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by Christopher M. Clarke (Author)
"Budo Meijin" tells the stories of three fascinating and important, but less-well-known masters of Japanese martial arts. Between them, they span the late 19th to the end of the 20th centuries. Yoshida Kotaro (1883-1966) first learned martial arts from various dispossessed samurai after the Meiji Restoration. He went on to study under the famous Takeda Sokaku (1859-1943) and introduced Ueshiba Morihei, the founder of Aikido, to Takeda, who became Ueshiba's main teacher. Yoshida likely would be completely unknown if not for the seemingly inflated stories told of him by the late Richard Kim. This book attempts to get at the facts behind the legend. The second "martial genius" covering in "Budo Meijin" is Konishi Yasuhiro (1893-1983), a master of jujutsu and kendo and a student of Funakoshi Gichin, Motobu Choki, Mabuni Kenwa, Ueshiba Morihei, and other great masters. It was Konishi who brought karate into the Japanese mainstream and arranged for official recognition of his teachers and many other karate masters. Mochizuki Minoru (1907-2003) was almost certainly the last student of modern Japan's "big three" founders of empty-hand martial arts: Funakoshi, Kano Jigoro (founder of Judo), and Ueshiba (founder of Aikido). Mochizuki was one of a handful of people promoted to 10th dan in Aikido. He also held very high ranks in kendo, kenjutsu, judo, jujutsu, and Japanese kobudo and was the founder of his own "sogo budo" (comprehensive martial arts system), "Yoseikan Aikijujutsu." Mochizuki is not as well known as he should be, partially because his school was not in the Tokyo area and because he focused his overseas attention on Europe. These three were true martial arts geniuses ("budo meijin") whose like will not be seen again. Read about their fascinating lives and activities in this heavily illustrated and extensively documented book, which also contains numerous text boxes of fascinating information relating to their lives and times.
