Rating: 
Summary: Like poetry it suggests more than it says
Review: Okay, so I really have no clue as to what compelled me to buy this book. I hate to admit it but it looked "pretty" and it looked "historical," so I got it. I also love the Japanese film classics starring Toshirô Mifune as the ultimate samurai warrior. Many of them illustrate a combination of charm, sophistication, humor, even comedy, with violence, ruthlessness, and arrogance. The comparative lack of graphic bloodiness tends to focus the viewer on the human dynamics and art of the situation, and while some of these classics have been translated by the Hollywood film industry for Western tastes, what transpires still has a "foreign" feel. One sees the action and senses that something going on here is different, uncomfortable. Upon reading a few paragraphs of the Book of Five Rings : The Classic Guide to Strategy, I understood why.For one thing, I had not understood that the character in the samurai collection that Mifune had been portraying had actually been an historic individual living in a unique period of Japanese history. Why I should have been surprised, I don't know, since the exploits of the likes of Pat Garret, Wyatt Earp, and Doc Holiday became the basis for a good deal of 19th and 20th Century pulp fiction, TV series, and movies in the United States. In fact, the period in Japanese history that the translator describes sounds not unlike the "Wild West." The sod busters and the ranchers have made their peace, leaving hundreds of gunmen unemployed. The lucky ones find work as lawmen while the unlucky wander the country looking to enhance their reputations by lethal confrontations to see who's "fastest on the draw." The winner may ultimately find a job as a peace keeper; the loser finds a spot on boot hill. In the case of the American western, the contestants use guns; in the case of the Japanese samurai, they use swords and other equipment. Still there seems something more to it. The something more, I think, is a philosophy, a school, an etiquette, even an art that leaves the Western mind a little uncomfortable. With some of the techniques of sword work and battle strategy, I think that as Musashi himself informs the reader, it is very difficult to "write" how to do a mechanical task. One can only convey the "feeling" that performing such a task has for the expert writer on the subject. In modern times this facet of the learning process is overcome by photo illustrations, but even then only to a very limited extent. As the author points out, there is no substitute for experience with the process and practice, practice, practice. Even the very limited experience I acquired years ago when I took fencing lessons helped me picture more clearly some of the moves the author described. Part of the difficulty in connecting with the author's experience as he performs the various actions of sword fighting may be that this book is a translation from the Japanese, was originally written in an older version of the language, and embodied an ancient version of the culture itself, one that is no longer available even to modern Japanese let alone a Western translator. A warrior of Musashi's time may well have connected far better with the similes he uses than a modern person. The unique benefit of this fact, however, is that a great deal can be read into the work. Part of this is the author's intention, but part of it is due to the very ambiguity of the work. Just as the author himself suggests, the reader who does not concentrate on the words but allows the mind to float over them makes all sorts of interesting discoveries. For instance a book on dealing with problem people suggested a technique much like Musashi's "To Know the Times," essentially to match the rhythm and intensity of the subject until one can gain control of that rhythm to de-escalate it. His "To Become the Enemy" immediately brought to my mind the individual characters of Civil War generals Robert E. Lee and his opponent George McClelland. As Musashi suggested, the enemy always feels he is outnumbered which means that a few may defeat many if they are trained in The Way. Or as Lee is reputed to have said before a battle, "The Army of the Potomac is a very good one, unfortunately General McClelland brought himself along." Lee understood The Way. He knew that McClelland's personality, or lack of The Way, produced vast armies of the enemy in his mind. In all a very interesting and surprising book, one I expect to read again and again to mine for concepts. For a slender 95 pages, the author, like a good poet, has packed each word with a maximum of information because they encapsulate concepts and principles.
Rating: 
Summary: Valuable for the Martial Artist
Review: The Shambala Dragon Edition of Musashi's Book of Five Rings was passed on to me several years ago by a close friend and fellow martial artist after the death of our teacher, who had given it to him. I have kept it and read it numerous times as a reference that is applicable to my own martial arts studies. Throughout, Musashi gives insight into his theories and strategies regarding what he describes as "his" martial art, namely the art of Kenjustu (Japanese Swordsmanship), specifically his own "two-sword" or "Two Heavens" school. Although it is an interesting and insightful look into Musashi's strategies for individual and collective combat, the Book of Five Rings is short on technical details, and therefore difficult to apply to one's own martial arts studies in any specific and systematic manner. This being said, Musashi's writings are still very applicable to any martial art in a generalized way. With its lack of specifics, it is easy to see how publishers and readers alike could make the stretch that the Book of Five Rings is an excellent book on personal or business strategy-- rather than trying to sell it as an outstanding treatise on martial arts. After all, there are a lot more business people and self-help readers to sell books to than there are serious students of martial arts. However, these claims are more wishful thinking and skillful marketing than actual truth. If one wants to apply Musashi's strategies to business or the non-martial life, they will have a tough time trying to translate techniques such as those "on footwork" or "stabbing the face" into effective business management or personal growth strategies. One could certainly apply Musashi's techniques metaphorially, but to do so would be to take the author's instructional commentary entirely out of context. It must be understood that Musashi's Book of Five Rings was not written for business people, or those interested in self-help techniques. It was written about martial arts, for martial artists, by an undisputed master of martial arts, and must be read with this fact in mind to be truly appreciated and understood. Every serious martial artist should own it, and study it and apply its general lessons throughout his or her martial arts career. The Shambala Dragon Edition, includes Yagyu Munenori's masterful "Book of Family Traditions and the Art of War" which is an added bonus for serious students of Japanese martial arts.
Rating:
Summary: Multi-layered
Review: On the surface this book appears to be about the martial arts, warfare, swordplay. However, a careful reading with an open mind will surprise the reader not particularly focused on those aspects. Readers who've trained themselves to read complexity and symbolism as an overlay for everyday life experiences will find a strategy for the human life experience hidden here barely beneath the surface. It's only one strategy, and not necessarily the one you'll choose to lead your own life, but it's still worth studying and comprehending. In fact, readers completely unfamiliar with martial arts will find many 'lessons in life' worth digesting. I believe it's worth the time and effort for study in the same sense as classic Chinese and European works of similar ilk.
Rating: 
Summary: The Ring of Rings
Review: I found this book difficult to digest because, unlike Art of War, it doesn't contain clear 'do's and don'ts'. Instead it talks of doing things with certain 'feelings' with the ultimate goal of becoming formless. There are multiple levels of meaning such that on first reading there seems little sense. After contemplating a passage you develop a minor understanding. After expert application, another understanding, and so on. A Westerner can better understand this book after reading The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. Even so, it has taken me almost two years of martial arts training to begin to understand the concepts in this book. Yes, the concepts are applicable to modern life. But are they effective? Maybe.
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