The Book of Five Rings (五輪書) — Musashi's classic of strategy

The Book of Five Rings (五輪書, Go Rin no Sho) is the most famous text of the Japanese sword — written in 1643–45 by the duelist Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武蔵), founder of the two-sword school Niten Ichi-ryū (二天一流). It is a book about swordsmanship that is really a book about strategy, timing, and the trained mind — which is why it has travelled so far beyond Japan.

Why a Japanese book sits on a Chinese martial-arts wiki

Two honest reasons, one cultural and one historical:

• Chinese martial artists read it for strategy. When a teacher's lessons turn from technique to strategy — distance, timing, deception, the calm mind under pressure — the Five Rings is one of the books most often put into a student's hands, right beside Sun Tzu. It circulates widely in Chinese translation (《五輪書》) and is read as a strategy-and-philosophy classic. It belongs here because it belongs to the lived reading culture of the martial world this wiki documents.

• A real, if indirect, point of contact. Japanese swordsmanship genuinely touched Chinese martial history — through the Ming wokou (倭寇) pirate wars, when captured Japanese sword methods were absorbed into Chinese sabre: Qi Jiguang's 辛酉刀法 (from a Kage-ryū catalogue taken from pirates in 1561) and Cheng Zongyou's 單刀法選 (1621), the textual root of the miaodao.

Miyamoto Musashi and the text

Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武蔵, c. 1584–1645) was, by his own account, undefeated in more than sixty duels. Late in life he withdrew to the Reigandō (霊巌洞), a cave near Kumamoto, and there wrote the Five Rings, finishing it days before his death and giving it to his student Terao Magonojō. The autograph original was lost; the work survives in copied lineages, of which the Hosokawa-family text (細川家本) is the standard reference — and the text translated below.

The five scrolls

Musashi named the five scrolls for the Buddhist elements — the "five rings" or wheels (輪):

• 地 Earth (Ground) — the overview: the Way of strategy as a whole, his life and school, and the "carpenter" analogy of laying a foundation.

• 水 Water — the fundamentals: stance, gaze, grip, footwork, individual technique; a mind kept fluid like water.

• 火 Fire — combat itself: timing, seizing the initiative, terrain — the same principles whether one fights a single foe or commands an army.

• 風 Wind (Tradition) — a critique of other schools, and what he judged they got wrong.

• 空 Void (Emptiness) — the philosophical capstone: mastery beyond technique, "that which cannot be seen."

Our translation

Preface (序)

The Way of strategy I call Niten Ichi-ryū — "Two Heavens, One School" — and the discipline of many years I now think, for the first time, to set down in writing. It is now early in the tenth month of the twentieth year of Kan'ei [1643]. I have climbed Mount Iwato in the land of Higo, in Kyūshū; I bow to Heaven, make reverence to Kannon, and turn to face the Buddha. I am Shinmen Musashi no Kami Fujiwara no Genshin, a warrior born in the province of Harima, and my years have piled up to sixty. From my youth I set my heart on the Way of strategy. At thirteen I fought my first duel, and defeated a strategist of the Shintō school, one Arima Kihei. At sixteen I struck down a strategist of great strength named Akiyama, of Tajima province. At twenty-one I went up to the capital, met the finest strategists under Heaven, and fought many bouts, yet never once failed to win. Afterward I travelled from province to province, place to place, meeting the strategists of many schools; in more than sixty encounters I never once lost the advantage. All this was between my thirteenth and my twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth year. When I had passed thirty and looked back, I saw that it was not that I had reached the summit of strategy and so prevailed — perhaps I had a natural aptitude for the Way, and did not stray from the principle of Heaven.

The Earth Scroll (地之巻)

Named "Earth" because it levels the ground of the whole Way — laying out strategy plainly, from the broad to the fine, like grading a straight road.

