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The Book of Five Rings
Musashi Miyamoto
Translated by William Scott Wilson
Calligraphy by Shiro Tsujimura
Hardcover 160 pages
132 x 189mm 310g
ISBN : 978-4-7700-2801-3 / 4-7700-2801-6
Publish : 18 Jan, 2002
Price : $19.00 |
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[ About the Book ]
Setting down his thoughts on swordplay, on winning, and on spirituality, legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi intended this modest work as a guide for his immediate disciples and future generations of samurai. He had little idea he was penning a masterpiece that would be eagerly devoured by people in all walks of life centuries after his death.
Along with The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Book of Five Rings has long been regarded as an invaluable treatise on the strategy of winning. Musashi's timeless advice on defeating an adversary, throwing an opponent off-guard, creating confusion, and other techniques for overpowering an assailant was addressed to the readers of earlier times on the battlefield, and now serves the modern reader in the battle of life.
In this new rendering by the translator of Hagakure and The Unfettered Mind, William Scott Wilson adheres rigorously to the seventeenth-century Japanese text and clarifies points of ambiguity in earlier translations. In addition, he offers an extensive introduction and a translation of Musashi's rarely published The Way of Walking Alone. This gift-book edition also features original art by Musashi himself as well as new calligraphy by Japanese artist Shiro Tsujimura.
Reviews
"Musashi's teachings read like lessons from the latest business management gurus. Who couldn't succeed in business by applying Musahi's insights to conflicts and strategy."
—Inc. Magazine
"On Wall Street, when Musashi talks, people listen"
—Time Magazine
About the Authors
MIYAMOTO MUSASHI (1584-1645) was a renowned swordsman and painter. A masterless samurai, he developed the two-sword style of fighting and emerged victorious in more than 60 sword fights in his travels throughout Japan. The author of The Book of Five Rings, he is also the subject of the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa.
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 Japan.
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 bestselling study of the life of legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.
Traveling frequently to Japan for research and pleasure, Wilson currently lives in Miami, Florida.
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