Japan The Ultimate Samurai Guide: An Insider Looks at the Japanese Martial Arts and Surviving in the Land of Bushido and Zen Paperback – July 10, 2018

Whether you are new to the world of budo or have been in it for decades, I highly recommend this book. With humor, wit, and a deep knowledge of Japanese culture and it's martial arts, Dr. Alexanander Bennett Sensei has given us another wonderful and very accessible book about Budo. Filled with delightful photos, prints, and comics, the book covers just about everything one could hope it would! It does a wonderful job of elucidating the more esoteric aspects of Budo thought and literature as well as clarifying and expanding Budo's more common elements. It's a book that one can really study and go back to, or can pick up quickly and still get volumes from. It has so many gems! For example a brilliant summary of Neko no Myojustu or the "The Cat's Eerie Skill" a somewhat obscure text that looks at a group of cats trying to catch a formidable rat as an analogy for one of the highest expressions of martial knowledge, it's complete with diagrams, so cool!Dr. Alexanander Bennett Sensei is one of the most knowledgeable western Budo practitioners around, not only does hold very high ranks in many Japanese martial arts but he teaches martial theory and techniques in Japan at Kansai University in Osaka. If you don't know Dr. Bennett Sensei's work this is a very fun place to start!

Thank you for the in-depth guide for the lonely gai-sam. Recommend that any budo practitioner read this before embarking on their journey to Japan. All essential information is contained, furthering fulfillment on your quest for knowledge.Wish there were more tips on how to mind-read/situation-read but I suppose that comes with more experience and is not within the scope of this book.Grateful for the years of diligence the author put into the study of nuanced understanding, and further, his eagerness to share this knowledge with the world.

Hard to put down. Great pictures and a text with many laugh out loud moments. I’ve enjoyed all of Alexander Bennett’s books. It’s nice he had a chance to let his hair down with this one.

15 years ago I was preparing to move to Japan in the pursuit of my martial art. I was excited, scared and confused in equal parts. People had given me much advice about what to expect, some good, some bad, some based on hearsay and a lot of it was conflicting. The Ultimate Samurai Guide is the book I wish I had read back then. For me, much of The Ultimate Samurai Guide is a trip down memory lane with reminders of the silly mistakes, strange turn of events and hard earned lessons during my time in Japan.In contrast to some of Dr Bennett’s previous books, The Ultimate Samurai Guide is not bent towards the “serious” or “academic” side but succeeds in being very informative and at the same time entertaining, relatable and beautifully illustrated. Some martial arts puritans might frown upon from its somewhat irreverent tone. In my opinion it just helps to demystify some topics and provide a little tongue in cheek humor surrounding the very serious business that is martial arts.

“The Ultimate Samurai Guide” is a book for you, gaisam (gaijin-samurai) preparing your journey, for you, gaisam struggling in Japan, for you, Budoka with no desire to train in Japan but with desire to contextualize your practice in the greater world of Budo, but also for you, relatives of a gaisam living the Japanese dream.It is the first book that must be put in the hands of the one who wants to enter the Japanese culture by the martial art door.If you’ve decided to come over, “How to play the game by Japanese rules while keeping your identity intact”, is your own challenge now, were you Budoka or not, for all that matters.Among all my readings in English, Japanese and French, I consider this book the best introduction that has ever been published and I recommend it to anyone having an interest in the Japanese culture and history.I wish I'd have this book 15 years earlier when I arrived in Japan.

An informative read with a lot more info and insight than I expected. A definite must-read for anyone traveling to Japan, whether for a short or long stay.

Alex Bennett possesses nearly unmatched expertise in budo and samurai culture, as both a scholar and highly accomplished practitioner of kendo and several other martial arts. He brings this expertise to bear in "Japan: The Ultimate Samurai Guide," but then he does something more, something very valuable and actually quite rare: he turns his immense knowledge into a readable book. Few authors can pull this off, but Bennett does so, and readers will find themselves at once informed and entertained, as Bennett takes us on a wide-ranging and enjoyable tour of samurai history, culture, customs, a wide variety of unforgettable characters, and a fun overview of modern Japan's relationship to samurai culture. A must-read for anyone interested in the samurai.

Alex Bennett has done it again with an excellent piece that is easy to read and to digest. He has drawn on his depth of knowledge and experience not only as practitioner of Japanese martial arts but also as a scholar in everything to do with Budo. He has yet again produced another great book.I'll highly recommend it to people looking to get into Japanese martial arts seriously. It covers the contemporary aspects well to give the reader a clear picture of where Japanese martial arts have come from and where they sit now. The advice for surviving Japan and its martial arts is sound and solid. Great work!