Summary
Musashi’s book on developing expertise and living a focused life. It had a stronger impact at age 24 than it did when I reread it at 31.
Key Takeaways
- The principle of strategy is having one thing, to know ten thousand things.
- If you are following the true way and diverge a little, this will later become a large divergence.
- Men must polish their particular Way.
- Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.
- This is the way for men who want to learn my strategy:
- Do not think dishonestly.
- The Way is in training.
- Become acquainted with every art.
- Know the Ways of all professions.
- Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.
- Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything.
- Perceive those things which cannot be seen.
- Pay attention even to trifles.
- Do nothing which is of no use.
- In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.
- Fixedness means a dead hand. Pliability is a living hand.
- Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.
- Everything can collapse. Houses, bodies, and enemies collapse when their rhythm becomes deranged.
- Victory is certain when the enemy is caught up in a rhythm which confuses his spirit.
- Really skilful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy.
- Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight.
What I got out of it
I remember the Book of Five Rings making a big impact on me when I read it the first time at age 24. Now, at age 31, in a month where I read many spiritual and philosophical books, it had less of an impact.
4 things that stuck with me:
- Polish your Way (i.e. whatever comes natural to you or what you’re skilled at) and eliminate everything else.
- Expertise is a combination of practicing the fundamentals, unlearning bad habits/techniques/beliefs and understanding others in your field.
- Polish the heart and mind; train perception and sight.
- The 9 things Musashi recommends for “men who want to learn my strategy.” A reminder to live a simple, focused life.
Table of Contents
Summary & Quotes
Introduction
With the virtue of strategy I practice many arts and abilities – all things with no teacher. To write this book I did not use the law of Buddha or the teachings of Confucius, neither old war chronicles nor books on martial tactics.
The Ground Book
Each man practices as he feels inclined. It is said the warrior’s is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways.
The Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.
“Immature strategy is the cause of grief”
There are four Ways in which men pass through life:
- The Way of the farmer. Using agricultural instruments, he sees springs through to autumns with an eye on the changes of season.
- Second is the Way of the merchant. The wine maker obtains his ingredients and puts them to use to make his living. The Way of the merchant is always to live by taking profit.
- Thirdly the gentleman warrior, carrying the weaponry of his Way. The Way of the warrior is to master the virtue of his weapons. If a gentleman dislikes strategy he will not appreciate the benefit of weaponry, so must he not have a little taste for this?
- Fourthly the Way of the artisan. The Way of the carpenter is to become proficient in the use of his tools, first to lay his plans with a true measure and then perform his work according to plan. Thus he passes through life.
You must practice constantly.
The carpenter’s attainment is, having tools which will cut well, to make small shrines, writing shelves, tables, paper lanterns, chopping boards and pot lids. These are the specialities of the carpenter. Things are similar for the trooper. You ought to think deeply about this.
The attainment of the carpenter is that his work is not warped, that the joints are not misaligned, and that the work is truly planned so that it meets well and is not merely finished in sections. This is essential. If you want to learn this Way, deeply consider the things written in this book one at a time. You must do sufficient research.
With water as the basis, the spirit becomes like water. Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea.
If you master the principles of sword fencing, when you freely beat one man, you beat any man in the world.
The principle of strategy is having one thing, to know ten thousand things.
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 train day and night in order to make quick decisions. In strategy, it is necessary to treat training as part of normal life with your spirit unchanging.
It is difficult to know yourself if you do not know others.
If you are following the true way and diverge a little, this will later become a large divergence.
The Way of the warrior does not include other Ways, such as Confucianism, Buddhism, certain traditions, artistic accomplishments and dancing. But even though these are not part of the Way, if you know the Way broadly you will see it in everything. Men must polish their particular Way.
Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative.
Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.
In all skills and abilities there is timing.
You win battles with the timing in the Void born of the timing of cunning by knowing the enemies’ timing, and thus using a timing which the enemy does not expect.
This is the way for men who want to learn my strategy:
- Do not think dishonestly.
- The Way is in training.
- Become acquainted with every art.
- Know the Ways of all professions.
- Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.
- Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything.
- Perceive those things which cannot be seen.
- Pay attention even to trifles.
- Do nothing which is of no use.
The Water Book
You must cultivate your wisdom and spirit. Polish your wisdom: learn public justice, distinguish between good and evil, study the Ways of different arts one by one. When you cannot be deceived by men you will have realized the wisdom of strategy.
In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things. It is important in strategy to know the enemy’s sword and not to be distracted by insignificant movements of his sword.
Fixedness means a dead hand. Pliability is a living hand.
To understand attitude you must thoroughly understand the middle attitude. The middle attitude is the heart of attitudes. If we look at strategy on a broad scale, the Middle attitude is the seat of the commander, with the other four attitudes following the commander.
You can win with certainty with the spirit of “one cut”. It is difficult to attain this if you do not learn strategy well. If you train well in this Way, strategy will come from your heart and you will be able to win at will.
Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men. Next, in order to beat more skillful men, train according to this book, not allowing your heart to be swayed along a side track. Even if you kill an enemy, if it is not based on what you have learned it is not the true Way.
The Fire Book
“One man can beat ten, so a thousand men can beat ten thousand.”
Any man who wants to master the essence of my strategy must research diligently, training morning and evening. Thus can he polish his skill, become free from self, and realize extraordinary ability. He will come to possess miraculous power.
Always chase the enemy into bad footholds, obstacles at the side, and so on, using the virtues of the place to establish predominant positions from which to fight.
“To Hold Down a Pillow” means not allowing the enemy’s head to rise. In contests of strategy it is bad to be led about by the enemy. You must always be able to lead the enemy about.
The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy’s useful actions but allow his useless actions. However, doing this alone is defensive. First, you must act according to the Way, suppressing the enemy’s techniques, foiling his plans and thence command him directly. When you can do this you will be a master of strategy.
I believe this “crossing at a ford” occurs often in man’s lifetime. It means setting sail even though your friends stay in harbour, knowing the route, knowing the soundness of your ship and the favour of the day. When all the conditions are meet, and there is perhaps a favourable wind, or a tail-wind, then set sail. If the wind changes within a few miles of your destination, you must row across the remaining distance without sail.
In strategy also it is important to “cross at a ford”. Discern the enemy’s capability and, knowing your own strong points, “cross the ford” at the advantageous place, as a good captain crosses a sea route. If you succeed in crossing at the best place, you may take your ease. To cross at a ford means to attack the enemy’s weak point, and to put yourself in an advantageous position. This is how to win large-scale strategy. The spirit of crossing at a ford is necessary in both large- and small-scale strategy.
“To know the times” means to know the enemy’s disposition in battle. Is it flourishing or waning?
Everything can collapse. Houses, bodies, and enemies collapse when their rhythm becomes deranged.
In large-scale strategy, people are always under the impression that the enemy is strong, and so tend to become cautious. But if you have good soldiers, and if you understand the principles of strategy, and if you know how to beat the enemy, there is nothing to worry about.
“To release four hands” is used when you and the enemy are contending with the same spirit, and the issue cannot be decided. Abandon this spirit and win through an alternative resource. When we think we have fallen into the “four hands” situation, we must defeat the enemy by changing our mind and applying a suitable technique according to his condition.
Many things can cause a loss of balance:
- One cause is danger
- Another is hardship
- And another is surprise.
It is difficult to move strong things by pushing directly, so you should “injure the corners”.
In large-scale strategy, it is beneficial to strike at the corners of the enemy’s force. If the corners are overthrown, the spirit of the whole body will be overthrown. To defeat the enemy you must follow up the attack when the corners have fallen. In single combat, it is easy to win once the enemy collapses. This happens when you injure the “corners” of his body, and thus weaken him.
Victory is certain when the enemy is caught up in a rhythm which confuses his spirit.
Once we have crushed the enemy in the depths, there is no need to remain spirited. But otherwise we must remain spirited. If the enemy remains spirited it is difficult to crush him.
“To renew” applies when we are fighting with the enemy, and an entangled spirit arises where there is no possible resolution. We must abandon our efforts, think of the situation in a fresh spirit then win in the new rhythm.
