I have been looking into the Chinese military classics http://www.amazon.co.uk/Military-Classi ... y+classics
but I have also been looking at strategic writings from Japan.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Japanes ... in+Victory
It seems that a lot was directly applied from the Chinese military classics at small unit and individual levels. The text has a lot about where to stand in different terrain and weather as well as light and tactics against multiple opponents and how multiple people can overcome one person efficiently. Psychology in combat and more. It is more straightforward to apply that just the original texts as it goes into detail.
This is just beginning to be investigated and some teams who are now looking to translate the writings of entire schools of strategy. This is one group (check out the two shinobi soldiers books they have put up for free download they are worth a read)
http://www.natori.co.uk/natori%20home.html
They have advanced from history books about Ninja to translating historical Ninja manuals and now on to working on resurrecting the Natori school of war (unorthodox warfare) in its entirety. Natori was all documented over the hundreds of years it was an active school to the Shogun's men.
From what little they have said so far it is almost entirely based on Chinese strategy and has a lot of small unit/individual relevance as well as broader strategy and espionage.
My question is do any such manuals/tradition for combat strategy based in the classics survive for Chinese martial arts? I have come across bits and pieces but nothing systematic.
The best I did find was "Art of E'mei Spear" (a early Qing Dynasty text) translated by Jack Chen of http://www.chineselongsword.com, it was full of Dao (no pictures just chinese next to the english and very useful) and has lots of useful stuff on terrain and mental attitude although it only has a few short chapters at 82 pages.
Content:
- Introduction & History
- Mind Mastery Chapter
- Body Mastery Chapter
- Calmness Chapter
- Movements Chapter
- Attack-Defense Chapter
- Situational Assessment Chapter
- Strategy Chapter
- Refrainments Chapter
- Defensive Techniques Chapter
- Thrusting Techniques Chapter
- Defeating Various Weapons Chapter
- Body & Hand Techniques Chapter
- Essentials Chapter
Any recommendations would be appreciated.