1. Strategy is the warrior's law. The art of strategy (兵法) is the law of the warrior houses. Commanders above all must practice this law, and soldiers too should know it; yet in the world today there is no warrior who truly understands the Way of strategy. Among the Ways set forth there is the Buddhist Way, which saves people; the Confucian Way, which orders the way of letters; the physician's Way, which cures the many ills; and there are poets, tea-men, archers, and the practitioners of every other art, each training as he pleases and taking to what suits his heart. But to the Way of strategy few are drawn. First the warrior cultivates the twin Ways of the brush and the sword (文武二道); even with no talent for it, so far as his station allows he must work at the art of war. People suppose the warrior's Way is simply a readiness to die — but in dying there is no difference between the warrior and the monk, the woman, or the farmer, who all may know duty, feel shame, and resolve to die. The warrior's strategy differs in this: in all things he makes excelling beyond others his foundation — winning the single combat, winning the battle of many — for his lord and for himself; and this is by the virtue of strategy. To those who fear it will not serve in the real moment: train so it serves at any time, teach so it serves in all things — this is the true Way of strategy.

2. On the Way of strategy. In China and Japan alike, masters of this Way have been called strategists, and a warrior cannot fail to learn it. In recent times those who live as "strategists" deal only in swordsmanship — the shrine-priests of Kashima and Katori, claiming transmission from their gods, founding schools and teaching from province to province, a thing of recent date. By the narrow advantage of swordsmanship alone one cannot even truly know the sword, much less answer to the law of war. Look at the world: men make wares of the arts and even of themselves — a mind of "flower and fruit," the flower outweighing the scant fruit; especially in strategy they ornament it with color, make the flower bloom, show off technique, and set up "one hall, two halls" to teach for profit — and as the saying goes, half-baked strategy is the source of grave wounds. Men pass through life by four Ways — farmer, merchant, warrior, artisan (士農工商): the farmer with his tools and the turning seasons; the merchant living by his trade and profit; the warrior, who fashions weapons of every kind and knows the virtue of each (not to know them marks a warrior of shallow cultivation); and the carpenter, who skillfully makes and uses his tools and takes his measure by the square. I liken strategy to the carpenter's Way. The comparison turns on the word house (家) — noble house, warrior house, the ruin and the continuing of a house, this school, that tradition, that house; and since "carpenter" (大工) is written "great planning," and strategy is a great planning, I set it forth by the carpenter. Would you learn the law of war? Ponder this book — let the teacher be the needle and the student the thread, and practice without cease.

3. Strategy likened to the master-carpenter. The commander, as master-carpenter (統領), knows the measure of all-under-heaven, sets right the measure of the province, knows the measure of his house. The master-carpenter, knowing the measuring-lines of pagodas and temple-halls and the plans of palaces and towers, employs his men and raises up houses — and the master of building and the master of the warrior house are one. In building, one sorts the timber: straight, knotless wood of good appearance for the front pillars; straight strong wood, slightly knotted, for the inner pillars; weak but knotless, good-looking wood for thresholds, lintels, doors and screens; knotted, even warped, but strong wood used each according to the strength it lends — and examined well in the using, the house will long stand. Even much-knotted, warped, weak timber may serve as scaffolding, and afterward as firewood. In employing carpenters the master knows their high, middle and low, sets each in his place, and discerning his men sets them to work so the work goes well. He must know: efficiency of result; allowing nothing slack; the use of great courage; the high, middle and low of men's spirit; how to raise morale; and what is impossible. Such things are in the master's keeping of heart. The advantage of strategy is like this.

4. The soldier as carpenter. The soldier is like the carpenter: with his own hand he sharpens his tools, makes his implements, and carries them in his box; receiving the master's direction, he hews the pillars and beams, planes the alcoves and shelves, does the carving, sets the measures right, and finishes every corner with skill. When he has learned the crafts of his hand and knows the measuring-lines, he becomes in time a master himself. It is essential that his tools cut well and that he keep them sharp at every spare moment. The carpenter's care — that the work not warp, that the joints meet, that the plane cut true, that there be no over-polishing, that it not warp later — is everything. Would you learn this Way? Take to heart all that is here set down, and examine it well.

