Dav
It seems that we love concentrating on far eastern systems but imo due to the UK/Europes advancements in technology i.e. reliance on firearms etc... we have lost potentially a superior fighting system which would have died out many centuries ago.
I guess foreign stuff is exotic, more mystical to us.
I don't think you can say "superior" tho, just different.
Different strategy to suit a different type of warfare.
I saw an interesting documentary once and the conclusion it came to was that:
Japanese weaponry wouldn't be very effective against European heavy armour tactics;
European weaponry would be too slow and clumsy against mobile Japanese light armour tactics.
I wouldn't be sufficiently well informed to say either way.
There was also another documentary I saw recently which showed some of the devices we don't simply don't give enough credit to today.
For example, the Samurai used to have a type of silk flag which acted a bit like a parchute, which would inflate behind the horse when the horse was galloping at high speed.
They had expected the 'parachute' would be pierced easily by the arrows, and that it was just an insignia.
However, when they conducted tests, they were very surprised to learn that this acted as a shield which deflected a high proportion of the 'kill shots' while also making it harder for an archer to aim as there was no fixed point.