ISBN: 0-87951-018-8
Available: Paperback
I went to the library to pick up a copy of Miyamoto Musashi’s A Book of Five Rings (五輪書: Go Rin No Sho) for three reasons. First, this book has appeared on many successful Japanese people’s recommended reading lists. (This includes my Japanese wife.) Second, this edition is advertised, on the cover, as “Japan’s answer to the Harvard MBA!” (Who wouldn’t want a short, inexpensive Harvard education?) Third, A Book of Five Rings has been called the Japanese version of The Art of War. (Having read and enjoyed the later classic, I thought I owed it to myself to read Musashi’s work as well and judge it for myself.) At any rate, I thought I would use this blog entry to pass along my impressions of A Book of Five Rings.
First of all, the Translator’s Introduction provides an interesting and informative look at the life and times of Miyamoto Musashi. Once I had read it, I felt like I had a good understanding of the man. In the introduction Harris provides a map of Japan as it was during Musashi’s lifetime, examples of Musashi’s art and poetry, and photographs of relevant items such as samurai armor and swords, and locations such as Kumamoto Castle. The original book is divided into an introduction by Musashi and five key sections: The Ground Book, The Water Book, The Fire Book, The Wind Book, and The Book of the Void. For me, the most pertinent of these was The Fire Book. I state this because I believe it provides strategic advice that can be used in any vocation to give the practitioner an advantage over his/her colleagues and opponents.
In my opinion, the main message of Musashi’s book is this: no matter what your vocation is, you must devote yourself to training, research, and study, to become a true master and be successful at it. As Musashi states in The Ground Book, “The essence of this book is that you must train day and night in order to make quick decisions” (44). A bit further in this same book, Musashi lays out nine principles for those who want to learn his strategy; the second principal states, “The Way is in training” (49). In The Fire Book, Musashi states, “Any man who wants to master the essence of my strategy must research diligently, training morning and evening. Thus can he polish his skill, become free from self, and realize extraordinary ability. He will come to possess miraculous power” (70). Finally, in The Book of the Void, the shortest and most philosophical of the books, Musashi states, “With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour” (95).
I believe this book lives up to the publisher’s assertion on the back cover; that is, it speaks “equally to the businessman, the philosopher, and the practitioner of the martial arts.” That is why my recommendation is for:
Asian Studies Libraries, Business Libraries, Academic Libraries, Public Libraries, and Junior High and High School Libraries
