The Hidden Roots of Aikido: Aiki Jujutsu Daitoryu - Secret Techniques of an Ancient Martial Art Hardcover – March 15, 1999

Please know that this seller is a professional and my book was better than described. This book is for the Aikido fanatic that wants deeper understanding of where the art form was devolped. Many pictures describing the various techniques and very good desriptions of how to perform. There are many good books out there but this one is a must own if you want to understand the founders true intentions.

a lot of information on aikido, well worth the money if you like to learn about different techniques in aikido

As a practioner of Daito-ryu, this book offers a condensed history of the art but leaves a big gap between the foundation of Daito-ryu and the creation of Aikido techniques including the principles of how and why the techniques were created. Experienced practioners will have a better understanding of the techniques represented in this book. The section that includes the definitions of Japanese is worth buying the book for alone. Overall, it is a good reference book to be included in a martial artist's library.

very good book !!

I did not rate this book with 5 stars because some techniques are poorly explained and you need to follow the pictures. Ah !!! the pictures, they are great, easy to follow and there are lots of them. You can grab so much good information and take it with you to the dojo for practicing. I wish I could have more time to practice everything on this book.

This is one of the best books I've ever read in the martial arts field. It has helped me a great deal in my own development in the arts. I teach a self defense class in Florence,AL which is geared for practical defense on the street. I especially enjoyed the section on pins and their variations. In today's dojos I see so many instructors focusing on the sport aspects of the arts which don't always work on the street. I loved the fact that they showed the pins that you could do without using your hands and that they never assume that there is only one attacker on the street and that every move addresses these situations. I feel like this book will benefit people of all arts not just Aikido. Many modern style Jujitsu practitioners really need to see this book because I feel like they would learn alot. The only drawback I see is that if you don't already know how to do certain wrist locks you may be lost in some places. For those people I would recommend they read Dynamic Aikido by Gozo Shioda first before buying this book,but I would definately buy this book if I wanted to be a better martial artist

I am an instructor of Goshin Ryu Aikijiu-jutsu and I really enjoyed this book. It is well organized and readable. The action sequence shown in the photographs is very clear. If you are familiar with the principles common to all styles of this art you will be fond of this work, particullarly with the references to counter-techniques, rarely seen. An excellent book.

Kodansha has a reputation for producing outstanding martial arts books however this book which was published in the 1990's has some shortcomings that if overcome in future editions would make this an outstanding reference book. Many of the photos are difficult to follow because they are too small and/or the contrast is poor. Some of these shortcomings are overcome by excellent discussions of the techniques. These shortcomings would be less of a problem with practitioners with experience in Daitoryu, Hapkido, Aikido but new students to the art might have difficulty. The techniques would be of great interest to students and instructors of other arts such as Hapkido, Aikido, JuJutsu, Bujinkan Taijutsu, Arnis, and Chin Na. A very good book as reference material in any serious martial artist library.