Allright so this may not be for everyone. Because not everyone cares about the why's in their the art they study. But my personal philosophy for life, my three pillars if you will, dicate that I must train the mind aswell. I wont go into my personal philosophy here don't worry. I was however curious about how many other share my habit of learning about other styles of the sword through literature. Do we have a literature list or shall we make one? I would start of with a few of the most famous books out there regarding the sword: The Book Of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi The Book Of Family Traditions On The Art Of War - Yagyu Munenori The Art Of War -Sun Tzu I am sure there are many other books that are great. As a side note I really want to start reading about Confucius. Should any of you be, for whatever reason, curious about my personal philosophy then ask away!
My favorite book is the Bukyo Shigen. I've never found a copy of the full book, but theres a chunk of it in here: https://www.amazon.com/Budo-Secrets-Teachings-Martial-Masters/dp/1570629153 You should be able to find it in the free preview. The idea of warriors like that is both terrifying and AWESOME.
The Japanese Way Of The Artist by H. E. Davey This book is actually three complete works: Living The Japanese Arts & Ways Brush Meditation The Japanese Way Of The Flower It is relatively inexpensive: https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Way...r=8-1&keywords=the+japanese+way+of+the+artist Before reading this book, I had never experienced terms like 'shugyo' and 'furyo'. Beware that this is philosophy and meditation upon 'do'. It is not about how to hit people or when to do so.
'Hyoho Michishirube' by Shirai Toru. It's a commentary on a very strange and interesting old book about swordsmanship associated with Kukamishin ryu called the Shinken Kakkiron!
Just the famous ones. OK. How about Fiore, McBane, Le Marchant, Burton, Hutton, Nadi, Patton, or Document No. 286; War Department - Office of the Chief of Staff (Provisional Regulations for Saber Exercise, United States Army). Peace favor your sword, Kirk
For HNIR practitioners, The Book of Five Rings is required reading. To the OP, you're not going to get much out of it if you're not practicing HNIR, it's just that simple. Or at least, you're not going to get out of it what was intended, most likely. That doesn't mean don't read it, just be aware that you are missing vital context if you don't practice Musashi's art. Maybe you do? I would, for general tactics of swordsmanship, recommend the so-called "Dobringer" manuscript, HS 3227a. It's the first manuscript in the Liechtenauer tradition, but talks a fair amount in general terms, making it far more useful for sword art practitioners in general than later manuscripts which are far more technical and specific to the style. Here are two different translations: http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/Dobringer_A5_sidebyside.pdf Nuremberg Hausbuch (MS 3227a) ~ Wiktenauer ~☞ Insquequo omnes gratuiti fiunt
The deity and the sword since I am a tksr guy, legacies of the sword are my two favorite ones. I also like the yagyu book but I missed my chance to study that style.
