Customer Reviews

Martial Artist's Book of Five Rings

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have no doubt about the author's sincerity in offering this personal interpretation of Musashi's original work, "Book of 5 Spheres" (or "The Book of 5 Rings"). The problem I have with what Stephen Kaufman has done to Musashi's book deals more with his implied suggestion that this edition is the result of an actual ~translation~ which he was responsible for (see pages xi-xii, "Translator's Note"). In fact, when asked Mr. Kaufman has admitted that this volume (and some others he has written) are not translations at all, but rather his own personal interpretations of English translations done by other authors--something he DOESN'T bother to communicate to his readers. The title of this volume, at odds with the "translator's note" on pgs xi -xii, is actually "...The Definitive _Interpretation_ of Miyamoto Musashi's Classic Book of Strategy". I fail to understand why Kaufman confuses his readers by mixing and matching interpretation with translation. It should be noted that Mr Kaufman himself does NOT speak or read Japanese, and in fact innocently named his own martial arts school "Dojo no Hebi" ("Place of Practice's Snake"), when he was trying for "Dojo of the Snake" (which in Japanese would have been "Hebi no Dojo", meaning "The Snake's Place of Practice"). Innocent mistakes yes, but one would expect a Black belt of the 10th Dan (degree grade) and a proclaimed "Hanshi" (master practitioner) to at least check his spelling with someone who _could_ speak the language he was using.

Kaufman doesn't bother to provide a bibliography of which English translations he used, nor does he include notes explaining how he drew his conclusions from the texts he studied. I am bothered by the fact that many of Musashi's words have been heavily edited, re-arranged, or deleted altogether by this author until they have been removed entirely from their original context. In doing this, Mr. Kaufman has actually ALTERED the _meaning_ of Musashi's work! What remains appears to be little more than a new age self-help guide for modern martial artists which has retained a smidgeon of flavor from Musashi's original work.

A brief example illustrating Kaufman's tendancy to put his own words in Musashi's mouth is in the fourth paragraph on page 6 of Kaufman's book. Kaufman reworks Musashi's words regarding Merchants as a class to read, "Merchants are a ridiculed class because they produce nothing except profit from the work of others." Two other men who have actually translated Musashi's work from the original Japanese suggest nothing sinister in Musashi's original work. Victor Harris in his translation of "A Book of Five Rings" offers: "The way of the merchant is always to live by taking profit" (page 41, 1974). Translator Thomas Cleary offers the same sentence as: "Whatever the business, merchants make a living from the profits they earn acording to their particular status" (page 7, 1993). This is a minor demonstration of the differences between Kaufman's work and those offered by actual translators--the translators make an effort to convey to the reader the actual meaning of Musashi's words in English, while Kaufman crafts a meaning which never existed in Musashi's work. Suffice to say, Kaufman's interpretation seems heavily influenced by his modern view of martial arts and his concept of what samurai may have been like four centuries ago. It bears little resemblance to competent translations of Musashi's writings.

I recommend two excellent translations of Musashi's work which stay true to the original Japanese. The first is "A Book of Five Rings" translated by Victor Harris, a mechanical engineer and technical interpreter of Japanese language who not only practiced kendo (Japanese fencing), but studied this art in Japan for 3 years under Ito Kyoitsu at the Seijudo Dojo. A second recommendation is "The Book of Five Rings" by Thomas Cleary, another professional translator. Unlike Kaufman, I did not find translations by these men to be "intellectual exercises in translating Japanese to English" (pg xi). I found legitimate translations by competent translators who were clear and direct...I suspect most scholarly people, whether students of martial arts or not, will draw a similar conclusions upon comparing Kaufman's book to any actual translation.

Despite the fact that the author claimed that The Martial Artist's Book of Five Rings was a "translation" (page xi) and also used the word "interpretation" (cover & xii), this book was NOT actually translated from the original Japanese document into English as implied. Instead Mr. Kaufman merely reworded the English translations of Gorin No Sho that are currently available as he admitted publicly on E-budo (Kaufman 1990). These English translation are the same ones Mr. Kaufman has criticized as being biased towards business as a selling point on the back cover of his book.

There were many mistakes throughout The Martial Artist's Book of Five Rings. For example, although the names "Nito Ichi-ryu" and "Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu" were used in the original document (Imamura 1982: 61 & 73) in Mr. Kaufman's book only the incomplete name of "Ichi school" was used (page 12 & 13). Also the use of terminology in Mr. Kaufman's book lacked any real depth of meaning and showed only a superficial understanding of the various concepts used in Japanese kenjutsu.

