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The Book of Five Rings
The Book of Five Rings
The Book of Five Rings
Audiobook2 hours

The Book of Five Rings

Written by Miyamoto Musashi

Narrated by Scott Brick

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

()

About this audiobook

Setting down his thoughts on swordplay, on winning, and on spirituality, legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi intended this modest work as a guide for his immediate disciples and future generations of samurai. He had little idea he was penning a masterpiece that would be eagerly devoured by people in all walks of life centuries after his death.

Along with The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Book of Five Rings has long been regarded as an invaluable treatise on the strategy of winning. Musashi's timeless advice on defeating an adversary, throwing an opponent off-guard, creating confusion, and other techniques for overpowering an assailant was addressed to the readers of earlier times on the battlefield and now serves the modern reader in the battle of life.

In this new rendering by the translator of Hagakure and The Unfettered Mind, William Scott Wilson adheres rigorously to the seventeenth-century Japanese text and clarifies points of ambiguity in earlier translations. In addition, he offers an extensive introduction and a translation of Musashi's rarely published The Way of Walking Alone.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 30, 2010
ISBN9781400188529
Author

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.

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Reviews for The Book of Five Rings

Rating: 4.57201646090535 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

243 ratings22 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There are other reviews here for “Book of Five Rings”, but I feel only one of them is close to understanding the essence of this book. “Five Rings” was indeed originally a martial arts treatise, but the Western Reader needs to remember that Martial Arts was a total way of life: all the principles of Martial Arts was applied to everyday life as well. This theme of strategy applying to everything is one Musahi mentions frequently in this work. As you read the book keep this in mind.Mushai writes, “… the warrior’s is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both”. In the Overlook Press edition, there are numerous illustrations of artworks in different mediums created by Musahi himself. Example is the best form of teaching and he clearly shows that there is no division between martial art forms and art forms for pleasure.For the Way of the Warrior, every battle plan must be researched, your enemies’ weaknesses known, your plans constructed accordingly and executed flawlessly. Applying this to the way of the Artisan, something the Western mind sees diametrically opposed to warfare, Musahi’s dictum means the artist must fully understand the medium they are working in, fully understand the idea they are trying to represent and must flawlessly execute their work.The book itself is written like a classical brush painting. Broad strokes suggest the theme and the more we look at the work, the more detail we see in the work. Musahi writes in broad terms, supplying enough detail for us to understand what he is suggesting, but he does not overwhelm us with detail. In many places, the student is admonished to research the subject of his discourses themselves.It is this last aspect that makes this work so enduring and all encompassing. These principles may be applied to any situation, to any profession. It is not a book to be read once and put away. To appreciate “Book of Five Rings” to the fullest, read the book, practice the concepts in everyday life, then, read the book again. Each time you read the book you will find some new insight, just as each time you look at a well-done artwork, you notice new detail. Apply this new insight and read the book yet again. Research this well and practice often.