My heart has been inclined to the Way of Strategy from my youth onwards. I have devoted myself to training my hand, tempering my body, and attaining the many spiritual attitudes of sword fencing. If we watch men of other schools discussing theory, and concentrating on techniques with the hands, even though they seem skilful to watch, they have not the slightest true spirit. Of course, men who study in this way think they are training the body and spirit, but it is an obstacle to the true Way, and its bad influence remains for ever. Thus the true Way of Strategy is becoming decadent and dying out.
The true Way of sword fencing is the craft of defeating the enemy in a fight, and nothing other than this. If you attain and adhere to the wisdom of my strategy, you need never doubt that you will win.
The Wind Book
In this world it is said, “One inch gives the hand advantage”, but these are the idle words of one who does not know strategy. It shows the inferior strategy of a weak spirit that men should be dependent on the length of their sword, fighting from a distance without the benefit of strategy.
If we consider large-scale strategy, we can think of large forces in terms of long swords, and small forces as short swords. Cannot few me give battle against many? There are many instances of few men overcoming many.
Your strategy is of no account if when called on to fight in a confined space your heart is inclined to the long sword, or if you are in a house armed only with your companion sword.
Besides, some men have not the strength of others. In my doctrine, I dislike preconceived, narrow spirit.
The sure Way to win thus is to chase the enemy around in confusing manner, causing him to jump aside, with your body held strongly and straight. The same principle applies to large-scale strategy. The essence of strategy is to fall upon the enemy in large numbers and bring about his speedy downfall. By their study of strategy, people of the world get used to countering, evading and retreating as the normal thing. They become set in this habit, so can easily be paraded around by the enemy. The Way of Strategy is straight and true. You must chase the enemy around and make him obey your spirit.
What is known in the world as “attitude” applies when there is no enemy. The reason is that this has been a precedent since ancient times, and there should be no such thing as “This is the modern way to do it” in duelling. You must force the enemy into inconvenient situations.
In the Way of duelling, however, you must always be intent on taking the lead and attacking.
In the Way of Strategy, when you have fought many times you will easily be able to appraise the speed and position of the enemy’s sword, and having mastery of the Way you will see the weight of his spirit. In strategy, fixing the eyes means gazing at the man’s heart.
In large-scale strategy the area to watch is the enemy’s strength. “Perception” and “sight” are the two methods of seeing. Perception consists of concentrating strongly on the enemy’s spirit, observing the condition of the battlefield, fixing the gaze strongly, seeing the progress of the fight and the changes of advantages. This is the sure way to win. In single combat you must not fix the eyes on the details. As I said before, if you fix your eyes on details and neglect important things, your spirit will become bewildered, and victory will escape you.
In the Way of dance, accomplished performers can sing while dancing, but when beginners try this they slow down and their spirit becomes busy. The “old pine tree” melody beaten on a leather drum is tranquil, but when beginners try this they slow down and their spirit becomes busy. Very skilful people can manage a fast rhythm, but it is bad to beat hurriedly. If you try to beat too quickly you will get out of time. Of course, slowness is bad. Really skilful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy.
I dislike passing on my Way through written pledges and regulations. Perceiving the ability of my pupils, I teach the direct Way, remove the bad influence of other schools, and gradually introduce them to the true Way of the warrior.
The Book Of The Void
What is called the spirit of the void is where there is nothing. It is not included in man’s knowledge. Of course the void is nothingness. By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist. That is the void.
People in this world look at things mistakenly, and think that what they do not understand must be the void. This is not the true void. It is bewilderment.
To attain the Way of Strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior.
With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour.
Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.
Until you realize the true Way, whether in Buddhism or in common sense, you may think that things are correct and in order. However, if we look at things objectively, from the viewpoint of laws of the world, we see various doctrines departing from the true Way. Know well this spirit, and with forthrightness as the foundation and the true spirit as the Way.
Enact strategy broadly, correctly and openly. Then you will come to think of things in a wide sense and, taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as void.
In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness.