Nihonto to bikenjutsu. The Japanese sword and the secret art of fencing Paperback – April 22, 2024

In the book, Dai Shihan 大師範 Luca Lanaro, student of Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, already author of the books Shinden Kihon: Basic techniques of Ninja and Samurai unarmed combat and Hanbojutsu: Techniques with the short stick Ninja and Samurai, describes the history and manufacturing of the Japanese sword Nihonto 日本刀, its most famous swordsmiths, the Tenka Goken 天下五剣 (The five best swords under the sky), the nomenclature of the Katana, how to evaluate it and its cleanliness, as well as the history of Japanese fencing and its most famous masters from Yagyu Munemori to Musashi Miyamoto. The fencing used in the Bujinkan Dojo is shown, taken from the nine traditional Ryuha 流派 schools studied therein; Togakure Ryu, Gyokko Ryu, Kukishin Ryu, Shinden Fudo Ryu, Koto Ryu, Gikan Ryu, Takagi Yoshin Ryu, Kumogakure Ryu, Gyokushin Ryu, which are connected through history with the most famous fencing schools such as Itto Ryu, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu and Katori Shinto Ryu, and finally investigates the principles of Toho fencing 刀法 to understand the secret art of Japanese fencing or Bikenjutsu 秘剣術. Read more