From the interweaving of local martial traditions and Chinese Wushu, the samurai code of honor “Bushido” and secret folk fighting methods, the unique world of Japanese martial arts was born. In it, the rose was inseparable from the sword, and poetry was inseparable from the art of combat. The book contains rare materials about the military practice of samurai, training methods in judo and aikido, karate and Shorinji kempo, the art of sword fighting kendo, systems of fighting with improvised means of kobudo and the sacraments of training of the mountain monks of Yamabushi. Why did the Okinawans not recognize Japanese martial arts and invented yours; what the “father of karate” Gichin Funakoshi thought before his death; how the Chinese “invented” karate; what is a “thought blow”; how long did Masutatsu Oyama meditate in the morning; how the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, trained; why the true form of traditional judo is not known even to world champions All this and much more in the new bestseller by Alexei Maslov.