5. Why this book is in five scrolls. To make the five Ways known I set them forth as Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Void. The Earth scroll gives the broad outline and the standpoint of my school: by the sword alone the true Way is hard to attain, so from the great one knows the small, from the shallow one reaches the deep — and because it grades the ground of a straight road, I name it Earth. The Water scroll: taking water as its basis, the mind too becomes water — taking the shape of any vessel, round or square, a single drop and the blue ocean, the color of a clear pool; when one can freely defeat a single foe one can defeat anyone, for the mind that beats one is the mind that beats ten thousand, as a great Buddha is raised from a one-foot model. The Fire scroll: of battle — for fire grows great or small and has a fierce nature; the Way of combat is one whether one against one or ten thousand against ten thousand; the great is easy to see, the small hard to see, and these are matters of the swift moment, where keeping the mind unchanging is the heart of strategy. The Wind scroll: not of my school but of the world's strategy and its various schools — the old styles, the styles of today, the styles of the houses (風); for without knowing others well one cannot know oneself, and a small crookedness of heart, unexamined, later becomes a great one. The Void scroll: once one says "void," what is inner, what outer? Having gained the principle one departs from the principle; there comes a freedom that is one's own, an excellence of one's own; meeting the moment one knows its rhythm and strikes of itself and hits of itself — this is the Way of the Void.

6. Why it is called the Two-Sword school. Warriors, commander and soldier alike, wear two blades at the waist — in old days tachi and katana, today katana and wakizashi — and to make known the advantage of the two I call it the Two-Sword school (二刀一流). For the beginner, training with sword and companion-sword in both hands is the true thing, for when one casts away one's life one would have every weapon serve. Yet a thing held in both hands cannot be wielded freely left and right; the two-sword method is to learn the sword one-handed. To hold the sword in both hands is bad on horseback, bad when running, bad in marsh and paddy and stony or steep ground and crowds; and when the left hand holds bow or spear, the sword is wielded with one hand — so the two-handed stance is not the true Way. When one cannot kill with one hand, strike with both. At first the sword is heavy and hard to wield — but so is the bow hard to draw and the halberd hard to swing, until one grows used to them. The Way of the sword is not to wield it fast (learn this in the Water scroll). I fix no length for the sword, for in my school one wins with the long and wins with the short; the spirit that gains victory by any means is the Way. From one, know ten thousand.

7. The advantage of the two characters 兵法. One skilled with the sword the world calls a "strategist" (兵法者) — as it calls the bowman an archer, the gunner a gunner, the spearman a spearman. By that reckoning the swordsman should be called only a "swordsman"; bow, gun, spear and halberd are all the warrior's tools and all Ways of strategy. Yet that we say "strategy" from the sword is according to reason: by the virtue of the sword one governs the world and oneself, so the sword is where strategy arises. Gaining its virtue, one man defeats ten; if ten, then a hundred a thousand, and a thousand ten thousand — so in my school one man and ten thousand are the same, and the whole law of the warrior, without remainder, is "strategy." The Confucian, the Buddhist, the tea-man, the dancer — these are not the warrior's Way; yet to know the Ways broadly is to meet with all things. For any person, to polish well one's own Way is essential.

8. Knowing the advantage of weapons. Each weapon meets its moment as occasion requires. The companion-sword is best in cramped quarters and close against the body; the sword meets the occasion in most places. On the battlefield the halberd feels inferior to the spear — the spear takes the initiative, the halberd answers — and both are of little use in confined places or against a man barricaded; they are field weapons, and there essential. The bow serves in the advance and retreat of battle and is excellent in the open, but falls short at a siege or beyond twenty ken; today the bow, like much else, has "much flower and little fruit." The gun has great advantage within walls and in the open before battle is joined, but falls short once battle begins; the bow's virtue is that the loosed arrow is seen, while the gun's ball cannot be — examine this. A horse should be strong-enduring and free of vices. In all gear: let the horse be broadly serviceable, the blades cut broadly, the spear and halberd pierce broadly, the bow and gun be strong and not break. Have no favorite among your weapons — too much of a thing is as bad as too little. Without imitating others, take to your hand what suits you. To crave a thing or to hate it is bad; resourcefulness is essential.

