Well, this was a very enjoyable read. I'll admit that I've never read anything quite like this book in my life. Let's delve into it.
Who was Miyamoto Musashi?
Miyamoto Musashi is a complicated figure. He's widely regarded as one of the most vicious and successful warriors in history. He was a samurai, philosopher, teacher, artist and writer. As a samurai he won 61 duels. As a teacher he founded the discipline of Niten Ichi-ryū (The Way of Two Swords or more directly "The art of two Heavens as one"). After his life of dueling and teaching was over he retired to a cave and published his book on strategy, tactics and life called the Book of Five Rings. And on his deathbed he also penned Dokkōdō which was a list of 21 rules that Musashi believed samurai should follow. Musashi trained to be a swordsman from his childhood and roamed fuedal Japan dueling and killing until he got very good at it.
Later in his life, Musashi was plagued with poor health, but he didn't want his way of life to die with him. So he started taking notes of the strategies he followed and the tactics he'd cultivated. This was first recorded as 31 Ways of Strategy and as the years passed Musashi retired to a cave and penned the Book of Five Rings, his final book on combat tactics and strategy.
Musashi lived in a time of violence and lawlessness in Japan. Military warlords had seized control of the country and continued to fight, be assassinated and conquer other areas by force. During the bulk of Musashi's life Japan would have been in political and religious turmoil as the country shifted and changed rapidly. Musashi himself served in various military campaigns, likely in the service of shaping the country in the age of its new rulers. Rampant violence, impromptu rebellions, frequent wars and a newfound state-sponsored appreciation for arts and crafts were the backdrop of Musashi's life. It is a man who grew up and prospered during these times that published the Book of Five Rings.
Now, despite being published in 1645, the book was not widely read or enjoyed by the world at large until the life and exploits of Musashi were serialized in a radio show in the 1950s. Musashi was essentially imortalized as a legendary and ruthless warrior from the past, and The Book of Five Rings became heralded as a sacred text. In modern times, Joe Rogan, Jiri Prochaschza, and a wealth of Japanese businesses have implemented the teachings from the book to excel in their lives and occupations.
The book is a comletely no-nonsense instruction manual and guide to Musashi's philosophy and practice of Niten Ichi-ryū. The book outlines specific strategies for combat with two swords, stances and mindsets, along with Musashi's general beliefs and opinions on how to succeed in war and martial arts. However, it must be emphasized that Musashi's strategy emphasizes being succesful at everything that you do, no matter what it is. He repeatedly says that he was perfect in practicing every aspect of his life, from painting, to building and to fighting and war. The way of strategy according to Musashi relies upon nine principles and is broken down in to five books (which the titular "rings" are a reference to). The nine principles that Musashis endorses in every day life are -
1. To not think dishonestly.
2. To train and practice all the time.
3. To become familiar with all differnt kinds of arts
4. To become familiar with how to suceed in all different kinds of professions.
5. To be able to tell whether you're gaining or losing in everything you do.
6. To be able to perceive things that cannot be seen.
7. To develop intuition and sound reasoning.
8. To pay attention even to small things.
9. To never do anything which has no purpose.
The text is divided into five books (or scrolls), which are the book of the ground, the book of water, the book of fire, the book of wind, and the book of the void.
The Book of the Ground
Now, the book of the ground (or the earth in some translations) emphasizes the small and inportant details of strategy that have to be understood and built upon to succeed. This book is called the book of the ground because it is essentially outlining the foundational ground of Musashi's strategy.
Most of this particular book talks specifically about how to hold your swords, why you hold your swords this way, and why you do not use different weapons other than swords.
The Book of Water
It's imperative to always remember who Musashi was while reading this book. He was not an actor, or a LARPer and he didn't do what he did for sport. Miyamoto Musashi was the historical equivalent of a Chris Kyle or a real-life analogue to someone like Wolverine. It's easy to romanticize him from an abstract standpoint, but ultimately this man was a warrior. And the bigger idea, which gets repeated every other paragraph in this book, is that the one and only purpose of being a warrior is to end the life of other people who are simultaneously trying to end your life. If you do not keep this in your head while reading, you'll be very uncomfortable. The text is written in an instructional tone and Musashi tells you, the reader, exactly how to do what he's describing. If you're not comfortable with being graphically informed on how to cut someone down with a sword, then you should probably skip this book.
Moving onward, the principal of the book of water is to be free-flowing and adaptable in your combat, taking the shape of each situation, like water.
