Spring Wind: The Story of the Japanese Martial Arts

Spring Wind is the story of the Japanese fighting arts. It traces the rise and fall of the samurai as they learn to fight with bows and arrows, with swords and with their bare hands. We discover how these warrior skills were transformed into karate, judo, aikido and kendo during the twentieth century. The book explores the role played by the martial arts in the Second World War and explains how they recovered from that disastrous period to boom once again in the post war decades. At the heart of this sweeping historical survey are some of the greatest and most fascinating characters in Japanese history: Miyamoto Musashi, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Yamaoka Tesshu, Jigoro Kano, Gichin Funakoshi and Morihei Ueshiba.