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Title: The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, Thomas Cleary ISBN: 1-57062-748-7 Publisher: Shambhala Pub. Date: 12 December, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.28 (83 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Lacking Commentary
Comment: Many of these books are difficult to understand because they are meant to be used as study and reference guides along with a teacher. The Book of Five Rings (of which I've read 3 of the 5, and am just a few pages away from finishing) is a treatise describing Musashi Miyamoto's personal school of fighting - the school of two skies. He eschews other schools as too this or too that. They concentrate, he says, on technique rather than what swordfighting is all about - killing your opponent.
The text is dry, and the sections are short. They are intended (a) for swordfighters, and (b) to be meditated on. The principals in this book would take a swordfighter years to master. In fact, at one point he says one should study for about 3 years (he gives a specific number of weeks) and then practice for 30 or so more years.
How does this translate into my life? I'm not sure. I don't have enough of a background in swordfighting, the culture, etc. to know how these concepts apply to my life. If perhaps I had a guide, in the form of commentary, I could more easily integrate these concepts into my life. As is, however, this book isn't of much use to me, except as reference for the day when I do have commentary.
I reccomend, instead, Cleary's Classics of Strategy and Counsel. This trilogy of books includes the Art of War, Mastering the Art of War, The Lost Art of War, The Silver Sparrow Art of War, Thunder in the Sky, The Japanese Art of War, The Book of Five Rings, Ways of Warriors, Codes of Kings (which includes several works), The Art of Wealth, Living a Good Life, The Human Element, and Back to Beginnings.
In addition to the text, there is often commentary, and supplementary material that can put the text in context and aid the student on his or her journey. Amazon lists several of these as the same book...
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.
Rating: 4
Summary: Lots to learn for everyone
Comment: Small book which allows you to look at things from a different perspective. Every time you read this you will find something new to learn from it.
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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: Bushido: The Way of the Samurai (Square One Classics) by Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Justin F. Stone, Minoru Tanaka ISBN: 0757000266 Publisher: Square One Publishers Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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