Comprehensive Asian fighting arts

Donn F. Draeger & Robert W. Smith

Published by Kodansha, softcover, illustrated

COMPIIEHENSIVE ASIAN FIGHTING ARTS
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. Recently these arts have aroused considerable interest in the West, and a number of books on the bet-ter known ones have been published.

For some time there has been an obvious need for a book that coordinates and puts into perspective all the principal fighting arts of Asia—a book that explains the relationships between each fighting art, assesses their strengths and weaknesses, and presents new material about hitherto unknown fighting methods. Here is that book.

Written by two of the best-known and most widely published authorities in the field, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts covers fighting methods and techniques found in eleven Asian countries—fighting techniques that range from the artful Chinese t'ai-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.

Compilation of Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts has been a monumental task for the authors, representing a combined total of over five decades of historical research, interviewing, observation, travel, and personal participation in the arts. 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.

This is both an absorbing book for the general reader and an essential companion to all those studying or interested in the fighting arts. Most are still practiced today—not only because of their lasting fascination but also because they provide a time-tested key to man-toman combat.