Secret Weapons of Jujutsu, by Don Cunningham

u jitsu (or jujutsu, jiu-jitsu, ju-jitsu, yawara if you like) is, historically speaking, arts that has always been tightly linked to weapons. These were often small and consealed weapons, that were used mainly in defensiv manners. There are those who like to believe that ju jitsu is purely an unarmed art, but that is a major misconseption.

In this book the autor, Don Cunningham, show the reader all the various weapons that traditionally has been, or could be in use with ju jitsu. This include accessories as well as the strict weapons: rope, chain, knife, bamboo-flute, fan (no, not the hockey or football type :-), tessen (a sort of truncheon, somewhat similar to the Okinawan sai), pins, and various improvised weapons.

Beginning the book, the author describes the historical "backdrop" in Japan, the feudal system with it's strict classes, the Japanese warrior, religious influences, various unarmed systems that ju jitsu was founded on, the art of forging and polishing swords etc.

There is also a brief chapter on the strategical and tactical  sides of Japanese martial arts and ju jitsu, as well as the implementation of the various weapons.

The author has really done a solid piece of work with this book. I will recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone remotely interested in history, tradition, weapons and the like, and of course anyone doing ju jitsu of any kind.

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