The Book of Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi

Rating:
Summary: From the Heart in Plain English
Review: An interpretation from the heart as well as the head. Read the book Time Magazine called "Japan's answer to the MBA" in plain English.

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Summary: Move like water!
Review: As a teenager that practices kendo(Japanese fencing), I've found this book quite interesting. This book relates to tactics and strategy. The Book of Five Rings is not an easy read, well it is easy to read, but hard to grasp. In order to understand you must concentrate on the matter deeply. If you not the type to ponder, then don't bother.

Rating:
Summary: Worst Translation Ever
Review: D.E. Tarver has no respect for or understanding of this classic Japanese book of strategy. Any reader who has some grounding in Eastern languages will notice his mistakes beginning with the cover on the book - the characters are Chinese instead of Japanese. With this obvious mistake before anyone opens the book, you can only wonder just how broad is this translator's learning that he dares to substitute one culture for another.
But that is not all. Tarver has no academic grounding in Eastern Studies whatsoever. When he promotes himself as a blackbelt martial arts teacher, he reveals his avaricious interest in sales than in accuracy of the translation. Miyamoto Musashi is a legendary swordsman whose unvanquished dueling record ought to make any martial artist blush, but only Tarver is vain enough to advertise his expertise and compare himself to Musashi.
Tarver has minimal understanding of Musashi's strategy and cannot elucidate his ideas any better than other translators could. One of the most offensive translations printed, Tarver begins his introduction to the classical warrior's life by making a snide remark at Musashi's upbringing. Tarver is obviously deluged by the amount of information surrounding the historical Musashi and so calls the warrior's orphaned upbringing, "relatively sure that he was not raised in a functional home". Tarver's introduction is terse and mostly done by other scholars. He just copies pagelong entries without actual personal analysis. One of the biggest blunders is to translate Musashi without providing information about his Confucian, Zen Buddhist, and other Asian philosophical influences; which will give any novice reader of Eastern texts a difficult time understanding the profound philosophy underlying The Book of Five Rings. Musashi didn't just write a cannon of martial arts, he also instructs his students to develop a state of mind that will create a successful warrior capable of victory in any conflict. The Book of Five Rings is the equivalent of The Art of War. By ignoring the important Japanese philosophies in Musashi's time, Tarver destroys the first bridge of understanding a reader needs to have in order to realize Musashi's arguments. The Book of Five Rings has broad applications irrespective of time, but the mindset of its arguments comes from a non-Western culture and many readers will not be able to understand it.
Lastly, the book is oversimplified without explanatory notes to fill in the gaps. One extremely bad translation is Tarver's rendition of the concept of "emptiness", the warrior state of mind which Musashi calls stillness of mind so that it can be in everywhere and no place at all. I am an Easterner and this idea is moderately complex, despite my own background. I can only sympathize with the perplexed expression on the reader's face as you read this. I can honestly tell you that Tarver does not supply a better explanation than what I have just given you. Tarver's lack of vocabulary and adequate notes (you'd think a martial arts teacher could at least have some illustrations or something!) makes Musashi sound brusque and unpolished when the warrior master is actually very talented and well acquainted with poetry, art, and the sophisticated ritual of drinking tea.
Do not buy this book. I made the mistake that this Blackbelt martial artist might be a better translator than others, but you do not need to repeat my mistake. Get the William Scott Wilson translation if you want a culturally, intellectually, and overall better translation of The Book of Five Rings. Knowing that Tarver did expend enormous effort to translate this classic, I give him one star for that sweat bead across his brow.

