Book of Five Rings
GORIN NO SHO
By Miyamoto Musashi
Translation and Commentary By Nihon Services Corporation
ISBN: 0-553-35170-2
The following are notes I took while reading the Book of Five Rings
by Miyamoto Musashi. The translation I read was an excellent
translation and I highly recommend it, not only because the
actual translation was easy to read, but the notes that
accompanied the text explained much that I might have missed.
If you do get a chance to read any translation of Book of Rive Rings,
remember to read it not only in the literal sense, but in the
conceptual sense also. This is the why and how of Japanese
businessmen reading this book. But it can be applied to many things.
Note on Spelling: The following notes were typed using
Western (Latin 1) encoding. This character set does not include all
the characters needed to spell the Japanese words written within.
Due to this restriction, on letters normally written with a bar above,
an umlaut has been used instead.
Introduction
Talks a little about Musashi and explains background knowledge
of Zen, Bushidö and Heihö.
Prologue
Not many notes here. Quote and definition of two schools.
The Earth Book
Talks about the learning process. The beginning. About what
is in this book and what is one should know to undertake the path
of Heihö.
The Water Book
Describes various concepts of fighting and Zen.
The Fire Book
Describes the techniques used in fighting another.
The Wind Book
Gives additional wisdom on Heihö and fighting.
The Book of Emptiness
Talks about emptiness and ku, the flow of change and the interconnectedness
of form and void.