"Make your practice a friend in the morning,
and your discipline a pillow at night."
- Araki-ryu Saitan no Jo
This list will expand as more good stuff comes out! Of course the works of Ellis Amdur, who heads this line of Araki-ryu: Dueling with O Sensei Old School Hidden in Plain Sight Follow his blog at Kogen Budo for more of his own writing and others in classical martial traditions. Other good, accessible reads for classical Japanese martial traditions would be Diane Skoss' Koryu Books series. These bring the work of a number of current martial researchers and scholars together in one place: Koryu Bujutsu Sword and Spirit Keiko Shokon Scholarly research on Japanese warrior culture has expanded considerably over the years, with many new insights developed from ongoing research. More often than not these days, my reading list is more academic work than martial arts research. There are some useful popular sources for practitioners, by practitioners that are also scholars. Popular versions of some doctoral theses are out there and in some cases more focussed o...