    3 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    More of a book on thinking than on specific strategies. It's a way to think on different situations with basic thought as a base that can lead to complex strategy.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It's been a while since I read this and it was worth another go through. There are a couple different groups of readers I can think of that would find this book helpful. First, martial arts enthusiasts, who, for instance like reading ancient war manuals such as Sun Tzu's Art of War or German long sword manuals. Second, samurai movie enthusiasts or Japanophiles, who like to study, in detail, well known samurai film directors who have treat this book as a guide to action sequences. Thirdly, CEO's or Mafia Don's who may be looking for philosophical advantages in planning their next move. I could see Tony Soprano reading this and feeling sophisticated.The book is divided into five elemental parts: water, wind, fire, earth, and void. Most of these have paragraphs focused on a certain strategical concept that should be studied. Here is a typical example:The Mountain-Sea Change"The 'mountain-sea' spirit means that it is bad to repeat the same thing several times when fighting the enemy. There my be no help but to do something twice, but do not try it a third time. If you once make an attack and fail, there is little chance of success if you use the same approach again. If you attempt a technique which you have previously tried unsuccessfully and fail yet again, then you must change your attacking method. If the enemy thinks of the mountains, attack like the sea; and if he thinks of the sea, attack like the mountains. You must research this deeply."Almost every technique has a clever metaphorical title such as "To Penetrate the Depths" or "Rat's Head, Ox's Neck". It reminds me of my gung-fu years down in Washington and all the names for the strikes and maneuvers we learned. Almost every paragraph ends in an admonishment like "You must study this well." or "You must learn this." This also reminds me of Sifu Lane or Sifu Fogg after every drill or technique plucked from a move set. I have a sneaking suspicion that the fundamentals of martial arts training has not changed much since 1645 when Musashi wrote this manual. Anyway, a fun little book. I will keep an eye out for other translations. Many of the statements in this book hinge on the meaning of single words and Japanese is known for its use of quadruple entendre. Overall, this edition was a nice reintroduction to the classic.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of the classic books on military thought from East or West and a must read for anyone interested in tactics or strategy. It is very good for understanding the samurai mindset. There is much on personal combat in the book but it is a bit tough to use as a training manual as there is much that is implied but not really stated (to be fair, Musashi says he wrote it that way intentionally). On the other hand, I found Musashi's method of applying the same ideas of strategy and tactics to both personal combat and "large scale military science" to be somewhat of a stretch as these are not always, as he claims, equally applicable (he is essentially equating the methods of the tactical and operational levels of war which is too broad of a claim). When approaching this book it is necessary to remember that Musashi was a duelist and a soldier, not really a general or field commander.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Despite the earnest efforts of the translator to place the work in its contemporary context, this translation leaves many questions unanswered. Students of Japanese literature (particularly contemporary strategy literature) may get much more out of it than other readers. Ambiguous statements and overuse of abstract words gave me the feeling that a better translation is possible.The form is letters to a promising young warrior - the writing is didactic and dogmatic assuming a high degree of you-know-what-I-mean knowledge on the part of the reader. As general pedagogy it would be more effective with diagrams to show explicitly what the vague statements mean. Just *what* is a "corner" of the body? Is the head? What about the genitalia?Today, the philosophy of utilitarianism and "enlightened" self-interest are well known leading to a feeling that there is nothing new to modern readers about the principles presented.I won a giveaway of the Victor Harris translation which had a mix of British and American English spellings.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Probably a good book didn't understand it I'll check it again in the future
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It's better than I expected. It's more intriguing than the Art of War even though both book fundamentally cover similar ground.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Coming in with the knowledge of the rough age of this wisdom certainly caused some biases, however the writing is in fact often elegant and the important messaging delivered concisely. There are certainly ways to apply this timeless wisdom when understood non literally.

    This version is frequently interpreted by the narrator who expounds upon the ideas to make them better understood by the listener. This is my understanding at least, as I don't speak the original language but have scanned multiple other translations. That being said I rather appreciated the translation and expansion of understanding.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An good translation with very good narration.