Even if we forget the fact that Mr. Kaufman claimed that book was a "translation" and just think of it as an "interpretation", here meaning an "explanation" of Gorin No Sho, the book is still very poor in that very little explaining was done. A few references to the use of "the sword" were changed to "kicks and punches" as on page 35, but nothing was made easier to understand nor applied to situations really beneficial to the modern martial artist. The book was also very incongruous this way. For example, when reading about how to hold the long sword in the Book of Water, the topic in Mr. Kaufman's version suddenly changed the topic to the karate sword hand technique which is a very different method of holding the hand altogether (page 30).

The fact is that Gorin No Sho is very difficult to understand even for Japanese people who have studied the martial arts for many years. Even Imai sensei, the 10th soke of Musashi's own school: Niten Ichi-ryu in Japan, has stated that it is impossible to understand Gorin no Sho without having studied Buddhist sutras. Imai sensei goes on to say that it has taken him thirty years of study so far and then shows specific examples in the Japanese text and how they have not been fully understood by people to date (Imai 1994: 34-38). It is doubtful then that Mr. Kaufman has really broken any new ground based on his use of only English translations and his personal experiences in American karate.

Sources:

Imai, Masayuki. 1994. "Comments on Musashi's Gorin No Sho" Furyu: The Budo Journal. Issue #3 (Winter). Hawaii: Tengu Press.

Kaufman, Stephen. Aug. 15th, 1999. "Primary Source for translation?" From the Spotlight on Budo Forum at E-budo.

Imamura, Yoshio. 1982. Nihon Budo Taikei. Vol. 2. Kyoto: Dohosha.

For one to write an informed review of this book, one has to understand a few things. All translations of the Go Rin No Sho are hopelessly flawed, because the "original" scrolls(in possession of the Hosakawa family):

1. are missing many characters. 2. are written in old Jap., which even Japanese scholars have a rough time converting to the modern version of their language. 3. are intentionally vague so that only those with internal knowledge of the Ni-Ten would have a hope of understanding them.

Even going by the "best" translations we have in English, Kaufman's interpretation isn't even close. He states all sorts of things (written as if said by Musashi) that aren't even remotely like anything Musashi said. It is noteworthy that he did NOT use the Japanese version as a reference, he used the badly flawed English translations. He obviously doesn't speak Japanese as his Dojo-No-Hebi means "snake of the school", not "school of the snake", as he claims. His "Hanshi" designation is bogus, and I am very inclined to believe self-bestowed. Pehaps "snake of the school" is accurate. Don't buy this book, it's nonsense. Go out and get the Cleary translation. Kaufman's work, is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the Book of Five Rings.

I have always enjoyed good strategy books, but this book was lacking in both form and content. This book shouldn't have even been published and I think that people should make the publisher aware of this fact. The author clearly mislead the public by calling this book a translation when it wasn't a translation at all. The author merely copied the earlier English versions, added his own comments here and there, and has claimed that it is his own "translation". A quick look shows that the text did not follow the original document at all. There were numerous mispellings, random thoughts that were thrown in at with little consideration for the actual topic being discussed. The writing was choppy and unclear, similar to that of an elementary school student. Actually, after reading this book a person would be left believing that Miyamoto Musashi was a modern practicioner of American Karate and not a Japanese samurai living 400 years ago! It really seems that the author was just trying to cash in on the strategy boom by putting a book out quickly without doing any real research on the subject. It should be noted that the author has also privately published a book on how to apply the Book of Five Rings to the business world as well. If you are interested in reading The Book of Five Rings then it would be best to by the version translated by Thomas Cleary instead of this one.

Kaufman, while perhaps giving fighting too much mystique, does a good job making clear the meaning of an old text from a very different culture. In many cases, people who attempt to translate this book tend to slant their translation towards their target audience---for many cases, businessmen. However, at it's base, this book is about fighting---and specifically, fighting with a sword, where combat ends in death. Attempting to relate this type of meaning to anything less serious (and frightening) generally ends in a translation that doesn't contain the essence of what Musashi actually meant.

As Kaufman says, "This is not another book about Japanese business strategy. There is a significant difference between not getting a deal signed and having your head cut off."