This part hammers home that if you're determined to become a warrior you have to read, reread, think about and practice everything in this section. If you are a warrior, you are a warrior. If you are not then you are not. Do not try to appear to be something that you are not.
This section gives you some pointers on how to stand, how to hold your sword, and how to view and think about combat situations (i.e. people that are bigger than you, being outnumbered, never brandishing weapons to scare people.)
The Book of Fire
This scroll gives you specific strategies to be used in combat. The scroll is named this way because in combat, your strategies have to be like fire, hot to the touch and destructive, but ultimately formless and able to grow. Most of this book is composed of very specific tactics and strategies to be used in large scale and one on one combat. I will outline a few of my favorites and then we'll move to the next scroll.
The Book of the Wind
This book is like a disstrack towards other sword combat schools or Musashi's time. Here Musashi talks about why other schools that use different kinds of styles (one sword, extra long swords, short swords) are inferior to his style. In general, he talks about how being flashy or relying on tactics that are for flair serve no purpose and will get you killed in combat. Think of strange martial arts schools that have extra flashy belts that require little effort to gain or movements that serve no purpose in combat. The overarching theme of this scroll is that there is only one way to kill someone with a sword. If you decide to dance before you do it, wear purple camouflage or use a huge sword, you still have to cut them down. So what is the point of adding a bunch of unnecessary steps to the process?
I say that it is a disstrack, but Musashi says that everyone has their style for a reason and trying to argue with someone about their style is bad. He says to have respect for the methods of others and to at least understand why they do what they do instead of being completely dismissive. But the emphasis is that his way is still the best way and the right way.
The Book of the Void
This is a short section that sort of sums up the underlying theme of the entire book. The void is a concept that you can think of as the subconscious or as nothingness. The void is the state where everything is but it also isn't. The big idea is that if you achieve mastery of something you'll be able to do it in any state, at any time, without thinking. And the goal of this book is to get you to master your practice until you can reach a state where you are proficient even in the void. The void is basically the state of flow where you'be achieved mastery to the point of not needing to consciously choose every act. It's kind of abstract in concept. The void is basically the place where every level of higher understanding meets and flows together.
Key principles and lessons conveyed
Each scroll sort of has an overarching theme or lesson. The ground book is supposed to be the foundation of the art, teaching the basics. The water book outline tactics that can be used any and everywhere but have to be adapted and changed to each situation, just like water. The fire book teaches the nature of fighting and what it is and isn't and emphasizes that it is like a raging fire. The wind scroll emphasizes the less tangible parts of strategy that other schools and disciplined miss out on. And the book of the void emphasizes mastery of everything.
The big idea of the text as a whole, is that the only way to become perfect at one thing is to pursue every little aspect of it to perfection and to also learn about and appreciate other things and apply that knowledge to this. A thousand days for practice and a thousand days for application. The one quote that sums up this philosophy is "Fixation is the way to death, and fluidity is the way to everything." The only way to succeed at something is to always be open to learning more about and then applying what you've learned to the way you practice it.
Reflection on the Modern Impact and Popularity of the Book
Now look, I'm not some fucking weaboo, so I don't really know too much about the ins and outs of samurai culture. But to my limited understanding there's an emphasis on respect, honor and traditions. This book ain't about none of that and neither was Musashi. He was a ronin, or a samurai with no master. I'm assuming that entailed not giving a flying fuck about respect, honor, and traditions. There's a whole scroll in the book talking about why Musashi's way is better than many other traditional teachings. There's nothing honorable about tactics of "completely crushing your enemies spirit" or "killing wounded enemies." Some of the stuff Musashi teaches would be considered war crimes if directly applied in the modern day. This is a book on the strategy of using the most efficient ways possible to win in combat. It's really got fuck all to do with honor, or respect or traditions.
Now the one and only reason I started and continued reading it despite being repulsed by its violent content was because through and through its a largely a book about strategical thinking.
The book is an exception guide on military and combat strategy, especially and specifically for sword combat. But the things outlined can be applied to strategy in many, many, many other areas like playing chess, running a business, or even dating.
But here's the thing. The startegies and the book itself are pretty black and white. This is because when you're a rogue samurai that fights to the death constantly, the consequence of failure is dying. Some things aren't as straightforward as cutting down an enemy. Also, it could very likely be the translation, but the book is sort of self-supporting. We do know that Musashi was the most successful swordsman of his time. But what we don't know is whether or not his strategies and tactics would've eventually failed as the world changed around him. He quit while he was ahead.
