A Book of Five Rings

by Miyamoto Musashi

It has always been said, ‘The sword is the soul of the samurai.’

My sword used to be the guitar. now i am without a soul.

You must appreciate that spirit can become big or small.

The Way of strategy is the Way of nature. When you appreciate the power of nature, knowing the rhythm of any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally.

It will seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.

Do not let your spirit be influenced by your body, or your body be influenced by your spirit.

Be neither insufficiently spirited nor over spirited. An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. Do not let the enemy see your spirit.

to know the enemy’s sword and not to be distracted by insignificant movements of his sword.

When you take up a sword, you must feel intent on cutting the enemy.

cannot describe in detail how to use these five approaches. You must become well acquainted with my ‘in harmony with the long sword’ Way, learn large-scale timing, understand the enemy’s long sword, and become used to the five approaches from the outset. You will always win by using these five methods, with various timing considerations discerning the enemy’s spirit. You must consider all this carefully.

Wtf ?!

Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy’s cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him. More than anything, you must thoroughly research this.

Now youre talking!

and hit from the Void with your hands,

§?

The ‘flowing water cut’ is used when you are struggling blade to blade with the enemy. When he breaks and quickly withdraws trying to spring with his long sword, expand your body and spirit and cut him as slowly as possible with your long sword, following your body like stagnant water. You can cut with certainty if you learn this. You must discern the enemy’s grade.

Wtf?

When you cut, your spirit is resolved. You must appreciate this.

Dayyum

Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.

In buildings, you must stand with the entrance behind you or to your right. Make sure that your rear is unobstructed,

Or, with your spirit calm, attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last. The spirit is to win in the depths of the enemy.

The spirit is to check his attack at the syllable ‘at …’, when he jumps check his jump at the syllable ‘ju …’, and check his cut at ‘cu …’.

Wtf

the favour of the day.

Wtf?

Everything can collapse. Houses, bodies, and enemies collapse when their rhythm becomes deranged.

To become the enemy ‘To become the enemy’ means to think yourself into the enemy’s position. In the world people tend to think of a robber trapped in a house as a fortified enemy. However, if we think of ‘becoming the enemy’, we feel that the whole world is against us and that there is no escape. He who is shut inside is a pheasant. He who enters to arrest is a hawk. You must appreciate this. 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. In single combat also you must put yourself in the enemy’s position. If you think, ‘Here is a master of the Way, who knows the principles of strategy’, then you will surely lose. You must consider this deeply.

if the enemy takes up a rear or side attitude of the long sword so that you cannot see his intention, make a feint attack, and the enemy will show his long sword, thinking he sees your spirit. Benefiting from what you are shown, you can win with certainty. If you are negligent you will miss the timing. Research this well. A print of Miyamoto Musashi killing a giant lizard which infested the mountains and borders of Echizen, Mino and Hida provinces.

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. It is important to know how to do this, so you must research deeply.

If the enemy thinks of the mountains, attack like the sea; and if he thinks of the sea, attack like the mountains. You must research this deeply.

great tip

To penetrate the depths When we are fighting with the enemy, even when it can be seen that we can win on the surface with the benefit of the Way, if his spirit is not extinguished, he may be beaten superficially yet undefeated in spirit deep inside. With this principle of ‘penetrating the depths’ we can destroy the enemy’s spirit in its depths, demoralising him by quickly changing our spirit. This often occurs. Penetrating the depths means penetrating with the long sword, penetrating with the body, and penetrating with the spirit. This cannot be understood in a generalisation. 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. You must train in penetrating the depths for large-scale strategy and also single combat.

Whenever we have become preoccupied with small details, we must suddenly change into a large spirit, interchanging large with small.

There is the spirit of winning without a sword. There is also the spirit of holding the long sword but not winning. The various methods cannot be expressed in writing. You must train well.

e hocam niye yazdin o zaman!

Whenever you cross swords with an enemy you must not think of cutting him either strongly or weakly; just think of cutting and killing him. Be intent solely upon killing the enemy. Do not try to cut strongly and, of course, do not think of cutting weakly. You should only be concerned with killing the enemy.