Encyclopedia of AikidoPranin, S. Aiki News 217pp.

Stanley Pranin began publishing a small magazine called Aiki News in 1974. He is a historian and through careful study and interviews with many of the active participants in aikido built a thorough knowledge of aikido history.

Aiki News has gone through a number of changes over the years and now is web based as Aikido Journal. The Encyclopedia was an attempt by Pranin to collate much of the info he had "discovered" over the years into an easy reference volume. I suspect that the hard copy of the Encyclopedia is out of print and out of date and not worth pursuing. But Aikido Journal now publishes an online version of the Encylcopedia.

Aikido MastersPranin, Stanley [ed]. Aiki News, 1993 310pp.

Stanley Pranin is the editor of Aiki News [now internet based Aikido Journal]. Aikido Masters is a set of interviews conducted by Pranin over an 18 year period. There are 14 individual interviews with many of the leading students of O Sensei form the prewar years of aikido. The individuals interviewed include: Noriaki Inoue, Kenji Tomiki, Hisao Kamada, Ikkusai Iwata, Minoru Mochizuki, Shigemi Yonekawa, Rinjiro Shirata, Gozo Shioda, Yoshio Sugino, Kiyoshi Nakakura, Takako Kunigoshi, Zenzaburo Akazawa, Tenryu and Kisshomaru Ueshiba.

Remembering O-SenseiPerry, Susan. Shambala 2002 135pp.

Susan Perry is editor in chief of Aikido Today Magazine and has practiced aikido since 1978. She currently holds the rank of godan.

Remembering O-Sensei is a collection of stories by many of his direct students about living and training with O-Sensei. The contributors include: the present Doshu Moriteru Ueshiba, Sadateru Arikawa, Shingenobu Okumura, Michio Hikitsuchi and Morihiro Saito.

Dueling with O-SenseiEllis Amdur began his martial arts training in America before spending 13 years in Japan gaining teaching licences in 2 koryu: Araki Ryu and Toda-ha Buko Ryu. In addition he studied other martial arts including aikido at Tokyo Hombu Dojo. He now lives in Seattle.

Amdur stopped training at aikido for a number of years. This book is a collection of his writings [or more accurately his musings] on aikido coloured by his training in the koryu.

Kodo: Ancient WaysFuruya, Kensho. Ohara Publications 1996 223pp.

Furuya Sensei is a rokudan in both aikido and iaido and a Zen priest. He teaches in Los Angeles. "Kodo" is a compilation of articles written between 1988 and 1995 for a martial arts magazine. Each article is a short "lesson" on an aspect of martial arts particularly aikido drawn from his own training, historical examples and zen thought.