The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts (Hardcover)

~ Issai Chozanshi (Author), (Translator)
Key Phrases: ten thousand things, mysterious function, clever wit, Greatest Happiness, Chuang Tzu, Great Way (more...)

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Product Description

Woven deeply into the martial traditions and folklore of Japan, the fearsome Tengu dwell in the country's mountain forest. Mythical half-man, half-bird creatures with long noses, Tengu have always inspired dread and awe, inhabiting a liminal world between the human and the demonic, and guarding the most hidden secrets of swordsmanship. In The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts, a translation of the 18th-century samurai classic by Issai Chozanshi, an anonymous swordsman journeys to the heart of Mt. Kurama, the traditional domain of these formidable beings. There he encounters a host of demon; through a series of discussions and often playful discourse, they reveal to him the very deepest principles of the martial arts, and show how the secrets of sword fighting impart the truths of life itself.

The Demon's Sermon opens with The discourses, a collection of whimsical fables concerned with the theme of transformation--for Chozanshi a core phenomenon to the martial artist. Though ostensibly light and fanciful, these stories offer the attentive reader ideas that subvert perceived notions of conflict and the individual's relationship to the outside world. In the main body of work, The Sermon, Chozanshi demonstrates how transformation is fostered and nurtured through ch'i -- the vital and fundamental energy that flows through all things, animate and inanimate, and the very bedrock of Chozanshi's themes and the martial arts themselves. This he does using the voice of the Tengu, ad the reader is invited to eavesdrop with the swordsman on the demon's revelations of the deepest truths concerning ch'i, the principles of yin and yang, and how these forces shape our existence. In The Dispatch, the themes are brought to an elegant conclusion using the parable of an old and toothless cat who, like the demon, has mastered the art of acting by relying on nothing, and in so doing can defeat even the wiliest and most vicious of rats despite his advanced years.

This is the first direct translation from the original text into English by William Scott Wilson, the renowned translator of Hagakure and The Book of Five Rings. It captures the tone and essence of this classic while still making it accessible and meaningful to today's reader. Chozanshi's deep understanding of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto, as well as his insight into the central role of ch'i in the universe, are all given thoughtful treatment in Wilson's introduction and extensive endnotes. A provocative book for the general reader, The Demon's Sermon will also prove an invaluable addition to the libraries of all those interested in the fundamental principles of the martial arts, and how those principles relate to our existence.

About the Author

ISSAI CHOZANSHI (1659-1741) was the pen name of Niwa Jurozaemonn Tadaaki, a samurai of the Sekiyado clan. Among his works, The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts (1729) and The Swordsman and the Cat (1727) are his most famous.

WILLIAM SCOTT WILSON, the translator, was born in 1944 and grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College in 1966, he was invited by a friend to join a three-month kayak trip up the coast of Japan from Shimonoseki to Tokyo. This eye-opening journey, beautifully documented in National Geographic, spurred Wilson's fascination with the culture and history of

After receiving a B.A. degree in political science from Dartmouth, Wilson earned a second B.A. in Japanese language and literature from the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies in Monterey, California, then undertook extensive research on Edo-period (1603-1868) philosophy at the Aichi Prefectural University, in Nagoya, Japan.

Wilson completed his first translation, the classic martial arts philosophy text Hagakure, while living in an old farmhouse deep in the Japanese countryside. Hagakure saw publication in 1979, and two decades later was prominently featured in Jim Jarmusch's movie Ghost Dog. Wilson's other translations include The Book of Five Rings, The Life-Giving Sword, The Unfettered Mind, Eiji Yoshikawa's historical novel Taiko, The Flowering Spirit Classic Teachings on the Art of Nō, and Ideals of the Samurai, which has been used as a college textbook on Japanese history and thought. He is also the author of The Lone Samurai, the recent best-selling study of the life of legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.

