Product Description

Book Of Five Rings is a Kodansha International publication.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2654 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-26
• Original language: Japanese
• Dimensions: .60" h x 5.50" w x 7.60" l, .62 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Review

"On Wall Street, when Musashi talks, people listen" -Time Magazine

"Musashi's teachings read like lessons from the latest business management gurus. Who couldn't succeed in business by applying Musahi's insights to conflicts and strategy." -Inc. Magazine

From the Publisher
INTRODUCTION
[opening pages, with the Japanese script in the original represented by X's]

We have very few reliable facts about Musashi's life. His own words on the subject fill less than a page at the beginning of The Book of Five Rings, and later accounts such as the Nitenki or the Tanba Hokin Hikki were all written eighty to one hundred and thirty years after his death. However, a bare-bones biography might be pieced together, with events that are commonly accepted as true from the sources that are available. These include a memorial inscription of stone erected nine years after Musashi's death by his adopted son and the priest with whom the swordsman studied Zen Buddhism in his later years, plus what was noted of his comings and goings by the Hosokawa clan in northern Kyushu. We must exclude legendary feats of speed and skill attributed to Musashi since they are at once unreliable and go against the spirit of Musashi's writings. Those interested in the full gamut of stories that grew up around Musashi's life should read Musashi, the endlessly entertaining historical fiction written by Yoshikawa Eiji, or see the film Samurai Trilogy, directed by Inagaki Hiroshi.

Musashi

In The Book of Five Rings, Musashi notes that he was born in Harima, but there is also evidence that he came from the village of Miyamoto, in Mimasaka.[1] Neither claim can be proven. The date of his birth is unclear, but according to his own account, he was born in 1584. His father, Shinmen Munisai, was said to be a master of the jitte (a small metal club with an extended "thumb" for countering a sword), and may have left the family when Musashi was quite young.

When Musashi was thirteen, he fought and defeated a swordsman of the Shinto Style, Arima Kihei, in Harima. His second match and subsequent victory was at the age of sixteen, when he defeated a martial artist from Tajima by the name of Akiyama. It is said that he joined the Toyotomi forces (which lost) at the historically decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, but this, too, is uncertain. The next few years must have been spent in hard training, for at the age of twenty-one Musashi went to Kyoto and fought a series of engagements with the Yoshioka clan, which held the position of martial arts instructor to the shogun's family in that city. After maiming the eldest brother, Yoshioka Seijuro, with a wooden sword and killing the second brother, Denshichiro, Musashi fought off a group of Yoshioka disciples who, beneath the pines of the Ichijo temple, tried but failed to take revenge. It is said that it was during the fight with Seijuro that Musashi's eyes were opened to the "Two !
Heavens," or Two-Sword Style.

Leaving the Yoshiokas in disarray, Musashi met and defeated a disciple of the famous In'ei, a spearman-priest at the Hozoin. Traveling to Edo, he then fought Muso Gonnosuke, the famous staff martial artist, in the only contest that may have been considered a draw. A little later he fought and defeated a practitioner of the Yagyu Style, a style that would become one of the most famous of the period. Moving on to Iga, he met with the well-known sickle-and-chain martial artist, Shishido Baikin, and defeated him as well.

In April of 1612, Musashi left Kyoto and went to Kokura in northern Kyushu. There he sought out one of his father's former disciples, now a senior official of the Kokura fief, in order to gain permission to have a match with Ganryu Sasaki Kojiro. Kojiro was employed as a sword teacher to the Hosokawa clan and was famous for his long "Drying Pole" sword and Swallow Style. This famous match was held on Funashima, now called Ganryushima, a small lonely island in the sea off Kokura. Tradition has it that as Musashi was being rowed to the island, he carved a wooden sword from an extra oar, and it was with this "sword" that he quickly brained his unfortunate opponent. Kojiro did not survive the blow.

According to some accounts, Musashi next surfaced in 1615 to take part in the military action at Osaka Castle, the final fall of the Toyotomi clan. After that he seems to have set out through the northern provinces of Dewa and Hitachi, where he may have taken on his disciple, Iori, who was later to become his adopted son. He then returned to Nagoya in Owari and toured a number of other provinces, always seeking out matches with other martial artists.

In 1634, Musashi travelled again to Kokura, now under the authority of Ogasawara Tadazane, and stayed a number of years. In 1637, he seems to have participated in the attack on Hara Castle during the Shimabara Rebellion, in which he received several wounds. Having returned to Kyoto for recuperation, he is said to have met Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the master of Kumamoto Castle, at a literary group in 1640, and to have been invited by the latter to stay as a guest with his own residence in the castle town. Musashi accepted and continued to practice and teach his martial art there.

In February of 1641, at the request of Lord Hosokawa, Musashi wrote down the Thirty-five Articles of the Martial Arts (XXXXXXX). This was the first time he recorded his own style in writing, and it was from this document in outline form that he eventually would write The Book of Five Rings. Tragically, Tadatoshi passed away shortly afterward at the age of fifty-four, dashing Musashi's hopes for an official endorsement of his style. Thus began a period when the famous swordsman concentrated increasingly on poetry, tea, painting and sculpture.

By 1643, Musashi must have felt the intimations of what was to be a fatal disease. On October 10 of that year, in an act of purification, he "climbed Mount Iwato in the province of Higo on the island of Kyushu, bowed in veneration to Heaven, worshipped Kannon and stood before the Buddha," and began to compose The Book of Five Rings. This he would complete after two years of meditation on his experiences.

Around the springtime of 1645, his disease, which is thought to have been some form of thoracic cancer, gradually worsened, and in April he retreated to the Reigan Cave on Mount Iwato (also called Mount Iwatono), where he had practiced zazen during previous years, and where he wanted to wait peacefully for death. However, he was convinced to return to his residence, where he could be looked after by his disciples. On May 12, his disease becoming critical, Musashi gave out parting gifts to his disciples. His final act was to write out "The Way of Walking Alone" (or "The Way of Self-Reliance"; XXX), twenty-one points on self-discipline for later generations.

On May 19, 1645, Miyamoto (Shinmen) Musashi died at his residence, by most accounts, at the age of sixty-two. A requiem was given soon after by the priest Shunzan, with whom Musashi had studied Zen. As the priest intoned the sutras, it is said that the sky suddenly clouded over and there was an enormous clap of thunder. Thus was it known that the great swordsman had passed away.

About the Author
Miyamoto Musashi is a Kodansha author.