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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Business and Martial Arts, January 30, 2008
The book written by the samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi circa 1645 is considered a classic treatise on military strategy, and it enjoys an audience considerably broader than only that of martial artists: for instance, some business leaders find its discussion of conflict and taking the advantage to be relevant to their work.
The term "Ichi School", which is referred to in the book, Go Rin No Sho, when referring to such books, refers to "Niten No Ichi Ryu", or "Ni Ten Ichi Ryu", which literally translated, means "Two Swords, one heaven".
Throughout the book it is clear: what is primary for Musashi is The Goal, while the means of achieving the goal are secondary. He wrote "According to this Ichi school, you can win with a long weapon, and yet you can also win with a short weapon. In short, the Way of the Ichi school is the spirit of winning, whatever the weapon and whatever its size."
The same is in business: the leaders who are attracted by the goal rather than by embellishments are the true leaders. For example, the dot-com bubble of 2000 was caused by the managers who forgot about the primary goal of the business: net income. Those who were obsessed by their stock prices regarding of massive losses and the lack of revenue became bankrupt. They put attention to the fancy office buildings and furniture rather than to the assets that generate earning. Musashi wrote about it: "Just as a horse must have endurance and no defects, so it is with weapons. Horses should walk strongly, and swords and companion swords should cut strongly. Spears and halberds must stand up to heavy use: bows and guns must be sturdy. Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative".
Musashi also encourages to maintain a balance of your skills throughout your life. This balance could be thought of as Yin and Yang. The balance is to be neither over-familiar with something nor under-familiar. The over-familiarity or over-use of one weapon is not recommended by Musashi, as it would be seen to reveal your spirituality to your enemy, and thus your boisterousness, or over-calm. The over-familiarity makes you stick to a conviction. This is a very important for the business. Take, for example, mr. Warren Buffet. A quality standing out about Mr. Buffett is his ability to morph. If you read his materials from the 1960s, he said very different things than in the 1970s and early-1980s. Early on he was buying dirt-cheap stocks by simple statistical standards and typically smaller stocks (smallcap), later he bought "franchises", then he entered a period of buying great managements of big companies and being a long-term holder, then, amazingly, he was buying smaller things dirt cheap again just as value came back into play as the twenty-first century began. He tactically morphed steadily over the decades. Trying to freeze his tactics from any decade and replicate them in the next few would never have led you to his actual actions. Musashi wrote about that this way: "You should not have a favourite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well. You should not copy others, but use weapons which you can handle properly. It is bad for commanders and troops to have likes and dislikes."
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Vague body of contents. More towards a samurai's strategy of sword fencing !!! , November 8, 2007
From this book, I can deeply perceive the rule of the survival of the fittest in the life of a samurai. As a samurai, you have to be cruel and just kill your opponent with no mercy and sympathy. Simply put, it is between the choices of life and death and given this fact, the samurai can only strive to win in every contest or battle. Musashi was known for numerous victorious single or small combats, but unfortunately lacked the actual experiences of leading or strategizing large scale battles, as compared to the infamous Sun Tzu.
Musashi seems to define the art of sword-fencing as the way of strategy. He pinpointed the approach of single combat can be applicable to large scale battles as well. This book starts by introducing the history of Japan in the 16-17th century, the time frame of Musashi's existence. Even though Musashi belonged to the elite samurai class, a major change had erupted during his lifetime. The great provincial armies were gradually disbanded under Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, which consequently resulted in many out-of-work samurais roaming the country in an era of peace. Musashi was one such samurai, a "ronin". Many ronins put up their swords and became artisans, but others, like Musashi, pursued the ideal of the warrior searching for enlightenment through the perilous paths of Kendo. Musashi was well-known for his fame in winning over more than 60 contests, starting from the young age of thirteen. He finally retired to a life of seclusion in a cave when he was about 60 years old. He lived alone for the last 2 years and this was when he wrote this book.
This book is called the book of 5 rings as it is broken into 5 subsections; the ground, water, fire and wind book, concluding with the book of the void.
The ground book explains the way of strategy from the viewpoint of Musashi's Ichi school. It is difficult to realize the true way just through sword-fencing. Rather it is more important to know the smallest things, the biggest things, the shallowest things to the deepest things. Musashi emphasized on timing in strategy. One example given is that to win battles, there is a need to know the enemies' timing and then using a timing in which the enemy does not expect. He listed a list of items to the way to learn his strategy. They are (i) do not think dishonestly (ii) the way is in training (iii) become acquainted with every art (iv) know the ways of all professions (v) distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters (vi) develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything (vii) perceive those things which cannot be seen (viii) pay attention even to trifles (vix) do nothing which is of no use.
The water book is based on the concept of water where the spirit becomes like the water, dynamically adopting the shape of any receptacle. Musashi reiterated that when you have mastered the principles of sword-fencing, when you can freely beat one man, you can beat any man in the world. Therefore the spirit of defeating a man is the same for 10 million men. The concept of the Ichi school is written in this book. The long sword should be wielded broadly and the companion sword closely. According to the Ichi school, you can win with a long weapon and yet you can also win with a short weapon. Briefly, the way of the Ichi school is the spirit of winning, in spite of the weapon and its size. Musashi classified masters of the long sword as strategists. His reasoning was in order to master the virtue of the long sword, one has to govern the world and oneself. Henceforth the principle is "to strategy by means of the long sword". Stance, gaze, grip, footwork, the 5 approaches and various methods to kill an opponent are elaborated. Musashi encouraged strongly to study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. He was arrogant in his belief that "even if you kill an enemy if it is not based on what you learned it is not the true Way".
The book of fire is about fighting. The spirit of fire is fierce regardless of the size of the fire, and so it is with battles. This is to say the way of battles is the same for man-to-man fights and for 10 thousand a side battles. Contrary to the fact that it is difficult for large numbers of men to change positions and thus the easy prediction for their movement, it is more difficult to predict an individual. This book focuses on the primary essence of training day and night in order to make quick decisions, and the concept of combat in battles. In this section, it relates how the concept of single combat can be applicable in large-scale battles. It concludes by saying the true Way of sword fencing is the craft of defeating the enemy in a fight, and nothing other than this.
The wind book focuses on other schools of sword-fencing. Musashi used the terminology of wind to mean the old, present-day and family traditions of sword-fencing strategies.
Here Musashi emphasized the superiority of his Ichi school of sword fencing.
In the book of the void, Musashi explained the concept that the way of strategy is the way of the nature. When you appreciate the power of the nature, knowing the rhythm of any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally. It seems to share some Buddhist teachings such as "taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as void". Musashi had a few advices to attain the way of strategy as a warrior. First advice is to study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the way of the warrior. Second advice is that with your spirit settled; accumulate practice day by day and hour by hour. Third is to polish the twofold spirit, heart and mind and sharpen the twofold gaze, perception and sight. Finally, when your spirit is not in the least clouded, and the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.
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by John L. Turner
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