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Title: A Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, Victor Harris, Stanley Ralph Ross ISBN: 1-55927-088-8 Publisher: Audio Renaissance Pub. Date: 15 October, 1990 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.28 (83 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: An oriental classic that is hard to put into practical use
Comment: The Book of Five Rings is a major classic and though it ought to be read by anyone interested in martial arts, Japan, warfare or oriental philosophy, it is NOT an easy book for learning strategy.
Mushashi Miyamoto, the sword-saint of Japan, was so advanced in his development as a warrior-philosopher that he had stopped fighting with anything but wooden swords and finally retreated to a mountain cave to record his deepest thoughts about life. (He also ceased the habit of bathing as he'd once been attacked while lounging in one of those Japanese hot tubs, so perhaps a solitary life in a hermit retreat was just as well.)
Unless you yourself have followed a life devoted to the principles of Bushido and its discipline, Musashi's writing is interesting but probably too difficult to apply to daily life. The chapter entitled "The Void" is probably the most abstruse.
A good companion book is Sun Tzu's Art of War, which is pragmatic and as current as today's newspaper. Or read Von Clauswitz and Machiavelli.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Profound Work of Philosophy
Comment: The Book of Five Rings is an amazing insight into the mind of one of the greatest warriors in human history. Miyamoto, or "sword saint" as the Japanese call him, was both a powerful warrior and a deep thinking philosopher. He produced numerous works of art, including self-portraits, paintings of buddhas, and sword tsubas. The depth of his thought can be seen clearly in this philosophical treatise, a must read for anyone who is serious about combat and the philosophy behind combat. However, the reader be warned that this is not a martial arts "how to book." Miyamoto fails to divulge any specific sword techniques, only describing strikes, stances, and sword positioning at a most basic level. Having said this, the work is centered around the philosophy behind combat and killing. The most powerful weapon is the human mind which Miyamoto attempts to begin training with this fantastic work. It is a book that can and should be read again and again by both beginners and experts: it never fails to yield some bit of philosophy that helps strengthen the mind. While what Miyamoto says on numerous occasions is mind bending, such as his section on fighting and defeating fifty to sixty men, and difficult to fully grasp this is a work that I think everyone should read sometime in their life and should be required reading in every dojo.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Ring of Rings
Comment: Musashi manages to fit into about 100 pages the perspective of Oriental thinking. He works out a system which is a considerable oracale. All is one to him and this is, although sometimes hard to recognize, his vehicle of success. One with the eastern philosophy of natural order Musashi puts into a very small literature a heart of iron and a spirit of fire. Maybe he will be refined yet.
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Title: The Art of War by Sun Tzu ISBN: 0385292163 Publisher: Delacorte Press Pub. Date: 10 March, 1983 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, William Scott Wilson ISBN: 4770011067 Publisher: Kodansha International Pub. Date: March, 1992 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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Title: Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinsu by Yuzan Daidoji, Oscar Ratti, Thomas Cleary ISBN: 0804831904 Publisher: Charles E Tuttle Co Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Unfettered Mind: Writings of the Zen Master to the Sword Master by Takuan Soho, William Scott Wilson, Takuan ISBN: 087011851X Publisher: Kodansha International Pub. Date: March, 1988 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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Title: The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli ISBN: 0553212788 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 August, 1984 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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