Review: FJ Normans Fighting Man Of Japan

[PhilMcLaughlin]

I was lucky enough to get one of the first copies of this KWF publication at 12 WKC so I thought Id review it for those of you who have got to wait a while ;-)

My opinion: This is a gem of a book, Well done KWF for reprinting it

It is not practical to go into detail as the book is quite short and I'd reccomend anyone with an intrest to buy it anyway.

This is not a manual, it wont improve your Kendo (or Ju Jutsu or Sumo for that matter). What it does offer is a fascinating insight into turn of the century Japan and the experiences of possibly the first Englishman to study kenjutsu serisously.

The book is a fairly short read split into 4 sections, an overview by Alex bennet (including a challenge to readers to follow up the life story of FJ Norman), Japanese Military History, Kenjutsu and Jujutsu / Sumo).

Being familiar with these from a post war perspective, this book is quite revealing about the attitudes to study and practise prevalent at the time & they were quite diffeerent from today. Norman makes some very sharp observations about the true nature of Kenjutsu and "stuff and nonesense" written about Bushido by the contemporary western press of the time. Put in context of what was to follow - it is clear that Norman was ahead of his time.

Im not sure how much this will appear to the US audience because Norman is quintessentially english and the language is antique even by British standards But I enjoyed reading it immensley.

I have a background intrest in this kind of account because I originate from Gillingham in Kent - Birthplace of Will Adams - but Id still reccomend everyone to buy this.

Well Done Alex and the KWF team

cheers

[Alex]

Thanks for the review!

Glad to see that the book appealed to others as much as it did to us when we first discovered it. There are a couple of minor printing mistakes that slipped past our editorial net, but we will get them fixed. Apart from that we are happy with the way it turned out. We will be getting ordering details up soon.

cheers

[sjp]

Alex
For those of us who ordered it at 12WKC.. what is the timescale for delivery.

I suppose I can always read Phil's copy though.

[Nishi]

That would be great Steve, then i could buy yours off you with waiting for delivery

________________________
How can we get a hold of a copy Alex?

[Alex]

Hi there,

Hamish tells me that the books arrived in port from our printers in Singapore yesterday. They will have to be cleared by customs and I will then put them in the post to all the people who bought books from us in Glasgow, so they should arrive within 3 weeks starting Monday. (They will be sent from Japan).

The rest of the books have been shipped and are on the way to our distributors in New Zealand, so any orders for books from now on will be sent from there just like the magazine.

We will be putting ordering forms up on the HP as soon as we have confirmation that the books have arrived safely in NZ. That will also hopefully be within three weeks.


Cheers