    When I first read this book many years ago I did not truly understand this book. However after many years of studying and living I understand it now somewhat better.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Yo, this was a very inspiring book to listen to.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    You should investigate this thoroughly. . . . . .
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Book of Five Rings is not really a book; it’s a way of life.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you are this deep into my website, you are no doubt aware that I do medieval sword fighting in the SCA and books like this are simply must reads. It was originally recommended to me by my teacher. He was convinved it was the seminal work on swordfighting and it would help me master the weapon. So, I read it like a good student, I did want to be a good fighter after all...I have to say that after the first reading, I did not believe him. It took me 2 week to plow through this thin book and mostly it left me confused. When I mentioned this to him, he suggested that I reread it about 10 more times, slowly and I will start to ‘get’ it. I thought he was nuts, to that point I had never read a book more than twice and that was a work of fiction that I reread because I didn’t have a book that I hadn’t read and I needed something to do... I also thought that perhaps the fact that he had blown his own weight in dope might have had something to do with his ‘deeper’ understanding. I reality, he simply thought about it more (although being high probably gives you more time to contemplate these things).It took me a while to get around to attempting the text again. In fact, it took untilo after I was knighted and had squires of my own. These students wanted information that they could work on on their own time and books like this are always mentioned as important reads. I felt that I couldn’t ask them to read it without rereading it and maybe preparing myself for their questions. The second read was better, I didn’t have to stop to read the extensive footnotes, I had significantly more experience as a fighter and, probably most importantly, I was mentally a lot more mature.Then I got an audio tape of it, that is the way to go. Driving in the truck and spinning an unabridged 90 minute tape on sword fighting philosophy will surely take your mind off the length of the drive. I have now read the complete text about 5 times and listened to the tape at least a dozen times. I think I get most of it now. The last chapter (The Book of the Void) is deep, deep Zen shit though.OK, we are four paragraphs into the review and you are thinking, “all he has talked about was how hard it is to read...” OK, none of this was meant to discourage you, in fact, quite the opposite. But, I want to start off by making sure you understand what the book is not. This is not a how-to manual on swordfighting, it isn’t that explict. If you want something like that, get a Kendo manual with pictures. It is often billed as a must read strategy guide for businessmen, I am not sure that most of the managers that I have met will benefit from this text. Again, it isn’t a how-to guide, it is a philosphy treatise. It’s focus is swordfighting, but the concepts can certainly be applied to many other ways of life, including business. However, that is going to take a lot of reflection to internalize the philosophy presented here and apply it to something like business. You would be better off with The Prince, I would think.OK, on to the book itself: This is a very thin book. The translator starts off with a 75 or so page section that includes a biography of Musashi, a political and cultural overview of feudal Japan before getting into the text proper. These parts are useful for getting the context of the work, but are not critical.The book itself is divided into, you guessed it, five parts: Ground, Wind, Water, Fire and Void. Each address a different aspect of strategy. Musashi himself says in the work that this isn’t intended as a breezy read, “read a word and reflect upon it.” Of course, he is referring to the Japanese characters which can stand for several English words, but you get the point. Another point that he pounds home over and over again is, “you must practice constantly.”It was intended for his students to learn the ways of the warrior from someone with the unusual perspective of old age and what each thing meant in a greater context. The thing to take away from this text, as an SCA fighter isn’t so much the sword moves he teach (many are at illegal targets), but the concepts of strategy: waiting for an opening, being in harmony, observe everything, etc. These are the things that are generally missing from more practical how-to guides, including those penned by SCA fighters.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I found this vintage book (published May, 1982) in my Little Free Library and decided to read it because I've recently become interested in things Japanese. The book was written by a masterless samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, who lived in the late 1500's and early 1600's and practiced what he called heiho. It is said that he never lost a bout with 60 individual swordsmen before reaching the age of thirty. In this book, he wrote the principles of his heiho.I liked this book for learning about this particular form of swordsmanship, but I never took it to be a book about "Japanese success in business" as was advertised at the top of this mass market paperback. It was weird, though, reading a book about mastering the skill to kill another individual. I'm not unhappy that the time of samurai is gone.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Informative if not a little repetitive, though I feel this has something do with the direct to English translation, to try and keep the initial points of the original writer, which is more important than how well it reads.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    i was into it but then the thing about swords made me bored
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    1. The Book of Five Rings2. The Book of Family Traditions on th eArt of War, by Yagyu Munenori
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Excellent book, Excellent Author, and informative enough to keep you on your toes.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've studied Taekwon Do for 17 years. A fellow classmate recommended this book to me. A bit difficult to get through at first, but it gives invaluable insight into fighting techniques. It changed the way I thought about sparring & I took this book with me when I competed in the 13th World Taekwon Do Championship in South Korea in '04.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    this is a good book if you want to know more about swordplay and war strategy.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Very vague and have yet to apply it to my everyday life or meditate on his teachings. Will probably re-write the review once I've listened to this longer.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The creator of Librarything, Bookmeister Spaulding, must have read this book. The Winning Strategy of Miyamoto Musashi,(1584-1645)tells us among other things that one must cultivate a wide range of interests in the arts; be knowledgable in a variety of occupations; be discreet regarding one's business dealings; nurture the truth to perceive the truth in all matters; not be negligent, even in trifling matters; and, my personal favourite: Do Not Engage in Useless Activity.Read the Master's words. You'll be a changed Thingmalibrarian. Highly recommended - its the Zen and Art of Library Maintenance and pretty much everything else.