Traveling frequently to Japan for research and pleasure, Wilson currently lives in Miami, Florida.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (September 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770030185
• ISBN-13: 978-4770030184
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #56,837 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deep and cryptic, July 13, 2007

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

The Demon's Sermon comes from Japan's 17th century. Author Niwa Jurozaemon Tadaaki (writing as Issao Chozanshi) created this work on martial arts, despite a claim after the Sermon that "I am not a swordsman, so how could I teach swordsmanship?" If that is truly the author speaking, then what else in these essays should be discounted as suspect in their accuracy? And, if it's self-deprecating fiction, then what other points in these essays should also discounted as fiction? This, I think, is the least of the paradoxes within this text.

The text carries a Taoist tone, with many allusions to Taoist classics. Educated Japanese in many centuries referred often to the Chinese canon. Chozanshi's work, however, stands out for building up Chinese concepts in terms of Chinese classics, building them on a base of Japanese martial arts, folk culture, and religion. This sermon on martial arts in fact says very little about those arts - instead, it cultivates the mind, spirit, and human energy of the martial artist. The third essay in this set scarcely addresses martial arts at all. Instead, the amusing parable follows an exchange between cats on the conquest of an uncommonly fierce rat. If just a word here and there were changed, the fable would have sounded like an actual part of the Chuang Tzu.

Wilson's translation is modern and fluent. His preface and footnotes clarify many cultural referents that could otherwise have been obscure, especially regarding the demon speaker himself. Despite skilled translation, the Way of Chozanshi's text remains obscure - as if to remind a reader of any century that the Way that can be spoken is not the eternal Way.

-- wiredweird

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hearing the sermon from the bottom of the mount, February 24, 2008

By	Bradford A. Harkness "Deadweezyl" (California, Missouri, Ohio, Korea and else where) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Books on Bushido and swordsmanship are a vast part of my collection, things ranging from the common Sun Tzu, Musashi's 5 Rings, to the lesser known Shogun No Rin, Takeda and the Hagakure and other books are frequent reads for me. This book is interesating in that it deviats from the practical aphorisms and "text book" nature of the others and adopts a 2 part structure. The first section is a collection of stories based on animals and insects that explain the workings of Ch'i flow and the essence of the "void mind" and similar concepts. it does this ina way similar to the Zen Flesh Sen Bones koan/story method, though these have a warmer feel to them. The second part of the book is the actual sermon as overgeard by a traveling man who happend upon some demons on a mountain. Now Demon in the Japanese context does not have the same menaing as it does in the west. So this isnt some horned pitchfork carrying guy talking in the woods. Instead it a gathering of Demons holding a question and answer session with a masterful demon on he subject of the nature of mind in combat as tied to sword play. The meat of the discussions is similar to those of most books but it focuses alot on Ch'i energy and how it is used/abused/neglected, something that most other books leave out entirely. I have little knowlage of Ch'i myself in this context, but found it a good opener for the subject and it did whet the appitite for more. Though there are better books on Bushido out there for the moral practitioner this one leands intself well to a collection as it delves into a different spirituality than most as the others spend alot of time on strict Zen principles. Of course this is xrooted in Zen and Buddhism as well, but it contains a strong influence from the Taoist schools as well, a healthy dosage to say the least as outlined in the first few pages. A good read.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An indispensable classic of traditional Japanese culture and martial arts philosophy., May 12, 2007

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Written by 18th-century Japanese samurai Issai Chozanshi and translated into English by William Scott Wilson, also known for his translations of "Hagakure" and "The Book of Five Rings", The Demon's Sermon On The Marital Arts is a uniquely insightful and philosophical contemplation. Presented in the format of an imagined discourse between a tengu (a mythological birdman) and an anonymous swordsman, The Demon's Sermon On The Martial Arts is much broader in scope than a simple list of strategies and maneuvers taught by assorted Japanese disciplines, extending into wisdom gleaned from Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto. The result is a guide for martial artists to perfecting the mind, rising above hesitation, indecision, or distractions, and harnessing the flow of the dynamic energy of ch'i to empower transformation. An indispensable classic of traditional Japanese culture and martial arts philosophy.