Classical Bujutsu : The Martial Arts and Ways of Japan

For those unfamiliar with the late Donn Draeger he was an authority on Japanese martial arts and even served as martial arts coordinator and Sean Connery's stand-in for You Only Live Twice. This book doesn't claim to be a "how to" handbook but does an excellent job at being first a history of the evolution of Japanese martial traditions and second, a fairly comprehensive list of the various schools of techniques that made up feudal japan's martial training. So while sword work is covered as one would expect, you also learn of bujutsu techniques regarding chikujo-jutsu or fortification building. If you enjoy watching Jedi Knights deflect energy bolts in the Star wars franchise, then you'll be interested to learn from Draeger about the bujutsu technique called yadome-jutsu or "arrow stopping technique" that trained samurai to use their swords to deflect arrows in flight. Yes, that was actually a "thing". In conclusion, you'll find Draeger very knowledgeable and accessible when he writes on this subject. Some of the drawings are rather small to reveal detail, but there are full page photos of several important techniques being demonstrated. An excellent reference.