The Book of Five Rings
at Amazon.com
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| The Cover of The Book of Five Rings |
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| The Book of Five Rings at Amazon.com |
One of the most investigated, explored, adapted, and hypothesized about books on the martial arts, Miyamoto Musashi in his wildest dreams could not have imagined that his writings would have had the far-reaching affect on the thinking of martial artists world-wide that he has had.
This book has a singular purpose, the same purpose that Musashi had in everything he did: win. Win at all costs. There is nothing else to do but win. Losing means you die. Losing means oblivion. Losing is falling into the shadow and the utter eradication of your existence.
Musashi knows quite a bit about the eradication of human life. He killed a lot of men. Sometimes in a fair fight, sometimes to fight for his life, sometimes just to see if he could do it. To paint Musashi as a man of contemporary high virtue would be a mistake. The man would not measure up. Musashi lived in a very unusual, and very particular set of environmental factors that not only permitted him to pursue his experimentations with his methods, but allowed him to live a long life in which he could look back and reflect on the various facets of how he was able to do the things he did.
But there is still something so surprising, and clear, about Musashi that we must put aside our judgement of the murders he committed and look carefully at the text he has prepared which explores how he was able to survive as many sword fights as he did. His perspective is unique, and demands our careful attention, particularly as it seems to differ so radically from other writers of the Japanese middle ages.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo, in the Hagakure goes at length on the role of total loyalty, and the washing of one's face in the morning with the cold realization that all things die and fly towards the inevitability of death. Takuan Soho, in The Unfettered Mind, talks plainly about subduing the ego in order to see clearly the truest mind of the martial artist. But Musashi does not address themes of loyalty or social relations with others, nor does he discuss psychologically any of his ideas. To Musashi, there is only The Way, and The Way as it is explored and understood in the thematic areas of nature: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and The Void.
No short review of this book would suffice to give you a handle on the gravity of this text. There is simply too much material. I think that I should, however, begin to put some of the thoughts and notes I have taken while reading this book, and craft some essays or articles for readers to enjoy. I think that it would be good for me too, so that I can appropriately appreciate, and hopefully come to understand more completely what is being taught in these pages.
In addition, there is much about this text that seems to demand that there is much more for martial artists to do rather than only read. Time and time again we hear the voice of Musashi coming through after a thought, a lesson, or a key point that he insists his students take note of, "This is something you should practice thoroughly".
An excellent read. A fun read. A book that "expands" your thinking as you look to find how it applies to your own training, your own karate, and your own interactions with others.
Mark Groenewold
February, 2004