Rating: 
Summary: A Good Text book
Review: This book is well organized and written. You have all the basics to get started in sword here. If read and followed with dedication; an instructor would be able to easily guide you to your shodan. Photos are also well laid out. This is a great book for someone wanting to learn the way of the samuari....and sword.
Rating: 
Summary: needs more pictures
Review: This is a very good book. It just needs more pictures in the sequences. While the descriptions are very good, sometimes you're left unsure what happens between the pictures in the sequence (just 2 or 3 more pictures per sequence).
Rating:
Summary: Great Start for Beginning Swordsmanship
Review: This is an excellent start for anyone interested in studying or just learning more about iaijutsu, a Japanese sword-based martial art. Masayuki Shimabukuro covers basic stances and movements as well as plenty of discussion on the nature of swordsmanship, the merging of mind, body and spirit, and achieving personal focus. Start with this book, find a dojo and begin learning. You will love it--I did!
Rating:
Summary: Great Start for Beginning Swordsmanship
Review: This is an excellent start for anyone interested in studying or just learning more about iaijutsu, a Japanese sword-based martial art. Masayuki Shimabukuro covers basic stances and movements as well as plenty of discussion on the nature of swordsmanship, the merging of mind, body and spirit, and achieving personal focus. Start with this book, find a dojo and begin learning. You will love it--I did!
Rating:
Summary: An absolutely wonderful book for ANY martial artist
Review: Upon reading the first perhaps 30 pages of this book, I was astounded. I thought that I was merely purchasing an introductory guide to Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu Iaijutsu. I was thrilled to find that it was so much more. After having studied and informally taught martial arts (Hap Ki Do) for over 13 years, I have consistently emphasized a melding of the Eastern philosophy and the technique of the art. This book achieves the same in a marvelously eloquent, yet concise, manner. What is presented in the first 50 pages or so includes a beautifully written treatise on Bushido, the way of the samurai, including wonderful parables and stories about famous warriors, such as Miyamoto Musashi and Takeda Shingen. This includes the practical attitude toward how to live one's life that the samurai maintained. It is written in such a way as to be easily understood by all, Easterner and Westerner alike. This way of thought (reminiscent of the Art of War or A Book of Five Rings) can greatly benefit anyone's life, whether they are interested in the Asian fighting arts, or not. Of course, in addition to this remarkable exposition is about 200 pages of well-explained, well-illustrated (with plenty of clear photos) instruction of Eishin-Ryu iaijutsu. Included with the waza (technique), is full documentation of sword and samurai traditions, customs, and ettiquette. The style itself is very diffucult, as iaijutsu is the art of drawing the sword, destroying your enemy, and resheathing in one rapid, fluid motion. The book is quite clear, however, and provides a model introduction, or supplement, to formal dojo training in this art.
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