline (with only about 15 surviving today), there were many styles also of jiu-jitsu, often associated with a particular martial art tradition that included training in the yari (spear), naginata (halberd), the bow, and various other weapons, but most importantly, the sword, as in the famous Kashima-Shinryu style that Karl Friday has capably discussed in his scholarly book, Legacies of the Sword.

Here Craig attempts to do the same thing for jiu-jitsu and I think succeeds very well. Except for articles in various martial arts journals, there is no book accessible to the general reader that deals with this important topic. Overall, a fine book with much valuable information that should be of interest to martial artists with an interest in the old school or koryu Japanese arts.

Very good
This book has an excellent historical perspective of Japanese jujitsu. Like many other books on martial arts, it can not be used alone to learn actual techniques. However it describes a variety of ancient techniques that are still used today by the Japanese police, including some lesser known methods such as rope tying. Although I understand that the author was probably attempting a specific "historical" look with the somewhat crude drawings, I would have preferred more modern illustrations.

Jujitsu in an historical perspective.
Craig Sensei has provided the jujitsu community with a look at their roots. An honest, well documented study of the golden age of traditional jujitsu with a brief discussion and illustration of many of the lesser known techniques of jujitsu.