The Book of Five Rings Introduction and Preface
Written in 1645 by Miyamoto Musashi (宮本 武蔵), The Book of 5 Rings is a book containing an overview of Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, or the Way of Strategy. This…
Introduction
Written in 1645 by Miyamoto Musashi (宮本 武蔵), The Book of 5 Rings is a book containing an overview of Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, or the Way of Strategy. This was the heart of the samurai warrior method and mentality, and it provides a glimpse into their system.[1]
The book is divided into five sections, or rings: ground, water, fire, wind, and void.
Historical Background
In 1573, Oda Nobunaga came to power in Japan and assumed the mantle of Shogun. His primary goal was to stabilize a country that had been embroiled in civil war and internal strife for nearly four hundred years. In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu took the Shogun throne and established a peace called the Edo period that would last until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. During this time, the samurai warrior class found themselves soldiers with no war to fight. Made obsolete in peacetime, many became wandering samurai, or Ronin. In the new social order propagated by the Tokugawa rule, samurai were at the top of the social strata, followed by artists, then farmers who grew essential food and crops, then finally merchants and craftsmen. By virtue of their status, samurai were permitted special privileges, like the right to wear two swords; while everyone was permitted to wear a short sword (or companion sword) for personal defense, only Samurai were allowed to wear a second longsword outdoors.[2]
In addition to their high social status, samurai kept their martial traditions alive in the form of kendo. Literally translated as “sword way,” kendo was influenced by ideals of Zen Buddhism and Chinese Confucianism. The ideal samurai was an enlightened warrior who valued service to the lord and state above all else, and was ready to accept death at any moment. Training to be a samurai was considered one of the most prestigious pursuits. Lords and nobles would send their sons to schools to have their minds honed and bodies toughened.[3]
Musashi was born into the samurai class. While he and other samurai were considered the elite warrior poets that all of society should strive to become, the reality was that he and his fellow samurai had no source of livelihood outside of owning land. Musashi pursued the ideal of the enlightened warrior and wandered Japan, participating in several revenge duels to the death and tests of strength.[4]
During this time, dojos (traditionally shrines and temples that were converted into fencing halls by local lords to train their retainers and sons) were run by a hired samurai.[6]
These videos provide a glimpse into Musashi Miyamoto's life and work.[7],[8]
Preface
Musashi begins by telling of his life and his tendency towards strategy early in life. By age thirteen, he had already won his first duel against an “able strategist.” When he was sixteen, he won a second duel; and when he was twenty-one, he fought many opponents in the capital and won every fight. After that, Musashi traveled the country, fighting students from different schools until he was twenty-nine. By the time he was fifty, he felt he had truly mastered the art of strategy. Until he was sixty, he studied other martial arts and in writing this book, he sought to “explain the true spirit of this Ichi school as it is mirrored in the Way of heaven and Kwannon.”
The first book, the ground book, lays out the foundation of the Ichi school of strategy. However, Musashi states that is not possible to learn the Way simply from reading about it; one must practice constantly and experience it to attain mastery. He states that one must “Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things. As if it were a straight road mapped out on the ground.”
The second book, the water book, contains the wisdom of applicability and scale. Musashi writes that if you beat one man then you have beaten ten million men, and that the true strategist can make small things into big things, like applying the strategies of self to an army. “The principle of strategy is having one thing, to know ten thousand things.”
The Book of Fire is about fighting. Importantly, Musashi describes the universality of strategy.
“The Way of battles is the same for man to man fights and for ten thousand a side battles. You must appreciate that spirit can become big or small. What is big is easy to perceive: what is small is difficult to perceive. In short, it is difficult for large numbers of men to change position, so their movements can be easily predicted. An individual can easily change his mind, so his movements are difficult to predict. You must appreciate this.”
Finally, he states that training must be a normal part of life and that one must train day and night in order to master strategy.
The fourth book, wind, deals with other schools and traditions of strategy. He states that it is difficult to know yourself if you do not know others. He also cautions against minor deviations in the path as, over time, this can lead to large differences until you are no longer practicing the Way at all.
“To all Ways there are side-tracks. If you study a Way daily, and your spirit diverges, you may think you are obeying a good Way but objectively it is not the true Way. If you are following the true Way and diverge a little, this will later become a large divergence. You must realise this.”
The final book, the Book of the Void, explores that which has no beginning or end, that to attain the technique means to not attain it. Finally, he concludes that the strategy is the Way of nature and that once one understands and appreciates the power and rhythm of nature, then he can strike his enemies in sync with that rhythm.[9]
This video is a wonderful demonstration of the techniques developed by Musashi.[10]
Works Cited
en.wikipedia, User Alkivar on. Musashi Miyamoto with Two Bokken (Wooden Quarterstaves). April 21, 2006. Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is (was) here. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Musashi_ts_pic.jpg.
KendoWorld. KENJUTSU Hyoho Niten Ichi-Ryu - 33th All Japan Kobudo Demonstration (2010). Accessed March 25, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7LDXpAohjQ&t=187s.
Miyamoto, Musashi. A Book of Five Rings. Translated by VICTOR HARRIS, 1645. https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/A-book-of-five-rings.pdf.
www.williamdelange.com. MIYAMOTO MUSASHI: A Life in Arms | Part 1 Beginnings*. Accessed March 9, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98ShxodeP7U.
———. MIYAMOTO MUSASHI: A Life in Arms | Part 2: Musashi’s Coming of Age. Accessed March 9, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtjzliLjOes.
Miyamoto, A Book of Five Rings.
Miyamoto.
Miyamoto.
Miyamoto.
en.wikipedia, Musashi Miyamoto with Two Bokken (Wooden Quarterstaves).
Miyamoto, A Book of Five Rings.
www.williamdelange.com, MIYAMOTO MUSASHI.
www.williamdelange.com, MIYAMOTO MUSASHI.
Miyamoto.
KendoWorld, KENJUTSU Hyoho Niten Ichi-Ryu - 33th All Japan Kobudo Demonstration (2010).
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