Kaufman DOES occasionally lapse into verbage along the lines of "martialists are a breed apart," and while that is true (just as it is true of many OTHER arts) it doesn't really have quite the mystical quality about it that he sometimes ascribes to it.

However, he doesn't do it much. And overall, his translation is down-to-earth, sensible, logical, clear, and most importantly----relates to the same topic as the original.

Musashi wrote a book about fighting and killing. Kaufman took that book and made it understandable to us, giving us a glimpse of another culture and time, AND making the knowledge Musashi had available to us.

Worth reading for martial artists who practice self-defense, though many others will either find it annoying, or non-relevant. For those who DO find it relevant---you can learn quite a bit.

I have studied Musashi's, A BOOK OF FIVE RINGS for over 13 years, using it as a guide to strategy in a number of different martial arts. When I first started reading Kaufman's work I thought it was a joke... Then it got worse.

Kaufman adds his own opinion and words into the text without notation, having us believe that they are Musashi's own words and opinions. I find this apalling, missleading, and bordering on plagerism.

If he wanted to write an interpretation of Go Rin No Sho, in an attempt to explain it to the benefit of practitioners of his own martial art, then Mr. Kaufman should have done so using foot notes, or perhaps a different type face broken off from the main body of text. Instead he passes off his own opinion as Musashi's teaching.

In the end, where Mr. Kaufman wanted to write a "translation" that differed from previous "business oriented" translations, he has committed a travesty by slanting the work even further toward his own needs. As Musashi states, "Finicky narrowness of thought is to be avoided."

Of all the versions I have read, I far prefer the Thomas Cleary translation published in 1993.

This is a book with some good advice. Unfortunately, the accuracy of this as a translation seems to be a bit questionable.

First, the good:

It has several pieces of advice that are good for any martial artists such as the following (My paraphrases):

1. Change with the times. Weapons and methods change. You must continue to study, train, and adapt.
2. Your hands must be pliable. Hold the sword firmly. When performing martial techniques, it is good to be flexible while maintaining firmness in one's fists.
3. Practice hard. The way you do it in practice is the way you will do it in real life.
4. The ultimate goal of the martial arts is to avoid using them.
5. Regardless of the situation, remain calm.
6. Practice 'no mind'. Think only of destroying the opponent and the technique will follow.

Now, the bad. I am no expert in Japanese so I can't comment on the accuracy of this translation. Some have indicated that it is not a translation at all, but rather an interpretation of other translations.

That may or may not be correct. One quick point that may give credence to that. On page 10, Mr. Kaufman says: "A lancer should understand the sword, a kempoist should understand jiu-jitsu technique ... ." I am also not an authority on the history of the martial arts, however, I believe that Musashi live from 1584-1645. My understanding is that the art of Kempo kicking and striking - was brought to Japan about 1659. If that is accurate, that would mean that Musashi would not have included a comment such as the quote above.

I am not familiar with the other translations of the 'Book of Five Rings' but I will plan to check them out.

This book is by far the biggest Martial Arts related Scam that I have seen perpretrated. Steve Kaufman has absolutly no experience in the Sword art founded by Musashi; as a matter of fact he didn't even know it was still in existance until last year. He's been refering to it in public as a dead art (far from the truth). He has admited under duress that this book is nothing more than his interpretation of the exsisting "English" translations (probably those of Victor Harris and Thomas Cleary) while at the same time putting down those books (which were probably his reference matterials). His lack of ability to work with even a modern japanese version of the text of the "book of 5 rings" make this book a joke. He has left out too much of the original and added too much of his own non-useful or even relating to the subject information to make this book anything more that am amusing essay about Musashi. I've seen Liberal Newspapers give the Gun Lobby better press. As someone else said too bad so many trees were wasted. If you want a useful translation buy Cleary's it may be a bit flowery and a tad academic but it is still translated from a more classical japanese soarce instead on being made up drivel of an ego maniac. I wish I could give it no stars but since that isn't a choice he gets one.

This version is NOT translated from the perspective of having extensive experience in Japanese swordsmanship but rather from a general martial artist perspective. Thus, many of the concepts and meanings have been misinterpreted. For the lay reader, it is adequate. For the serious practitioners of Japanese swordsmanship, it is just another loose translation.

I do not wish to write, nor could I hope to match, an exhaustive and definitive review like other well-written reviews posted. Suffice it to say that I bought this and was floored by it's shortcomings. Read the other reviews for specifics, but add me to the list of those who warn, "stay away from this book! "