| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 104.5

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 104.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Asia

G. Cameron Hurst III. Armed Martial Arts of Japan: Swordsmanship and Archery. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1998. Pp. x, 243. $30.00.

This volume breaks new ground. G. Cameron Hurst, a long-time student of unarmed martial arts, writes as a historian. He applies his understanding of martial arts training without turning his book into a treatise on technique, aesthetics, or spiritual refinement, yet he treats each of these issues for armed martial arts. This makes his book different from other works on Japanese martial arts. Hurst illustrates the transformation of archery and swordsmanship from military techniques into modern sports. All students of premodern Japanese history should be grateful for his accomplishment. 1

Hurst begins with a short chapter on "Martial Arts and Japanese Culture." Part one, "Swordsmanship," includes three chapters: "The Early Tradition," "From Self-Protection to Self-Perfection in the Early and Mid-Tokugawa," and "The Sporting Element in the Late Tokugawa." Part two, "Archery," includes two chapters: "The Way of the Bow and Arrow," and "The Quest for Records in the Tokugawa." Here Hurst makes an important point: "Archery . . . was . . . the primary bushi fighting skill for most of premodern history"; "Not until the Tokugawa period did bushi come to venerate the sword more than the bow" (p. 103.). . . .

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