Secrets of the Samurai: The Martial Arts of Feudal Japan (Tuttle Specials)

This is an great book which is a pleasure to read! The condition is first class.

40 years myself and I consider this the one and only book true to the history and development of martial art history along with some matarial from Maasaki Hatsumi and Don Drager. DOnt listen to the ignorant people that disagree, th Martial Art World is the most corrupt organization in the hstory of mankind because of the age of commercialization. The Dan system, Jigoro Kano , the Gracies have ruines the auhtnticity by misinterpreting history or misusing Japanese terminology. This is the only book you needHeres an example of a review with no clue42 of 56 people found the following review helpful..................duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!1.0 out of 5 stars An Unreliable Book Containing Fantasy MaterialI am writing this review, because people are erroneously using this book as a source for research into pre-modern Japan. It should not be used for this purpose. It belongs to a genre which I call "gosh golly" books. I will proceed to comments relating to previous revFIRST OF ALL THIS WOMAN IS THE ONE ASSUMING- THIS BOOK IS NOT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF JAPAN OR CULTURE OR EVEN SAMURAI, ITS ABOUT THE FIGHTING METHODS AND WEAPONS OF THE SAMURAI ...DUH!!! OF COURSE WE DONT WANT WOODBLOCK- OSCAR RATTI LINE DRAWING SERVE AS EXMPLES OF THE TECHNIQUES AND DETAILS OF THE WEAPONS USED THAT WOULD NEVER BE IN WOOD BLOCK ANOTHER .....DUHHHH!!!! BEING AN EXPRT IN THE FIEDL OF MARTIAL ARTS- THIS WOMAN HAS NO CLUE AND IS AN IDIOT- THIS IS ABOUT BUJUTSU AND BUDO ONLY- NOT FOOD , NOT ART NOT POLITICS - TO ASSUME PEOPLE BUY IT FORTHAT REASON IS RETARDED

This book is great! I was skimming through martail arts books and came across this masterpiece. It reads like a textbook on samurai history, weapons, armor, and beliefs. There are also the wonderful illustrations by Oscar Ratti which make the book so much more interactive and fun to read. The language is not hard to follow and understand, and you can basically flip to any page and just start reading without getting too lost, although I highly recommend reading it straight through. Another great martial arts book by Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook is "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere". I'm a novice in martial arts and have only begun my journey in finding informative martial arts books. This book is by far the most informative I have come across. In a nutshell, if you are very interested in the samurai and their history and you would like to learn a lot about them, "Secrets of the Samurai" is the book to own.

If you're interested in the Samurai and want detail rather than pretty pictures, then you need this book. If you'd rather have pretty pictures buy the Stephen Turnbull coffee table books. This book is an impeccably researched insight into the martial culture of feudal Japan that needs re-reading.

15 cents for a used book? And a book that goes over America's interest in the main highlights of older, Japanese culture with the samurai and ninja? That's a steal. If anybody has any legitimate interest of Japan's earlier era outside of manga, anime, and fiction, I would highly suggest this book.

I was required to write a book review for college, so I chose this book. It is not really my knid of book, as it is quite detailed in description of all aspects of the samurai. For what it is, it is quite good, very informative and interesting topics, just more in-depth than what I was looking for.

This book is not only agreat take on the history of martial arts in Japan but Oscar Ratti is a phenomenal illustratore that deserves to praised and remebered. I have bought several other books featuring his illustrations after reading this book.

An outstanding and highly detailed examination of all of the budo arts of ancient Japan. The author is both exhaustive in his detail and yet possesses an easy to read writing style. Highly recommended.

The book is good, but the print font is so small that it is a strain on the eyes to read for any longer period than 10 minutes.

Un espectacular llibre sobre molts aspectes dels Samuráis! S’ha de tenir en compte que està en anglès. Cal destacar les increïbles il·lustracions d’Oscar Ratti (també al llibre ‘La esfera dinámica’). Molt bona compra!

nicht einfache kost aber sehr interessant wenn man sich für diese Thematik begeistert.

No complaints

Um livro fantástico. Explica desde os períodos da história do Japão, as classes que compunham a sociedade, os tipos de guerreiros, as técnicas e armas utilizadas. Muito bom. Possui muito texto, muita informação. Recheado de desenhos bem interessantes que auxiliam no entendimento. Livro bem completo.