The Book of Five Rings
()
About this ebook
Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) was a renowned samurai warrior who, from age 13 to 30, fought and won over sixty duels. Between the ages of 30 and 50 he became known as a skilled craftsman and sculptor, as well as a calligrapher and a prolific painter. It was during this time that he formulated the ideas that later became A Book of Five Rings.
Read more from Miyamoto Musashi
The Book of Five Rings: The Strategy of the Samurai Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prosperity & Wealth Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi's Art of Strategy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prosperity Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Five Rings: The Classic Text of Samurai Sword Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Prosperity Bible: The Greatest Writings of All Time on the Secrets to Wealth and Prosperity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Samurai Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings (Illustrated Edition): With linked Table of Contents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings (The Way of the Warrior Series) by Miyamoto Musashi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings: The Book of Five Rings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings (Rediscovered Books): With linked Table of Contents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Best Strategy Collection: The Art of War, The Prince, The Book of Five Rings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings (Active TOC, Free Audio Book) (AtoZ Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStrategy Combo: The Art of War + The Book of Five Rings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings (Active TOC) (AtoZ Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Book of Five Rings
Related ebooks
Way of the Samurai: Miyamoto Musashi’s Concise Lessons Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Book of Five Rings (Illustrated Edition): With linked Table of Contents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBushido Code - The Way Of The Warrior In Modern Times Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Five Rings (The Way of the Warrior Series) by Miyamoto Musashi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Five Rings: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bushido Method: An Ancient Japanese Secret To Achieve High Level Of Success In Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5True Path of the Ninja: The Definitive Translation of the Shoninki (An Authentic Ninja Training Manual) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Way of the Samurai Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Thirty-Six Strategies of Ancient China Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bushido: The Soul of Japan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Samurai Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Analects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bushido: The Samurai Code of Japan: With an Extensive Introduction and Notes by Alexander Bennett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Discourses on Livy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dialogues Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On War: The Strategy of Military and Political Combat (Vom Kriege) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bushido: a Modern Adaptation of the Ancient Code of the Samurai Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Moral Discourses of Epictetus (Annotated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeditations: A New Translation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bushido: The Classic Portrait of Samurai Martial Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Alternative History For You
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Who Became the Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Accidental Christ: The Story of Jesus (As Told by His Uncle) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi: A new fantasy series set a thousand years before The City of Brass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of Time: The After Cilmeri Series, #0.5 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tales From the Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Literature Help: Esperanza Rising Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51888: The Ripper Revelation: Infinity Engines: Missions, #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Diana Gabaldon's Best Reading Order: with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Autobiography of Satan: Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Plot Against America: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Man in the High Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mirage: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ROAR: American Master, The Oral Biography of Roger Orr Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: A Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Damiano Trilogy: Damiano, Damiano's Lute, and Raphael Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mrs Van Gogh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Strange Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invasion: The Alternative History of the German Invasion of England, July 1940 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Aftermath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilded Chain: A Tale Of The King's Blades Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5West of Eden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making History: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Legends of Camber of Culdi Trilogy: Camber of Culdi, Saint Camber, and Camber the Heretic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Darwinia: A Novel of a Very Different Twentieth Century Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Devil's Advocate: The Epic Novel of One Man's Fight to Save America from Tyranny Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Book of Five Rings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Book of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi
Introduction
I have been many years training in the Way of Strategy, called Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first time.
It is now during the first ten days of the tenth month in the twentieth year of Kanei (1645). I have climbed mountain Iwato of Higo in Kyushu to pay homage to heaven, pray to Kwannon, and kneel before Buddha. I am a warrior of Harima province, Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin, age sixty years. From youth my heart has been inclined toward the Way of Strategy.
My first duel was when I was thirteen, I struck down a strategist of the Shinto school, one Arima Kihei. When I was sixteen I struck down an able strategist Tadashima Akiyama. When I was twenty-one I went up to the capital and met all manner of strategists, never once failing to win in many contests.
After that I went from province to province dueling with strategist of various schools, and not once failed to win even though I had as many as sixty encounters. This was between the ages of thirteen and twenty-eight or twenty-nine. When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy. Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or that other schools' strategy was inferior.
After that I studied morning and evening searching for the principle, and came to realize the Way of Strategy when I was fifty. Since then I have lived without following any particular Way. Thus with the virtue of strategy I practice many arts and abilities - all things with no teacher. To write this book I did not use the law of Buddha or the teachings of Confucius, neither old war chronicles nor books on martial tactics. I take up my brush to explain the true spirit of this Ichi school as it is mirrored in the Way of heaven and Kwannon. The time is the night of the tenth day of the tenth month, at the hour of the tiger (3-5 a.m.)
Chapter 1
THE GROUND BOOK
Strategy is the craft of the warrior. Commanders must enact the craft, and troopers should know this Way. There is no warrior in the world today who really understands the Way of Strategy.
There are various Ways. There is the Way of salvation by the law of Buddha, the Way of Confucius governing the Way of learning, the Way of healing as a doctor, as a poet teaching the Way of Waka, tea, archery, and many arts and skills. Each man practices as he feels inclined. It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways.
Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way. Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death. Although not only warriors but priests, women, peasants and lowlier folk have been known to die readily in the cause of duty or out of shame, this is a different thing. The warrior is different in that studying the Way of Strategy is based on overcoming men. By victory gained in crossing swords with individuals, or enjoining battle with large numbers, we can attain power and fame for ourselves or our lord. This is the virtue of strategy.
The Way of Strategy
In China and Japan practitioners of the Way have been known as masters of strategy
. Warriors must learn this Way.
Recently there have been people getting on in the world as strategists, but they are usually just sword-fencers. The attendants of the Kashima Kantori shrines of the province Hitachi received instruction from the gods, and made schools based on this teaching, traveling from country to country instructing men. This is the recent meaning of strategy.
In olden times strategy was listed among the Ten Abilities and Seven Arts as a beneficial practice. It was certainly an art but as a beneficial practice it was not limited to sword-fencing. The true value of sword-fencing cannot be seen within the confines of sword-fencing technique.
If we look at the world we see arts for sale. Men use equipment to sell their own selves. As if with the nut and the flower, the nut has become less than th flower. In this kind of Way of Strategy, both those teaching and those learning the way are concerned with colouring and showing off their technique, trying to hasten the bloom of the flower. They speak of This Dojo
and "That