Hidden in Plain Sight
Esoteric Power Training within Japanese Martial Traditions
revised and expanded edition by Ellis Amdur
Paperback (Published)
(April 2018)
ISBN: 9781937439323
6.97 x 10 inches
Price: $46.95
Out of stock
Ellis Amdur’s writing on martial arts has been groundbreaking. In Dueling with O-sensei, he challenged practitioners that the moral dimension of martial arts is expressed in acts of integrity, not spiritual platitudes and the deification of fantasized warrior-sages. In Old School, he applied both academic rigor and keen observation towards some of the classical martial arts of Japan, leavening his writing with vivid descriptions of many of the actual practitioners of these wonderful traditions. His first edition of Hidden in Plain Sight was a discussion of esoteric training methods once common, but now all but lost within Japanese martial arts. These methodologies encompassed mental imagery, breath-work, and a variety of physical techniques, offering the potential to develop skills and power sometimes viewed as nearly superhuman. Usually believed to be the provenance of Chinese martial arts, Amdur asserted that elements of such training still remain within a few martial traditions: literally, ‘hidden in plain sight.’ Two-thirds larger, this second edition is so much more. Amdur digs deep into the past, showing the complexity of human strength, its adaptation to varying lifestyles, and the nature of physical culture pursued for martial ends. Amdur goes into detail concerning varieties of esoteric power training within martial arts, culminating in a specific methodology known as ‘six connections’ or ‘internal strength.’ With this discussion as a baseline, he then discusses the transfer of esoteric power training from China to various Japanese jujutsu systems as well as Japanese swordsman-ship emanating from the Kurama traditions. Finally, he delves into the innovative martial tradition of Daito-ryu and its most important offshoot, aikido, showing how the mercurial, complicated figures of Takeda Sokaku and Morihei Ueshiba were less the embodiment of something new, than a re-imagining of their past.
Acknowledgements Author's Notes Forward Section 1 - The Cultivation Of Power 1. Physical Culture: A Uniquely Human Preoccupation 2. The Development of Specialized Martial Skill and Power 3. Six Connections-Comprehensive Power Development Section 2 - Heaven And Earth Within Man 4. The Chinese Connection 5. Kit%o-ryu: Rising and Falling 6. Yoshin-ryu: A Garden Of Willows 7. Tenjin Shiny%o-ryu: Heaven and Man 8. What Happened To Jujutsu? Section 3 - Dait%o-ryu: The Past is Future 9. Aizu Bujutsu: Takeda Sokaku's Birthright 10. Takeda Sokaku: Opening Our Eyes To True Bud%o 11. The Heart of Aiki Is The Sword: Takeda Sokaku's Legacy 12. Aiki Nit%o Hiden Section 4 - Aikid%o and Ueshiba Morihei: More Than A Martial Art & More Than A Martial Artist 13. Is The Heart Of Aikid%o The Sword? 14. Aikid%o is Three Peaches 15. Hidden in Plain Sight 16. Triangle, Circle, Square: How To Be O-Sensei In Sixteen Easy Steps Epilogue Appendix A Appendix B Glossary Photo Credits
- By (author) Ellis Amdur
Similar Books
Gender in Gandharan Art
Representations and Interactions in the Buddhist Context (1st-4th centuries CE)
Liberating the Repressed Self among Contemporary Chinese
A Theoretical Study Involving Tu Weiming and Jürgen Moltmann
Volume 41
The Lizhi 荔枝 (Lychee) in Chinese Literature
Translation of Chinese Sources by Michael J. Hagerty. With an introduction and edited by Hartmut Walravens
Volume 66
Der altorientalische Mensch in seiner Umwelt
11. Internationales Colloquium der Deutschen Orientgesellschaft, 16.-19. Juni 2022 in Leipzig
Volume 11
Der Königsgruftkomplex von Qaṭna. Teil 2: Die Grabkammern. Befund, Kontextualisierung, Interpretation
Mit Beiträgen von Carsten Witzel, Emmanuelle Vila, Tina Köster, Nicole Reifarth, Giulia Baccelli, Susanne Degenhardt, Marco Semmelroth, Stefan Flohr, Uwe Kierdorf, Michael Schultz und Fidaa Hlal
Volume 9
Eine Welt aus Tau
Japan: Rollbilder und Werke der Gegenwartskunst in der Sammlung Dr. Christiane Hackerodt
Fundmunzen aus Usbekistan, Band 2
Schatzfunde kushano-sasanidischer Kupfermunzen und ihr Beitrag zur Kenntnis von Pragesystem und Geldumlauf im kushano-sasanidischen Herrschaftsbereich. In Kooperation mit Shakir Pidaev
Volume 557
Individualitat und Kollektivitat
Deutsche und japanische Perspektiven auf Recht, Kultur und Rechtskultur
La gestion de l’eau dans les civilisations de l’Asie
Actes du colloque international organisé par l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, la Société asiatique et le Collège de France à l'Institut des Civilisations du Collège de France et à l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, les 4 et
Soft Seats and Blisters
Zur Geschichte von Parkways, Panoramastrassen, Trails und Wanderwegen in der Hochmoderne
Volume 30
Wilde Schönheiten
Ein Beitrag zur Motivgeschichte der Perlen in der chinesischen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zur Song-Zeit
Volume 31