Some comparisons can be made between this book and Musashi's other text Dokkōdō. However it should be noted that Dokkōdō isn't really a book. It's a scroll that collects 21 precepts that he lived by, recorded by one of his students on his deathbed. It's a good companion piece to this book and it gives you a deeper glimpse into the mindset of the man that wrote this book.
More broadly, you could compare this book to the arguably more well-known combat strategy text, The Art of War. However, the Art of War more encompasses the ideas and tactics behind being a good leader of soldiers and general whereas the Book of Five Rings is more or less about individual combat strategies and doesn't touch on leadership. Nonetheless the two books can go hand-in-hand and make good companion pieces to each other.
I'm sure if you've gotten this far into this review, you've probably seen Joe Rogan gushing about this book. (In fact, he even has a tattoo of Miyamoto Musashi). This book is inherently about the strategy of winning in combat so it can be applied to many and any situation where there has to be a victor. More obviously, there is a few very popular professional fighter who uses this book to guide his life. And there are a few Kendo schools that exclusively teach and practice Musashi's version of swordmaship for competition. Yours truly used the strategies in the book to get better at chess, conversation, and studying. You see, at its core this book espouses striving towards excellence in your craft whatever that is. And that's done by continuous learning and improvement and fearless adaptation. The general idea of the strategy can be applied to anything. Lay a good and solid foundation, learn the basics, practice and perform endlessly and always improve. That's the Way. One of the most well-known quotes from this book is "If you know the way broadly, you will see it in all things."
If you search for recommendations for books on startegy, or combat, or war, this book will probably be one of the first to pop up. Miyamoto Musashi is a beloved figure in Japanese culture and he's been immortalized in radio serials, animated movies and television shows. And this book is largely the reasoning behind him being so well-remembered.
The line "fixation is the way to death" had a profound impact on me. If you don't make a concerted effort to continue practicing and learning and changing then you will eventually begin to fail and fall behind in your discipline. Not every situation calls for the exact same actions. There are also many points in the book where Musashi emphasizes to think only of the purpose of actions and to use things for their intended purposes. This was something that I had to contemplate deeply in my own life. It helped me to always remember to think about the point of what I was doing before, during and after my actions.
There are a lot of us who like to play strategy games, and those of us that like to smack each other around inside of steel cages. There are also some of us out here legitimately wearing armor and swordfighting in warehouses. To each his own. This book is useful for anyone doing things like that. And to anyone on a "manly war book" trip maybe spurred on by Robert Greene, or your local Men's book club this is the manly war book. It's shorter and more to the point than the Art of War which makes it bit more easily consumable.
Also, though I despise them, there's a lot of weirdos out there that fetishize everything that has to do with Japanese culture. They calm themselves "weeaboos", and the rest of us call them "weird and off-putting."
Final Thoughts
I'm not going to be a jackass, and say everyone should read this book. In fact, if you don't like violence, don't read this book. The whole subject matter if this book is violence. But people practicing martial arts, sports, or even people in fields like sales or information security could benefit from the strategic mindset this book espouses.
Maybe before reading this book, I'd recommend reading Dokkōdō and also the introduction section of Lawrence Kane and Kris Wilder's long-form analysis of that text. Reading the whole book isn't necessary, but Lawrence and Kris wholly and fully explain the history and background of Musashi as a real historical figure, as a romanticized caricature and as someone who very matter-of-factly ended a lot of people's lives. Understanding who wrote the book and when, and why, can make the text a lot easier to digest and appreciate. Also, it's very easy to forget that "nomadic samurai who won 61 duels" is the same thing as "guy who killed 61 people." It's not uncommon to put this book down on something profound and esoteric and to pick it back up to something unforgivingly violent.
This book provides some definitive viewpoints on strategy and how to win and achieve perfection in many things. But I found that there are many things that do not have winners or losers and in that case the strategies of the book have to be adapted.
Most of the complaints I've read about the book are about not being able to apply it to anything practical. To which I respond with that Bruce Lee quote "Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own."
This does contradict the book in itself, as Musashi says that his way is the only way and not following it will lead to death. But you have to take into account that Musashi was frequently in life or death situations, so sticking to what worked was especially crucial for him. For those of us that aren't roaming the feudal Japanese countryside getting into sword duels, mistakes are an essential part of the learning process. I'd also like to point out that Musashi says that refusing to compromise is the way to death, and being adaptable is the way to everything. So take of that what you will. He knew that doing the same thing over and over without compromise or adjustments would get him killed. The main emphasis here is that when you stop trying to improve and change and refine things in your discipline, failure comes along as a result.
