This is the final entry of the Book of Five Ring review the previous ones can be found Part 1 and Part 2!

The Book of Five Rings            

The edition we utilized was a translation made by a master of karate, Stephen F. Kaufman, although the book is readily available in many editions, and is even online (http://www/samurai.com/5rings and http://www.miyamotomusashi.com/gorin.htm, for example).            

Musashi's masterpiece is a deceivingly short and simple book. Besides a brief introduction in which the author presents himself and explains how the book is organized, the Book of five Rings is divided into five parts, hence the five “rings”: The Book of Earth, the Book of Water, the Book of Fire, the Book of Wind, and the Book of Nothing. The four elements, as well as the void, represent metaphorically the teachings presented in each book.            

The Book of Earth lays the ground for the entire book. It deals with the general aspects of martial arts, strategy and training, which is seen as building a house from the ground up. Musashi discusses the different weapons, such as the naginata (a type of halberd) and the katana. The former is best for the field, while swords are more versatile and useful both indoors and outdoors. He also talks of the bow and guns, the latter having been introduced in Japan recently by the Portuguese. Although the gun is the most powerful, it is not as accurate as the bow, and is practically useless in close combat, at least in the case of guns available at the time he wrote the book.            

The Book of water deals with more intangible aspects of strategy, such as spirituality, religion, and balance. He stresses the importance of a proper stance and a penetrating gaze. He then discusses the different attitudes to adopt when fighting: Upper, middle, lower, left, and right. Just like water flows and always finds an opening, the warrior should be like water.            

The Book of Fire goes into the actual mechanics of combat, and the best ways to take advantage of specific situations, or place the enemy at a disadvantage. Armor, terrain, the presence of buildings, sun and wind, are all factors to evaluate before initiating combat. Exploiting the weaknesses of your opponent, such as moving towards his weaker side, or forcing him to enter into difficult terrain are examples of actions that the warrior can take to get the upper hand. Timing is very important. An easy way to dictate combat is to take the initiative, although sometimes waiting for an opening can be equally fruitful.            

The Book of Wind has to do with other schools that existed during Musashi's time and of the ways to counter them. /the main lesson to derive from this book is that it is important to know the enemy as much as possible. Knowing the enemy is also a way of knowing oneself. A central observation that Musashi makes is that other schools are concerned only with sword-fencing, while his Ichi school looks at strategy more broadly and holistically.            

The Book of Nothing is the shortest and perhaps the most difficult to understand, as it refers to the philosophical underpinnings of mastering a martial art, or truly anything. Constant practice is the way to elevate your awareness until thinking is bypassed and real understanding is achieved.             “The spirit of the universe is an emptiness which is nothing. Man can have no understanding of this place. It exists and is, but yet it is not. If you know something, you know something. If you do not know something, it does not exist in your world. In the universe, nothing-ness is not a thing that is true and not a thing that is not true”.            

The style of this book is similar to the koan of Buddhist masters, short paradoxical tales that are intended to startle the listener and bypass rational thinking, opening the way for a deeper, intuitive understanding. The goal is to achieve satori, or enlightenment.            

“Perfection is all there is and when you come to realize this, you will have understood my Way of strategy and the Way of the warrior, at which time you can forget about it and just be 'it'. Best to have it put this way. Simply be!”            

The Book of Five Rings remains even today a basic work for those approaching, not only Kendo, but any martial art, be it as a beginner or as an expert. It is an enduring classic that has applications outside of the field of martial arts and military strategy. Many Japanese politicians and business leaders have well-worn copies of Musashi's Book of Five Rings together with Sun Tzu's Art of War.

This is the follow up entry to my previous blog! Read the previous one HERE!

Miyamoto Musashi

Musashi, whose real name was Shinmen Takezo, was born in Miyamoto, a village in Mimasaka Province. He was the son of Shinmen Munisai, himself a distinguished martial artist. Around the age of seven, his father apparently died, so his education was entrusted to an uncle, Dorinbo, a Buddhist priest. With him he learned to read and write, as well as the tenets of Buddhism.

