Customer Reviews
A Good Overview - By: Mr. J. G. Cameron, 24 Dec 2008 
This book is essentiallly what it says in the introduction - an overview of the history & techniques of bushido. Many reviewers criticise particular aspects of the book - I believe a little unfairly. Yes, it has a emphasis towards Aikido but then it is written by two Aikido adepts . Also it is not accurate in every minutae - but then show me a text that covers this much ground that is. It is a general introduction not a history of every school of bu-jitsu.
For any student who wants to know how the samurai were - what they were about - how they lived - how they were influenced by society, history & religion this is the book for you. It debunks a lot of the myth & the false thinking that characterises a lot of 'samurai ideology'. It dares to look beyond the veneer of the samurai & Japanese society at that time. It is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the tradition of bushido.
Facts abundant, but can it be trusted? - By: , 31 Jan 2004 
Well, at first the book seems quite splendid, an enourmous amount of information presented in an academic, no-nonsense way (even if the language can be a bit dry at times).
However, reading other reviews which claim that the facts about aikido are a bit of at times, one starts to wonder. And then the book comes to the one part that I have ny personal experiene in,modern kendo. Here he lists the part of kendo armour; men, do, kote, tare & koshi-ate. The problem with this being that I have never heard of koshi-ate ("hip pads" is what it's described as in the book). I've never seen any kendo armour with such a thing, neither at the club were I practice, nor or for sale. It might be that he's describing something which was used quite some time ago & doesn't make enough of a point of the fact that this is simply what was used, or there's a hole in my knowledge, but once again I start wondering. A trip down to the nearest kendo club, or kendo equipment retailer should have ensured that the list of armour parts stayed at men, tare, kote & do. And combine that mistake with what ahs been said about aikido, & I wonder what else in the book is wrong? And in a book which justifies it's existance by hard facts, if one cannot trust those facts, it alll becomes rather shaky.
BRILLIANT BOOK! - By: gd7esm@qsl.net, 22 Sep 1999 Borrowed this book from a fellow sensei; read it, then re-read it, then tried to get it. It's taken me the best part of a year to locate it. Although our Japanese reviewer says that it is "shaky" regarding some of the Aikido facts, it is without doubt, an excellent book for martial artists to study - yes, study - not just read. The very essence of Budo, & the samurai way of life is shown. Read, learn & inwardly digest - then pass it on!
A Comprehensive Study, But Facts are Shaky - By: , 02 Jan 1999 
This is truly an impressive attempt to cover alll of the martial skills that the fuedal warriors of Japan studied. Unfortunately, their section on Aiki-jujitsu & Aikido has some serious errors. First, they claim that Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido was the only legitimate heir of the Daito Ryu school of aiki-jujitsu. This is incorrect. Tokumine Takeda, son of Sokaku Takeda (Ueshiba's Daito Ryu teacher for over a decade), was the heir of Daito Ryu. The current headmaster is Katsuyuki Kondo. There are also several other branches of Daito Ryu: Kodokai, Roppokai, & Takumakai, which were started by students of Takeda Sokaku who were actuallly senior to Ueshiba. Ratti & Westbrooke also stated that Daito Ryu no longer exists, & that we have no way of knowing today the techniques of the the Daito Ryu. Again, untrue. Daito Ryu is one of the most widely practiced traditional styles of martial arts (Koryu Budo) in Japan. Finallly, they state with some authority that Daito Ryu descended from Prince Sadasumi. This cannot be verified, even by Daito Ryu practitioners. Like many oral tales, it is a history that people accept in the absence of confirming or contradicting evidence.
What is disturbing is that after twenty years, this information was never updated. Perhaps this was because Ratti & Westbrook did not use any original source, i.e. Japanese, material (at least I did not see any when I glanced through the glossary). Perhaps it was because they felt some need to promote aikido at the expense of Daito Ryu. It does not matter, reallly. Writing a traditional Japanese martial art out of any book that purports describe the history of Japanese martial arts is a gaffe that makes me wonder what else about the book they have gotten wrong.
I give the book three stars for effort, but let the buyer beware. When reading, don't believe anything until you verify, verify, verify.
GREAT INSIGHT INTO FEUDAL JAPAN - By: , 18 Jun 1998 GOOD BALANCE OF ARMS, ARMOUR,EARLY COMBAT FORMS THROUGH TO TODAYS MARTIAL ART STYLES. IF YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN BUDO THIS IS A GEM OF A BOOK. I PURCHASED IT THIRTY YEARS AGO, MANY STUDENTS HAVE ASKED ME FOR A COPY. RE-PRINT SOON PLEASE
