e-budokai.com

  
 

classical japanese martial arts

      
 
 

Arresting arts of the samurai

 Introduction
Up
Next

on exhibit at North Central College
Feb. 5 through March 3, 2003, in Oesterle Library Gallery

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -North Central College's current art exhibit is dedicated to Japanese arresting techniques during the 1600-1800s. Titled "Arresting Arts of the Japanese Samurai," the exhibit by Don Cunningham opened Feb. 5 and runs through March 3 in the College's Oesterle Library Gallery, 320 E. School St. Admission is free.

A practitioner and international competitor of judo, jujutsu, and kendo, Cunningham has studied Japanese modern and traditional martial arts for more than 30 years. He is a frequent contributor to publications about martial arts and the author of Secret Weapons of Jujutsu, a book about exotic feudal Japanese defensive weapons like the tessen, jutte and other hibuki or "concealed weapons." His exhibit of nearly 30 artifacts depicts arresting implements used by feudal Japanese police forces during the Edo Period (1600-1800s). During this time, criminal suspects could only be captured alive and unharmed, so special implements and unarmed martial arts were used to disable lawbreakers making it possible to apprehend them.

Some of the artifacts on display include framed Japanese woodblock prints of samurai and non-samurai policemen, special iron truncheons called jutte that police used to arrest lawbreakers, iron fans or tessen used by feudal police as non-lethal defensive weapons, and pole arm arresting implements including a sodegarumi (sleeve entangler) and sasumata, a U-shaped pole arm used to trap limbs.

The exhibit may be viewed in the Oesterle Library Gallery from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturdays,  noon to midnight Sundays, 8 a.m.-midnight Mondays through Thursdays, and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Fridays.

An artist's reception was held from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9,  in the College's Oesterle Library Gallery, 320 E. School St.

North Central College's international focus this year is the Pacific Rim, with particular emphasis on Japan.

 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturdays,
noon to midnight Sundays, 
8 a.m.-midnight Mondays-Thursdays, 
8 a.m.-8 p.m. Fridays.
exhibit7.jpg (25462 bytes)
Click on images to see larger photograph.		 exhibit4.jpg (35872 bytes)
woodblock prints		 exhibit2.jpg (37741 bytes)
woodblock prints
exhibit5.jpg (27842 bytes)
sasumata and sodegarami		 exhibit3.jpg (45989 bytes)
jutte and tessen
exhibit1.jpg (58091 bytes)
jutte in display cabinet		 exhibit6.jpg (75789 bytes)
various prints		 exhibit8.jpg (59391 bytes)
Bryan Lynch, exhibition curator
dailyherald.jpg (145548 bytes) The reception

reception1.jpg (36857 bytes)

 Sunday, Feb. 9

reception3.jpg (55518 bytes)
reception4.jpg (50985 bytes) reception5.jpg (48533 bytes) reception6.jpg (35222 bytes)
reception7.jpg (58922 bytes) reception8.jpg (57256 bytes) reception2.jpg (65063 bytes)
exhibit9.jpg (25607 bytes) exhibit10.jpg (28512 bytes) exhibit11.jpg (27476 bytes)
exhibit12.jpg (26028 bytes) exhibit13.jpg (20007 bytes)

Naperville Daily Herald
Friday, Feb. 21, 2003

Secrets of samurai weapons revealed

PRINTABLE COPY
By Sarah Fowler
Daily Herald Staff Writer

Visitors to North Central College's Oesterle Library can check out books, periodicals, CDs - and Japanese weapons.

The weapons have to stay in the library, of course, but they are on display through March 5 as part of the exhibit "Arresting Arts of the Japanese Samurai."

Included in the collection are weapons used in martial arts, photographs from the 1800s and wood-block prints depicting martial arts from the Edo Period (1603-1868).

The exhibit features about 25 pieces, the oldest dating to the mid-1700s.

Exhibit creator Don Cunningham, a former international judo competitor, became fascinated with the weapons after the Navy sent him to Japan in 1974.

"I just got interested and it kind of became an obsession," said Cunningham, a resident of Aurora. "I just got hooked."

Most of the weapons in the collection are forms of the jutte, a narrow club used by police officers to arrest suspected criminals without killing them.

Decorative juttes eventually came to be carried by government officials as a symbol of authority.

"It was a weapon for arrest, but it was also a badge of office," Cunningham said.

 The fact that the weapons were designed to minimize injury to suspects reflects a concern for civil rights, he said.

"It was the beginning of a system of human rights," he said. "And that's what I find fascinating about it."

He also became fascinated with the history of the weapons, much of which has been lost and must be gleaned from artwork and the weapons themselves.

"It was so unique," he said. "I enjoyed just doing the research on it."

Cunningham has been collecting for more than 25 years and is the author of "Secret Weapons of Jujutsu." He finds most of his weapons on the Internet and at Japanese flea markets.

The exhibit is being hosted by the North Central Office of International Programs as part of a yearlong Pacific Rim emphasis.

Cunningham taught a class on the history of Japanese martial arts at the college last fall and plans to teach another next year.

He said he hopes visitors will come to share his interest.

"I hope they'll get an appreciation for history ... and maybe an interest in learning more about the period," he said.

Copyright © 2003 Daily Herald

Introduction Up Next