Physical Exercise Training Manual (Japanese Army Gymnastics Primer)

Near Miniature Book, measuring 11 by 7.5 cm. 114 leaves, all of a very thin, wax-like paper stock, with printing on both sides of most, but not all, leaves. Illustrations, mostly line drawings of men doing various exercises, on 103 pages as well as on the ten folding plates. (The folding plates have printing on one side only.) Demonstrated in the illustrations are everything from marching to balance exercises, rope climbing, the use of the hobby horse, rings, pull up bar, ladder exercises, etc. etc. Also shown are more general calisthenics -- push ups, pull ups, and the like, and more theatrical acrobatics, such as building a pyramid. Text in Japanese. Simple though the illustrations are, they are pleasing and impart in and of themselves valuable content. The issue of the booklet coincides with the Western -- European and American -- embrace of physical culture, and obviously the rigorous physical training required of gymnastics is ideal for military conditioning, and some of the exercises might plausibly be things actually required of a soldier in a zone of combat, such as crossing a river by holding onto a rope as one progresses by alternating the forward hand. We would note that the booklet was issued less than a decade after the first Olympics, and gymnastics, such as propounded in this booklet, constituted a far greater portion of the Olympics in the early iterations than it does today. The credited author is an important figure in Japanese history. Masatake (1852 - 1919) was the Minister of the Army when this booklet was issued, and remained in that position during the Russo-Japanese War, which was decisively won by Japan. In 1916 he became the Prime Minister of Japan, and remained so until 1918. In his earlier adult years, he spent significant periods of time in Europe where he studied French weaponry and tactics. Surely this experience was instrumental in his promoting of the physical training imparted by this booklet. Moderate wear. Cover has soiling. Some leaves creased. Fold-outs have some roughness to their folds.…