Classical Japanese Martial Arts
Ellis Amdur has a lot to say about the martial arts. The author of numerous internet essays, books, novels and even a dozen psychology manuals on how to deal with violence, he isn’t shy about sharing his opinions, either. But unlike the majority of people who pontificate on martial arts, Amdur is someone you should definitely listen to.
A mental-health professional specializing in crisis intervention and a consultant for law-enforcement agencies, Amdur is one of the few Westerners who hold certificates of full mastery from two Japanese koryu systems. He’s also one of the most iconoclastic martial artists you’ll find, as comfortable banging away in a boxing gym as he is practicing traditional sword forms in a classical dojo or working on Chinese internal-strength exercises.
Amdur, 68, began practicing kung fu while in college. Later, looking for a new kung fu school in New York City, he stumbled on an aikido dojo. All he knew about aikido came from an ad he’d seen in the back of a comic book, which claimed the art developed mystical energy. But Amdur found something there, in the Japanese martial arts, that resonated with him.
“There’s a particular aesthetic in Japanese martial arts compared to other arts,” he said. “It has a kind of austerity in the way you move and hold yourself that appealed to me.”
He began training regularly in aikido. After graduating from Yale in 1976 with a degree in psychology, Amdur dreaded the idea of