9. On rhythm in strategy. There is rhythm (拍子) in all things, but the rhythm of strategy above all cannot be reached without training. The world's rhythms show plainly — the dance, the rhythms of musicians and strings, all harmonious and settled; through the martial arts, in shooting, firing, and riding, there is rhythm and tune; even in the formless there is rhythm. In the warrior's life there is the rhythm of rising in service and of falling; of accord and of discord; in commerce, the rhythm of growing rich and the rhythm by which wealth is lost. Discern the rhythm by which each thing flourishes and the rhythm by which it declines. In strategy: first know the rhythm of accord, then the rhythm of discord; among rhythms great and small, slow and fast, know the striking rhythm, the rhythm of the interval (間), and the rhythm of going against — this last above all, for without it one's strategy is not sure. In combat one knows each foe's rhythm and, with a rhythm he does not expect — issuing the rhythm of the void from the rhythm of wisdom — one wins. In every scroll I write above all of rhythm. Examine it, and train well.

If, morning and evening, one practices the Way of my school, the spirit broadens of itself; and as the strategy of the many and the one I now set it down for the first time, in these five scrolls. For those who would learn it, there is a law for following the Way:

1. Think nothing crooked — hold no dishonest thought.

2. Train, ceaselessly, in the Way.

3. Touch upon all the arts.

4. Know the Ways of all professions.

5. Discern the gain and loss in everything.

6. Learn to judge the true worth of all things.

7. Perceive what cannot be seen by the eye.

8. Pay attention even to the smallest things.

9. Do nothing useless.

With such principles in mind, train in the Way of strategy — for unless one sees the straight broadly, one cannot become a master. Learn this law, and one will not be beaten even by twenty or thirty foes. Keeping strategy ceaselessly in mind and working the straight Way, one wins with the hand, wins with the eye, and — the whole body grown free through training — wins with the body and at last with the mind; come to this, and what Way is there of losing to others? And in great strategy: one wins by having good men, by the using of many, by conducting oneself rightly, by governing the province, by nourishing the people, by upholding the customary law of the world. In every Way, to know how not to be beaten — to sustain oneself and one's honor — this is the Way of strategy.

The twelfth day of the fifth month, Shōhō 2 (1645). Shinmen Musashi — to Terao Magonojō.

The Water Scroll (水之巻)

Named "Water" because the mind, like water, takes the shape of any vessel — a single drop and the whole ocean. The Water scroll is the school's fundamentals: mind, posture, gaze, grip, footwork, the guards, and the basic strikes.

Preface. The heart of the Two-Heavens school takes water as its basis, and so I set down its sword-lines in this Water scroll. This Way cannot be written out in fine detail exactly as the mind would have it; yet though the words may not connect, the meaning will be heard of itself. Ponder every single word of what is written here — take it loosely and you will mistake the Way at many points. Though things are written as the duel of one against one, understand them with a large view, as the advantage in a battle of ten thousand. By merely reading this you will not reach the Way: take what is written as drawn from your own self — do not think you are only reading, only learning, or imitating, but make the principle your own, found from your own heart, and constantly become one with it.

The mind in strategy (兵法心持の事). Let the state of mind be no different from the everyday. In daily life and in combat alike keep the mind broad and straight, neither tense nor slack, set in the center, swaying gently — and even in the instant of swaying, let the swaying not stop. When still, the mind is not merely still; however fast, it is not in the least hurried. The mind is not dragged by the body, nor the body by the mind; be watchful in mind but not stiff in body; though the surface-mind be weak, let the depth-mind be strong, and let your mind not be read by others. Polish both wisdom and mind ceaselessly: whet the wisdom, discern right and wrong in the world and good and bad in all things, until no one can deceive you — then it becomes the wisdom of strategy.

