Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts (Bushido--The Way of the Warrior)

Fighting arts are as old as man himself and as varied as his languages. In Asia they developed to a degree of effectiveness probably unsurpassed elsewhere in the world. This book explains the relationships between fighting arts, assesses their strengths and weaknesses, and presents new material about hitherto unknown fighting methods. Written by two of the best-known and most widely published authorities in the field, it covers fighting methods and techniques found in eleven Asian countries-fighting techniques that range from the artful Chinese tai-chi and Burmese bando to Japanese jujutsu and the lethal pentjak-silat of Indonesia.

Documentation of these has been supplemented with a wealth of fascinating anecdotes. The reader learns of the daring exploits of the Japanese ninja, of Gama, perhaps the greatest of the great Indian wrestlers, of the Indonesian "trance" fighters-and hundreds of other tales that serve to illustrate some of the most deadly fighting systems that the world has known.

The volume is illustrated with over two hundred photographs and drawings, many of them depicting combat styles and techniques that have never been seen in the West.

The late DONN F. DRAEGER was recognized as one of the world's leading experts on fighting arts. He was more than proficient in several martial arts and was also a prolific author whose books have become the standard works on many aspects of the martial arts.

ROBERT W. SMITH, well-known teacher and widely published author, is one of the world's leading experts on Chinese fighting forms and techniques, though his interests extend to fighting arts of all Asian countries.