The highly anticipated continuation of Don Dreger's three-volume work on Japan's martial traditions. In this third (and largest) volume, Dreger examines, with the scientific yet practical perspective that distinguishes him, the modern arts and paths that have reached our days (Judo, Karate, Kendo, etc.).

Larger and more substantial than the other two parts of the trilogy, "Modern Martial Arts and Paths" will be even more appealing than the previous volumes, as the arts it discusses are much more familiar to most of us, and thus Dreger's comments resonate with us in a more particular way.

Certainly, the pages of the book do not lack references to the koryu, the classical schools, but these references are merely fragments. Judo, Karate, Kendo, Iaido, Aikido - these are the true protagonists, and it is certain that no practitioner of these arts will be left disappointed.

“An exploration of the martial culture of Japan confronts us with a very important dimension of this nation's history. To state that much remains to be said about this dimension, a dimension that both Japanese and Western historians take for granted, is simply to state the obvious. Martial activity has made distinct and significant marks on Japanese society, and if the scholar does not seriously examine all the dimensions of this little-known field of Japanese ethos, he cannot fully understand a series of significant phenomena in the history of Japan.”

Don Dreger