The bearing of the body (兵法の身なりの事). The face neither down nor up nor tilted; the brow lightly knit, the eyes still and barely narrowed, a serene look; the neck straight with strength in the nape; both shoulders lowered, the spine straight, the buttocks not protruding; strength from the knees to the toes, the belly braced so the waist does not bend. There is a teaching called "fixing the wedge" — resting the belly against the companion-sword's scabbard so the sash does not loosen. Make the everyday body the combat body, and the combat body the everyday body.

The gaze (兵法の目付). Fix the eyes large and broad. There are two seeings — perceiving (観) and looking (見): make the perceiving eye strong and the looking eye weak; see the far as near and the near as far. To know the enemy's sword without merely staring at it is a great matter. This gaze is the same in small strategy and great; keeping the eyeballs still, take in both sides. Such a thing cannot be summoned suddenly in a crisis — make it your constant gaze.

Holding the sword (太刀の持様). Take the sword with thumb and forefinger as if floating, the middle finger neither tight nor loose, the ring and little fingers firm. Looseness in the hand is bad. Take it up thinking "this is to cut the enemy," and let the hand not change or cramp even while cutting. Though you beat, receive, strike, or press the enemy's sword, change only thumb and forefinger a little, and in every case take the sword thinking cut. In all things avoid "fixedness" (居着く): the fixed hand is a dead hand; the unfixed hand is a living hand.

Footwork (足つかひ). Float the toes a little and tread strongly with the heel. Footwork varies in size and speed, but move as in ordinary walking. Three feet are forbidden: the leaping foot, the floating foot, and the stamping-fixed foot. The great matter is the yin-yang foot (陰陽の足) — never moving one foot alone: in cutting, drawing back, and receiving, tread right-left, right-left.

The five guards (五方の構). The five are upper, middle, lower, and the right- and left-side guards. Though they divide into five, all are for cutting the enemy — there are no others. In any guard, do not think "guard"; think only of cutting. Upper, middle, and lower are the substantial guards; the two sides are the fluid ones. The ultimate guard is the middle — the middle is the general's seat, and the other four follow it.

The way of the sword (太刀の道). To know the way of the sword is to know its path, so you can swing it freely. Trying to swing fast goes against the way and makes it hard to swing — swing calmly, the way it swings well. To swing it quick like a fan or a small knife is "small-knife chopping," and with that you cannot cut a man. Raise the sword back along the path it rises well; return it along the path it returns well; stretch the elbow wide and swing strongly. Learn the five sword-forms and the way of the sword will settle.

The five sword-forms (五つのおもて). (These cannot be grasped from writing — they are practiced sword-in-hand; by these five lines one learns one's own sword and reads the enemy's.) First: from the middle guard, point at the enemy's face; as he strikes, slip your sword right and ride his; at his next strike, knock his sword down with a point-reversal and leave it; at his next, beat his hands from below. Second: from the upper guard, strike him in one motion as he attacks; the missed sword you leave, then scoop from below and strike. Third: from the lower guard carried as if hanging, beat his striking hand from below; as he tries to knock you down, on a crossing rhythm cut across his upper arm. Fourth: a horizontal guard at the left; beat his striking hand from below, receive his sword along its path, and cut diagonally up over your shoulder. Fifth: a horizontal guard at the right; receive the level of his strike, cross up from below your sword to the upper guard, and cut straight down. By these, even a heavy sword grows free to swing.

With-guard and without-guard (有構無構). There is no such thing as fixedly holding a guard. The upper, lowered a little, becomes the middle; the middle, raised, the upper; the lower, raised, the middle; the side guards, brought inward, become middle or lower — so "there is a guard, and there is no guard." Take the sword and, by any means, cut the enemy. Though you receive, beat, strike, stick, or touch his sword, take every one of these as an occasion to cut; think "receive" or "beat" for its own sake and your cutting falls short. In great strategy, too, the deploying of troops is a "guard," and all are occasions for victory. Fixedness is bad.

