Keiko Shokon

Discover “the arts that look upon the profound and clarify life and death.”

Keiko Shokon is the third volume in a series that aims to demystify the rare and often misunderstood fighting arts of the Japanese warrior. Do these arts still have relevance in a modern technological world? How are they being preserved? What pitfalls face practitioners struggling to maintain these arts in a culture so foreign to that of their origins? These questions are discussed by a unique group of practitioner/writers in eight provocative essays certain to challenge many cherished and widely held preconceptions. These eight essays include a translation of the eighteenth-century warrior's parable, "The Cat's Eerie Skill;" advice on the dangers and possibilities in training in more than one classical martial art; an interview with the headmaster of Toda-ha Buko-ryu naginatajutsu; hints on learning to observe the classical arts; an overview of the Itto-ryu style of swordsmanship; a discussion of the meaning of the Japanese word soke, or headmaster; at look at innovation in the classical martial arts; and some musings on the professional perspective by a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marines.