Rating:
Summary: Best Translation Ever!!!
Review: I am a long time student of the Musashi text and I simply had to reply to the Nguyen review. I am Japanese. I live in Kansai area in Japan and have been a student and teacher of the sword and English most of my life. I travel to America often and have many American friends. I am always curious of how Americans view Japanese culture and often read American translations of Japanese works. I am 38 years old and a life long martial artist.
First of all, the text on the front of the book is exactly as it should be. I don't understand why someone who obviously has no understanding of Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana and how they enter work would start off his highly critical review with something that shows everyone that he doesn't know anything about the written language.
Secondly, the idea that because someone is a "blackbelt" martial arts instructor "reveals" an avaricious interest in sales speaks more of the person who would infer such things than to every black belt martial arts instructor in the world. I am a black belt martial arts instructor, as many thousands of you are, and I have no intrinsic interest in sales what so ever.
In reading the book I never once got the feeling that Tarver was trying to compare himself to Musashi. In fact he says in the opening that even after a life time of study he is still "amazed at the astounding insight and pure genius of Musashi." I personally am amazed at how someone like Nguyen can make such fantastic leaps in logic and even infer personality traits like vanity when the author clearly said that he was a dedicated student of Musashi.
Anyone who tries to study a famous person like Musashi will find tons of information from scholarly sources that contain a fair amount of speculation. Try it yourself, you will see. Anyone who says that they know exactly how Musashi's early life played out and how it influenced his life long study of the sword is lying or foolish. As far as Confucian, Zen Buddhism, and "other Asian philosophical influences" Musashi's book was for his "blackbelt martial arts" students, not for religious instruction. If one wants to learn about religion there are a lot of other books available. Musashi himself said that he did not use religious ideas in writing his book. As a student and teacher of sword I want a translation that deals with sword in hand not religious ideas. Zen is addressed very thoroughly in the text because Zen is necessary for understanding the sword. As a Buddhist, I am very satisfied with the way Tarver addresses this subject. Any true martial arts student, of any length of time, knows that martial arts do develop "a state of mind that will create a successful warrior capable of victory in any conflict". To argue that there is some magic way that Musashi was trying to do this is foolish. Musashi said, in every translation I have ever read, that enlightenment comes from daily practice of MARTIAL ARTS. Once enlightenment comes, said Musashi, it influences every aspect of the mind and brings about the very frame of mind that can make a student capable of victory in any conflict. Musashi used the example of a mountain and how you are at the foot of the mountain on either side- I find it hard to believe that Nguyen even read this book and can still make such obviously misleading statements. Nguyen's only claim to any expertise is that he is Asian. I am Japanese and I am very proud to be Asian, but I am not a racist. I believe that anyone who studies Musashi with an open mind can understand it. Nguyen seems to think that most Western readers will not be able to. Every thing that is needed to understand the teaching of Musashi is here and available to anyone who have the capacity to absorb it. Maybe this person's complaints come from his own inability to grasp the real teachings of Musashi, the "blackbelt martial arts teacher."
In the book of emptiness Tarver does and excellent job of explaining a very deep concept. Again Nguyen seems to infer that because he is Vietnamese he has some intrinsic understanding of mushin - the philosophy of the empty mind. Stillness is NOT the proper term, empty is. Only a person who has experienced this can understand it and Nugyen obviously has not. He says that he prefers a translation that comes from a purely academic point of view because he only has an academic understanding himself. Those of you who have reached enlightenment in this area will understand and identify with everything Tarver explains here. Those of you who are not will have a more difficult time with it, but if you follow the path you will come to understanding. Don't sell yourself short by settling for a purely academic translation. The experience and lifetime of study Tarver engaged in to understand these principles are clearly evident to others who understand them. I think anyone who would want to "Illustrate" Musashi is clearly dealing with material that is over his head and wants it explained in pictures. I am sure that there were quite a few "perplexed expressions" on the face of such a reader.
I can honestly tell you that Tarver provides the most through, deep, and clearly experienced translations of Musashi's classic work that I have ever read. I do encourage you to read as many different translations as you can, but in the end I am sure you will find this one the best, if not now then after you are capable of understanding it. I did read Wilson's version and it was very good also, but I found it somewhat shallow.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I loved this book. I have read several versions and this is the only one I will recomend from this point forward. You will learn more about the martial arts and strategy from this book than any other that I have read.

Rating:
Summary: Best translation I've ever read!
Review: I loved this book. I have studied martial arts all of my life and I can say with no reservation that this book is contains a wealth of knowledge and experience.

One of the reviewers said that he thought that there were better translations out there, but I certainly haven't found any, by the way, don't write a review pointing out typos and have several in the review.

D.E. Tarver does indeed show much understanding of martial arts and I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this field of study.

Rating:
Summary: Enlightening!
Review: I really love this book! I think that most people who have a hard time understanding Musashi, or look for a translation with detailed explanations of the sword techniques are missing the point of the book. Musashi said that it would be impossible to grasp a full understanding of his style or of strategy by simply reading. He left much of the detail vague because he intended to teach the reader in person after he had time to read and meditate on the text.

Over and over Musashi said that you must train daily in the way of strategy. "Practice, Practice, Practice." Any translation that purports to give the reader more exact instruction is a false translation unless the writer can talk to Musashi from the grave because he didn't include any more that what is here,

The thing to remember about the Book of Five Rings is that it was written for the development of the warrior mind. The spiritual aspect of the sword and combat is the most over looked in modern times and most of the text is dealing with it. The development of the fighting spirit and is what is most important.

I think D. E. Tarver has done an excellent job with this translation. From the way he writes it is easy to tell that he understands where Musashi is coming from and I think he brings out the true lessons like no one else. The Zen aspects of Mushin are clearly explained, well as much so as they can be explained. Musashi often deals with the physical and mental aspects of the sword at the same time and I have often been a little confused by this. Tarver has helped me understand it a lot better.

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Summary: Written for warriors not Morons
Review: I think that this is by far the best translation I have ever read. The author�s knowledge of the martial arts in without question and his ability to explain deep philosophical ideas is astounding. I became a reader of his after The Art of War.

The book is full of outstanding quotes like, �The path to enlightenment is littered with the bodies of the ignorant.� Very cool. There are many many more but you will have to buy the book to get them. I have read several other versions but this one stand head and shoulders above them. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand Musashi. By the way, if you need illustrations you may be more suited to Yojimbo.

Great book, clearly the best. Buy it and read it over and over.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome book by an awesome warrior.
Review: This book by Miyamoto Musashi is really cool. It tells you about fighting tecniques, how to keep your cool in battle, and alot more. If you're into feudal Japan, bushido, or samurai, then you'll love this book. Also, be sure to check out The Hagakure, (I have the edition translated by D.E. Tarver), and Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. I myself am in the middle of reading Musashi, which I highly reccomend you buy, but don't let the books large size scare you, it's great.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome book by an awesome warrior.
Review: This is an excellent read period, many times books like this get slow & stilted in the translation, this one doesn't, its bottom line format using minimal words for maximum effect really allows the reader to absorb the translators and Musashi's intent, that of sharing Musashi's Wisdom. Very Well Done.