The one-count strike (一拍子の打). Having gained striking distance and grasped the moment before the enemy is aware, strike — without moving the body, without engaging the hesitating mind — as fast and direct as can be: the strike that lands before his mind has decided to draw back, slip, or hit.

The two-stage rhythm (二のこしの拍子). When you move to strike and the enemy quickly draws back or beats aside, feint the strike; as he reacts and then slackens, strike — and as he draws back and slackens, strike. From writing alone this is hard to land; once shown, it is grasped at once.

The no-thought, no-form strike (無念無想の打). When both mean to strike at once, make the body a striking body and the mind a striking mind, and let the hand strike of itself, strongly, "from the void," with an after-quickness. This strike of the first importance comes up often — learn it well.

The flowing-water strike (流水の打). At grappling range, when the enemy means to draw back, slip, or beat your sword aside, make body and mind large and strike — the sword following after the body — slow and full and strong, like still, pooling water. Once learned it lands surely; discerning the enemy's level is essential.

The connection strike (縁のあたり). When you strike out and the enemy tries to stop or beat it aside, with the one way of the sword strike wherever you can — his head, his legs — all on the single stroke. This comes up at any time; train it in close exchange.

The flint-spark strike (石火のあたり). With your sword and the enemy's touching, strike with great force without raising your sword even a little. This needs strong legs, strong body, strong hands — strike fast with all three. Without much practice it cannot be done; trained, it lands hard.

The autumn-leaves strike (紅葉の打). A mind to knock the enemy's sword down and take command of it. When he holds his sword before him meaning to strike, beat, or receive, hit his sword hard with a no-thought or flint-spark strike, then with a clinging mind press the point downward — and his sword will surely fall.

The body in place of the sword (太刀にかはる身). In striking, body and sword do not go at once: according to the enemy's strike, the body enters first while the sword, heedless of the body, follows and strikes. Usually the body leads and the sword comes after. Learn to strike so.

To strike and to hit (打とあたる). "Striking" and "hitting" are two things. To strike (打) is to strike deliberately, with a settled mind. To hit (あたる) is more like running into — however hard, even if the enemy dies of it, it is still only a "hit," of the order of a touch, made first in order to strike hard after.

The monkey-body (秋猴の身). A mind of not putting the hands out. Entering against the enemy, with no thought of reaching with the hands, put the whole body in swiftly before he strikes — for if you mean to reach with a hand, the body hangs back.

The lacquer-and-glue body (漆膠の身). A mind of going in close and not coming apart: stick head, body, and legs to the enemy firmly. People bring the face and feet in but let the body hang back; stick your body to his so there is not the least gap.

Comparing heights (たけくらべ). Going in, do not let the body shrink — stretch the legs, hips, and neck, bring face level with face, and as if out-topping him, rise tall and go in hard.

Applying stickiness (ねばりをかくる). When the enemy receives your strike, set your sword to his and go in with a clinging mind, not too forcefully — then you may enter as slowly as you like. Distinguish sticking (ねばる), which is strong, from entangling (もつるる), which is weak.

The body-strike (身のあたり). Going in to the enemy's edge, strike him with the body: turn the face a little aside, put out the left shoulder, and strike his chest on a meeting-rhythm with a bounding spirit. Learned well, it knocks him back two or three paces — strong enough to fell him.

The three parries (三ツのうけ). Going in, to receive his striking sword: (1) thrust as if to stab his eyes, sweeping his sword off to your right shoulder; (2) the thrust-parry — meet his sword as if stabbing his right eye, as if pinching his neck; (3) against a short sword, scarcely minding the parry, thrust at his face with the clenched left fist as you enter.

Stabbing the face (面をさす). Crossed sword-to-sword, keep ever a mind to thrust your point at his face. With that mind, his face and body draw back — and the instant the enemy draws back, you have already won. Never forget it.

