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Suntzu - Art of War - The Text of Sun Tzu

I have found it difficult to glean much about the history of Sun Tzu's text. The quotations that occur in early authors go to show that the "13 chapters" of which Ssu-ma Ch`ien speaks were essentially the same as those now extant. We have his word for it that they were widely circulated in his day, and can only regret that he refrained from discussing them on that account. Sun Hsing-yen says in his preface: -- During the Ch`in and Han dynasties Sun Tzu's ART OF WAR was in general use amongst military commanders, but they seem to have treated it as a work of mysterious import, and were unwilling to expound it for the benefit of posterity. Thus it came about that Wei Wu was the first to write a commentary on it.

Suntzu - Art of War - Introduction

Ssu-ma Ch`ien gives the following biography of Sun Tzu: [1]

Sun Tzu Wu (=Sun Tzu) was a native of the Ch`i State. His ART OF WAR brought him to the notice of Ho Lu, [2] King of Wu. Ho Lu said to him: "I have carefully perused your 13 chapters. May I submit your theory of managing soldiers to a slight test?" Sun Tzu replied: "You may." Ho Lu asked: "May the test be applied to women?" The answer was again in the affirmative, so arrangements were made to bring 180 ladies out of the Palace.

Suntzu - Art of War - Preface to Project Gutenburg Etext

When Lionel Giles began his translation of Sun Tzu's ART OF WAR, the work was virtually unknown in Europe. Its introduction to Europe began in 1782 when a French Jesuit Father living in China, Joseph Amiot, acquired a copy of it, and translated it into French. It was not a good translation because, according to Dr. Giles, "[I]t contains a great deal that Sun Tzu did not write, and very little indeed of what he did."

Suntzu - Art of War - Table of Contents

Considered one of the classic pieces of literature for Martial Artist's of all styles, a familiarity with Sun Tzu's Art of War is a practical necessity. Indeed, many of the concepts are directly applicable to your martial training.

This is the first reasonably accurate English translation of Suntzu's Art of War. First published in 1910 by Lionel Giles, M.A., who was the assistant in the Department of Oriental printed books and manuscripts for the British Museum.

Shiro Saigo - Judo's Secret Weapon?

Was Shiro Saigo the "secret weapon" of Judo?

... And did Jigoro Kano popularize his new art by using a ringer?

In 1886, the Tokyo Police Department hosted a Judo vs. Jujutsu tournament. And, although there aren't as many details available to us today as we might wish, some details are clear. For example, there seems to be no doubt that Kano's students won the majority of the matches.

This simple fact demands an explanation. What I'd like to do in this article is to examine the various claims made about this tournament (specifically dealing with Shiro Saigo), and try to sort fact from fiction.

 

Jita Kyoei - Judo On And Off The Mat

 

I received this in my email, along with a request to post this. Perhaps we think too little about Jita Kyoei, this interesting commentary may remind us!

Bad Martial Arts Books

&nbps;

I 'hang out' on the rec.martial-arts newsgroup, and once in a while, someone writes something that deserves a wider audience. I asked the author of this commentary, Mr. Busman, if I could post this here, and he agreed. If it saves you the worthless price of one book, it will have been worth it.

Search Engine Keywords - Judo Humor

 

BestJudo.com is still a fairly new website, and I'm learning as I go. It's really been fun learning the HTML coding to put this site together. [Note: This was originally written when BestJudo was handcoded - it's now running on the Drupal CMS] One rather interesting thing I ran across, is in my site logging... I can look at the search terms that sent someone to this site. I was absolutely fascinated to see what people are searching for, and thought I'd post some of the more interesting ones here.

Go Rin No Sho (A Book of Five Rings) - Miyamoto Musashi

A BOOK OF FIVE RINGS

Go Rin no Sho
by
Miyamoto Musashi

Martial Arts - Breaking It Down (Aikido)

 

I found this post on rec.martial-arts, and asked the author, Kirk Lawson, if I could post it here. Even though it is not about Judo, I encourage everyone to read this one carefully, as the author does a fine job of expressing something not commonly discussed. Kirk has managed to express something I attempted in the article Is BJJ Better Than Judo.

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