This thesis provides a detailed socio-historical analysis of the evolutionary process of traditional Japanese swordsmanship (kenjutsu) from the inception of distinct martial schools (bugei-ryuha) in the fourteenth century, to its gradual progression into a modern competitive sport (kendo), and a subject of study in the current Japanese education system. The following questions with regards to the development of Japanese swordsmanship were analysed: 1) How did schools dedicated to the study of martial arts (bugei-ryuha) evolve, and why was the sword so important to the early traditions? 2) What was the process in which kenjutsu become “civilised”, and how did it relate to class identity in the Tokugawa period (1600-1868)? 3) In what way did kenjutsu transmute when class distinctions and national isolationist policies (sakoku) were abolished in the Meiji period (1868–1912)? 4) What were the cultural and political influences in the rise of “state” and “popular” nationalism, and how did they affect the “re-invention” and manipulation of kendo in the first half of the twentieth century? 5) How did post-war private and national cultural policy affect the reinstatement of kendo and its usefulness in inculcating a sense of “Japaneseness”? 6) What are the nationalistic motivations, and perceived dangers of the international propagation of kendo with regards to cultural propriotership? Through applying socio-historical concepts such as Norbert Elias’s “civilising process” and Eric Hobsbawm’s “invention of tradition”, as well as various descriptions of nationalism to the evolution of kendo, this thesis demonstrates how the martial art has continued to maintain a connection with the past, while simultaneously developing into a symbolic and discursive form of traditional culture representing a “cultural ethos” considered to be a manifestation of “Japaneseness”. Ultimately, kendo can be described as a kind of participatory based mind-body Nihonjinron. Japan’s current reaction as it ponders the repercussions if it were to somehow lose its status as the suzerain nation of kendo, i.e. as exclusive owners of kendo - a martial art perceived as one of the most representative forms of traditional Japanese culture – is also assessed in this thesis.

The three publications offered for evaluation, The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest, Mastering the Art of Arms vol 1: The Medieval Dagger, and The Duellist's Companion, establish by example the relatively young discipline of the accurate recreation of historical martial skills. This discipline includes the following elements: • Textual analysis of historical sources (The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest). • Image analysis for the purpose of establishing details of the execution of the illustrated action (all three works). Mechanical or kinesthetic analysis of the actions described and depicted (The Medieval Dagger, The Duellist's Companion). • Determination of the historical and combat context in which the system is intended to work. In these cases, a formal duel or tournament contest between knights (The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest, The Medieval Dagger), or illegal but socially acceptable unarmoured duelling (The Duellist's Companion). • Observation of the overall tactical and mechanical preferences of the martial system represented (The Medieval Dagger, The Duellist's Companion). • Organisation of the material into a syllabus for study and practice (The Medieval Dagger, The Duellist's Companion). The submitted works demonstrate the discipline as applied to the extant works of three historical masters: Philippo Vadi (ca 1440-1500), Fiore dei Liberi (ca 1350-1420), and Ridolfo Capoferro (ca 1557-1620). The unified body of work is the approach to the material as represented by these books. The submitted works: 1. The Art of Sword Fighting in Earnest (2018) is a translation and commentary on the late 15th-century Italian manuscript De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi. It makes the content of the manuscript available to anglophone non-paleographers, in a transparent way. The translation itself has also been released as a free download, with the original images in colour reproduction. 2. Mastering the Art of Arms vol 1: The Medieval Dagger (2012) is a practical syllabus for understanding and executing the dagger combat skills represented in Fiore dei Liberi's 1410 manuscript Il Fior di Battaglia. It includes detailed reference to the source, but also provides a template for martial skill development, such as ways to gradually increase the intensity and complexity of the drill until it approaches an actual combat environment. 3. The Duellist's Companion (2006) is a training guide for the style of rapier combat represented in Ridolfo Capoferro's 1610 work Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'uso della scherma. Rapier mechanics and actions are refined and complex, so this book covers mechanics in some detail, and provides comprehensive instructions for making Capoferro's techniques and theory accessible to the modern reader. Taken as a whole, these publications represent a new form of manuscript study: the recreation from textual sources of our hitherto lost martial heritage, and the development of a pedagogical method by which these arts can be safely taught and practised.

During the late Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, fighting books—Fechtbücher—were produced in northern Italy, among the German states, in Burgundy, and on the Iberian peninsula. Long dismissed by fencing historians as “rough and untutored,” and largely unknown to military historians, these enigmatic treatises offer important insights into the cultural realities for all three orders in medieval society: those who fought, those who prayed, and those who labored. The intent of this dissertation is to demonstrate, contrary to the view of fencing historians, that the medieval works were systematic and logical approaches to personal defense rooted in optimizing available technology and regulating the appropriate use of the skills and technology through the lens of chivalric conduct. I argue further that these approaches were principle-based, that they built on Aristotelian conceptions of arte, and that by both contemporary and modern usage, they were martial arts. Finally, I argue that the existence of these martial arts lends important insights into the world-view across the spectrum of Medieval and early Renaissance society, but particularly with the tactical understanding held by professional combatants, the knights and men-at-arms. Three treatises are analyzed in detail. These include the anonymous RA I.33 Latin manuscript in the Royal Armouries at Leeds; the early German treatise attributed to Hanko Döbringer that glosses the great Johannes Liechtenauer; and the collection of surviving treatises by the Friulian master, Fiore dei Liberi. Each is compared in order to highlight common elements of usage that form the principles of the combat arts.

Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) wrote the Gorinsho ("Book of Five Rings") at the end of his life. The text is divided into five sections, “Earth,” “Water,” “Fire,” “Wind,” and “Space;” the first three introduce and explain both military strategy and warfare of his school, Niten-ichi-ryū. “Wind” is a critique of the tendencies Musashi noticed in other sword schools, and “Space” describes the concept of warfare and how to embody its “true way” (though this scroll is evidently incomplete). There are many English translations, yet I make the claim that one more is necessary. Since its first translation in 1974 to its most recent in 2009, the Gorinsho’s meaning has been ill represented in English and no extant translation is suitable for scholarly reference. These translations suffer primarily from three flaws: fundamental translation errors, the effacing of cultural references, and an apparent lack of knowledge concerning the Gorinsho’s textual history. The source text for these problematic English translations is invariably the Hosokawa family manuscript, a wholly unsuitable manuscript for translation. In recent years, the Harima Musashi Kenkyūkai, a Japan-based research group, has done much worthwhile scholarship on the Gorinsho and has compiled a new annotated edition of the text based on a thorough examination of all extant manuscripts. My translation is based on their authoritative edition and it benefits greatly from their research. This thesis endeavors to make clear the case that a new scholarly Gorinsho translation is necessary and provide a preliminary, annotated translation to fulfill that need.