The Book of Five Rings

Name: The Book of Five Rings
Brand: Tantor Audio
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.14 (22 reviews)
Author: Miyamoto Musashi
ISBN: 9781400188529

Author: Miyamoto Musashi

Narrator: Scott Brick

Unabridged: 2 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/30/2010

Categories: Nonfiction, History, Military History

Synopsis

Setting down his thoughts on swordplay, on winning, and on spirituality, legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi intended this modest work as a guide for his immediate disciples and future generations of samurai. He had little idea he was penning a masterpiece that would be eagerly devoured by people in all walks of life centuries after his death.

Along with The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Book of Five Rings has long been regarded as an invaluable treatise on the strategy of winning. Musashi's timeless advice on defeating an adversary, throwing an opponent off-guard, creating confusion, and other techniques for overpowering an assailant was addressed to the readers of earlier times on the battlefield and now serves the modern reader in the battle of life.

In this new rendering by the translator of Hagakure and The Unfettered Mind, William Scott Wilson adheres rigorously to the seventeenth-century Japanese text and clarifies points of ambiguity in earlier translations. In addition, he offers an extensive introduction and a translation of Musashi's rarely published The Way of Walking Alone.

About Miyamoto Musashi

The famed swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) was born Shinmen Takezo in Harima Province and may have fought at Sekigahara under the Ukita as a common soldier. He claimed to have defeated his first opponent (a certain Arima Kihei) at the age of thirteen. He wrote that he engaged in sixty duels without suffering defeat once, and was noted in this regard for his skill at handling two swords at once. He was also remembered for employing a simple bamboo sword, which he used to deadly effect. Much of Musashi's life between 1600 and 1640 is the stuff of legend, and some have postulated that he served at Osaka Castle on the defending side, taking quite a few heads in the process. In a similar vein, he is sometimes said to have helped quell the Shimabara Rebellion of 1638. In 1640 Musashi accepted service with the Hosokawa clan, and three years later, in Higo Province, began work on his great book The Book of Five Rings. He finished this influential work on swordsmanship in May 1645-the same year he died.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Adil on August 19, 2011

I read a translation by Ashikaga Yoshiharu and Rosemary Brant. This book puzzled me in that at first glance I seem to have learned nothing else from it than how to hold a sword and attack and enemy, and obvious things like never let your enemy have a chance to recover. I'm definitely missing somethi......more

Goodreads review by Mike (the Paladin) on November 19, 2014

This is one of those books I've been "meaning to read" for years. There's a lot that could be said here, more than can be included in a "review". How can one review a book that has stood the test of 5+ centuries? I think there is much of value here, I think there is much that can be learned and then......more

Goodreads review by Jon on November 19, 2022

The classic book on strategy that transcends martial-arts. Read this book before I went to boot camp; it really helped me get through it. This book helped me focus on the process of facing adversity in a way that would facilitate personal growth. I tried to reflect on this when I felt like just givi......more

Goodreads review by Bradley on April 22, 2020

I can't believe I never read this before now, but damn, HAVING read it now, I also appreciate it more. Huh? Am I learning the way of the blade, wanting to defeat my foes from first principles and needing someone from many hundreds of years ago to tell me to EXPLORE THE PRACTICE DEEPLY? Yes? Practice......more

Goodreads review by John on February 23, 2013

The Original Bad Ass MoFo ... in a Zen kinda way. Strategy Tactics Bad Assedness Violence YES!......more