Each Style of Martial Arts has its own intended opponents and situations it was designed for. Because of this, each style has its own strengths and weaknesses. The Nine Ogres Style was officially named in Japan around 700 years ago, but the techniques are said to have come from China and even lands beyond China. It has unarmed techniques designed to defeat opponents who use combo attacks and fast footwork, weapon techniques for all the common battlefield weapons of the generation during an age of warfare, and tactical strategy from that famous ancient Chinese classic.

Each style of martial arts has its own intended opponents and situations it was designed for. Because of this, each style has its own strengths and weaknesses. Officially founded almost a millennium ago in Japan as a companion style to one branch of the Nine Ogres style, the Immovable Spirit Style has unarmed techniques to deal with surprise attacks in close quarters whether you're standing or seated on the ground. There is also an effective strategy for dealing with multiple opponents as well as meditation to expand your awareness and increase your focus.

Each style of martial arts has its own intended opponents and situations it was designed for. Because of this, each style has its own strengths and weaknesses. The Door Hiding and Cloud Hiding styles were developed around 500 to 800 years ago during a volatile political period when they were facing religious and cultural discrimination and persecution from government authorities. Their right to defend themselves was officially nonexistent and even their right to exist was being challenged. Facing opponents that had an overwhelming advantage in terms of resources and manpower, techniques and principles for avoiding direct conflict; manipulating opponents; and utilizing any available resources were developed to ensure the survival of their group.

Japanese is an intricate language and in many aspects it is the opposite of English. If you hope to go beyond the surface of polite greetings, hailing a taxi, renting a room, and ordering food, you need the foundation to be able to read and research. You need to be able to understand grammar that goes beyond the basics and into the slang of various regional dialects. In this book, we'll cover the Hiragana phonetic alphabet and over 60 Kanji, enough to pass the first grade. Along the way we'll introduce pronunciation, grammar, and even intonation, in a natural progression that will allow you to start your journey to being sentient in Japanese.

The Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra are two of the most famous Buddhist writings in the world. In China, Japan, and surrounding countries they are often considered to be very compressed versions of the Buddha's teachings that can quickly lead one to enlightenment. As such they are often chanted at funerals for the enlightenment of the departing soul. Unfortunately, since they are not in the common dialect, most people just recite them without understanding, hoping their karma will magically be improved and they will find enlightenment after death. With a little effort, research, and plenty of Kanji/Chinese character dictionaries, they can be translated into any language. Now these are in English and available to help you along your path.

Each style of martial arts has its own intended opponents and situations it was designed for. Because of this, each style has its own strengths and weaknesses. The Tall Tree Willow Heart Style was developed almost half a millennium ago in Japan's last Shogunate period. During those growing pains as the country was being unified, warriors without employment; gangsters; gamblers; and corrupt officials were common opponents. It has techniques for dealing with, and even capturing, opponents in close quarters whether standing or sitting, even if they are armed or more than one of them have grabbed you at the same time. There was also training for using firearms.

The symbols used in the I Ching or Yi Jing as it's pronounced in Mandarin have been found engraved in tortoise shells that were carbon dated as being around five thousand years old. It has been successfully used for advise on military affairs and even medical situations. You could skip to the section on getting a question answered if you're in a hurry, or you could take the time to study in detail all the intricate associations so you can better understand the answer you get from what has been called the most accurate oracle system in the world. The original method for consulting the I-Ching was to put turtle or tortoise shells into a bonfire and roast them until they cracked and interpret the cracks. When the turtle and tortoise populations started dwindling other methods were adopted. Some people memorize the associations of the trigrams to interpret the symbols perceived in their environment and predict their immediate future, but most people ask a question and using a stick sorting or coin flipping method build a hexagram representing their answer from the bottom up. There's even a card drawing method, though that's considered less accurate, and a compass needle dowsing method that have been used. Here we'll discuss the stick sorting and coin flipping methods.

The Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra are two of the most famous Buddhist writings in the world. In China, Japan, and surrounding countries they are often considered to be very compressed versions of the Buddha's teachings that can quickly lead one to enlightenment. As such they are often chanted at funerals for the enlightenment of the departing soul. Unfortunately, since they are not in the common dialect, most people just recite them without understanding, hoping their karma will magically be improved and they will find enlightenment after death. With a little effort, research, and plenty of Kanji/Chinese character dictionaries, they can be translated into any language. Now these are in English and available to help you along your path.

From unarmed self defense, defeating a larger; faster; or stronger opponent, opponents with weapons, multiple opponents, using weapons, stealth, survival, strategy, meditation, Chi(Qi/Ki) power, channeling energy to control a situation, picking up on someones intentions, sensing danger, and more, all in one book. With six different styles presented and analytical comparisons to common contemporary martial arts, this is more than you ever thought you wanted to know about martial arts. As if that weren't enough, there are lessons on speaking & reading Japanese, information on the steel that goes into samurai swords, and in depth descriptions of the crafts and skills that helped warriors survive periods of social turmoil, political upheaval, and unstable financial climates centuries ago. They may help ensure your survival now or in the future.