Spring Wind is the story of the Japanese fighting arts.

The book traces the rise and fall of the samurai as they learn to fight with bows and arrows, with swords and with their bare hands. We discover how these warrior skills were transformed into karate, judo, aikido and kendo during the twentieth century. The book explores the role played by the martial arts in the Second World War and explains how they were able to recover from that disastrous period to boom once again in the post war decades.

At thie heart of this sweeping historical survey are some of the greatest and most fascinating characters in Japanese history: Miyamoto Musashi, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Yamaoka Tesshu, Jigoro Kano, Gichin Funakoshi and Morihei Ueshiba.

Contents

The final battle
The Samurai
The end of war
Miyamoto Musashi
The swords of Edo
The last days of the Samurai
Yamaoka Tesshu
Bushido
The birth of judo
Okinawa
Karate becomes Japanese
Aikido: The divine art
Total war, total defeat
The way back
God hand
Into the world
The modern age