Musashi fought his first duel at the age of thirteen, an unusually early age for combat and probably against the will of his uncle. He emerged victorious. A couple of years later, he would begin a life of wandering, that would lead him to participate in some 60 duels and six battles, including the Battle of Sekigahara (on the losing side), won by Tokugawa Ieyasu and that gave rise to the Tokugawa bakufu or shogunate. However, Musashi won every single duel in which he participated.

In his combats, Musashi would come to espouse the idea of fighting both with the katana and the wakizashi. More generally, he was ready to confront the enemies with whatever he happened to have available, be it a bokken (a wooden sword used for training), a boat's oar, or even his bare hands. His school of combat was known as Ni-ten ichi-ryu, or “Two Heavens, One Style”.

Musashi believed that a real strategist had to be a well-rounded person, and not stop at learning how to use his weapons and military strategy (although he believed in constant practice). For that reason, he became an accomplished craftsman in several areas, as painter, sculptor, calligrapher, metalworker, even poet.

He wrote the book Go rin no sho after he turned sixty and finished it shortly before his death at the age of sixty-two.

I found this very interesting review of The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi and I wanted to share it  with you.

The Book of Five Rings is one of the classic books on martial arts to come out of Japan during a turbulent transitional period of its history. To get a better understanding of the teachings in this book, it is useful to learn a little about the historical context in which it was written. We will talk about feudal Japanese society and culture; then about Musashi, the author of the Book of Five Rings, and finally deal with the book itself and its cultural impact.

Feudal Japan

            Between the 12^th and the 19^th centuries, Japanese society resembled somewhat the feudal regime of Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The Emperor and his court had lost power to local warlords or daimyo who, at the head of their clans, ruled over significant landholdings, attended by their personal armies, composed by the equivalent of Western knights, the samurai, although Japanese society did not emphasize horses as much as the West. These daimyo were constantly jockeying for power, trying to achieve the coveted status of Shogun, or military dictator (ruling in the name of the Emperor, of course).

            The samurai lived and died under the strictures of Bushido, or the Way of the Warrior, that emphasized obedience, military prowess, honor, and loyalty. The samurai had to be willing to give their lives to their lords at any moment, and any action that brought loss of face to themselves or to their masters led to seppuku or ritual suicide (better known as harakiri). Samurai had the exclusive use of the long sword, or katana, which together with the short sword, or wakizashi, constituted the main weapons of the Japanese panoply. However, samurai were expected to be able to fight with any available weapon, be it bow and arrow, spear, lance, or even unarmed. Kenjutsu, or “The Art of the Sword” and Kendo, or “The Way of the Sword”, refer to the techniques and skills of Japanese fencing. The Book of Five Rings is a book of martial strategy, specifically focused on sword fighting.

            If for any reason a samurai lost his master, or was fired from his service to a lord, he became a ronin, or “drifting person”. Ronin used to roam the land, looking for adventure and glory, and hoping eventually to enter the service of a daimyo or perhaps even to become one themselves. For many years Musashi lived the life of a ronin before he retired to write his masterwork.

            Musashi was born around 1584, during what is known as the Azuchi-Monoyama period, which came towards the end of centuries of constant fighting among feudal warlords to attain dominance. During this period, political unification was achieved, initiated by Oda Nobunaga and his follower, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but eventually completed by their rival, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu would move the seat of power from the imperial capital of Kyoto to Edo (modern Tokyo), and usher in a period of peace and stability that would last from 1603 until 1868 (the Meiji Restoration). Ieyasu controlled the daimyo by forcing them to alternate between residing at Edo and their own lands, much as King Louis XIV of France (Le Roi Soleil) would do later with the French nobility attending the court at Versailles. Another thing that Ieyasu did was to keep family members of the clans as hostages during the time that they were not forced to reside at Edo, to make sure of their loyalty.

            This era of peace and stability would slowly lead to the decline of the samurai class, although their values and ethos have never completely disappeared.

reviewed by Henry Georget"

I'll be posting another part of this review in later blogs! Read it HERE!