This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Book of Five Rings" by Miyamoto Musashi. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Who were the Samurai and what was their job? Do the Japanese Samurai still exist?
The Samurai were the warriors of premodern Japan whose role was to defend territories and fight enemies of the authorities. While the Samurai have ceased to exist as an active force, samurai principles still apply to some modern martial arts contexts. In his book The Book of Five Rings (The Wind Book), Miyamoto Musashi highlights two such principles: know your competitor and use skill over strength.
Here’s how the samurai principles apply to the modern-day.
The Wind Book
Having shared his views on what the fundamental principles, mental and physical training elements, and battle strategies are for the Way of the successful warrior, Musashi now shifts his focus in the Wind Book toward the approaches of some of the other rival schools of his day. He critiques other sword-fighting methods and discusses technical details such as how to move your feet during combat, use speed, and use different sword-lengths.
While these discipline-specific critiques don’t hold much meaning for the more general modern reader, we’ve identified two enduring samurai principles that Musashi offers: Understand your competitor’s strategies and use skill over strength to ensure your own success.
1. Understand Your Competitor’s Strategies
In describing and picking apart the strategies taught by rival martial arts schools, Musashi isn’t being petty. He explains the weaknesses he notes in their strategies to show how he avoids such weaknesses in his own approach to the true Way. The same strategy also applies to the warrior when in combat: To outwit your competitor and strengthen your own position, you must first thoroughly know your competitor.
| Sun Tzu on Outmaneuvering the Enemy Musashi urges the warrior to observe the enemy carefully to outwit him and gain the upper hand in combat. In the fifth book of The Art of War, Sun Tzu also outlines more specific tactics for determining your enemy’s position and outmaneuvering them in combat. Sun Tzu’s advice includes: -Take the initiative to gain the upper hand. -Observe your enemy carefully, to detect the weak spots. -Turn the enemy’s position against him once you know where the weak spots are by using them to your own advantage. Examples could include attacking him when he isn’t expecting combat, or by laying siege when he is short on supplies. -Keep comparing your enemy’s troops and position to your own. -Speed is key: Advance quickly on the enemy when you sense his position weakening; be as rapid as possible when you yourself have to retreat. -Keep your troops together as a whole while forcing the enemy to break into smaller units. -Be willing to modify your own tactics in response to your opponent’s strategies. |
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Here's what you'll find in our full The Book of Five Rings summary :
- Insights from the famous Samurai Miyamoto Musashi about the Way of the Warrior
- How to apply Musashi’s teachings to your personal and professional lives
- Why success is not based on brute strength or innate talent