Stabbing the heart (心をさす). When overhead is closed or the sides cramped and cutting is hard, thrust him: slip his sword, show the back-edge of yours straight on, draw it back without bending the point, and thrust his chest. Used above all when you are tired, or your blade will not cut.

Katsu-totsu (喝咄). When you drive the enemy back and he means to strike again, thrust up from below — katsu! — and on the return, strike — totsu! — two beats in one, on a fast rhythm. This comes up constantly in exchanges.

The beating-parry (はりうけ). Exchanging blows on a totan-totan rhythm, meet his strike by beating it with your sword and striking — beating not too hard, nor merely receiving, but striking faster than the beat. With the beating-rhythm matched, however hard he strikes, a little beating keeps your point from being driven down.

The position against many (多敵の位). For one body against a multitude: draw both swords and guard with the blades held wide to left and right. Though they come from four sides, drive them toward one. Meet the foremost quickly, gaze wide, and as they strike, swing both swords at once — cut the front enemy with the going sword, the side enemy with the returning. Do not wait with swords poised; cut hard into whoever comes out, crush him, and turn at once to the next, driving them as if stringing fish in a line. To chase them in a heap, or to wait wondering where each will come, gets nowhere; know the enemy's rhythm and win where he breaks. Practice against many often, and one foe or twenty become easy.

The advantage in exchange (打あひの利). By this one discerns victory by the sword. It cannot be written in detail — practice and learn the winning place; this is the sword that reveals the true Way. Orally transmitted (口伝).

The single strike (一ツの打). With this mind one surely gains victory. Hard to grasp without learning strategy well; trained, strategy comes at will and one wins as one wishes.

The direct-penetration position (直通の位). This mind receives and transmits the true Way of the Two-Sword school. Train well and make this strategy your own body. Orally transmitted (口伝).

Afterword (後書). What is written here sets down, in outline, my school's swordsmanship. To learn to win, sword in hand: by the five forms know the five guards, learn the way of the sword, free the whole body, let the mind grow keen, and know the rhythm of the Way; when of itself the sword runs true and body, feet, and mind are loosed at will, you win over one, then two, and come to know good and bad in strategy. Practice the items of this book one by one, cross blows with all kinds of people, and know their hearts — so a thousand-league road is walked one step at a time. Unhurried, understanding that to carry out this law is the warrior's duty, think: today I win over my yesterday's self; tomorrow I win over the unskilled; later I win over the skilled. However many you defeat, anything against the teaching is not the true Way. Hold this in mind, and one body may know how to win over scores of men. A thousand days of training is "forging" (鍛); ten thousand days of training is "tempering" (錬). Examine this well.

The thirteenth day of the fifth month, Shōhō 2 (1645). Shinmen Musashi — to Terao Magonojō.

The Fire Scroll (火之巻)

Named "Fire" because battle is fierce and changes great-and-small like flame. The Fire scroll is combat itself — timing, the initiative, terrain, and the breaking of the enemy — the same whether one fights one man or commands an army.

Preface. People conceive strategy too small — a finger's quickness at the wrist, an advantage of three or five inches, a trifling speed learned with a bamboo sword. In my strategy, through many duels with life staked — dividing the two principles of life and death, learning the blade, knowing the strength and weakness of the enemy's sword — small and weak things are no concern. To fight five or ten men single-handed and surely know the way to win is my Way; the principle by which one man defeats ten, and a thousand defeat ten thousand, is no different. Yet one cannot gather thousands to practice; so even sword in hand, gauge each enemy's devices, and by the wisdom-virtue of strategy become a master — forging it morning and tempering it evening, until one gains a freedom and a marvelous power of one's own. This is the living breath by which a warrior carries out the law.

The disposition of the ground (場の次第). Discern the lay of the ground. Keep the sun behind you, or to your right; indoors, the light likewise. Keep the ground behind un-cramped — open the left, close the right. Take your guard on slightly higher ground and "look down on the enemy." When you drive him, drive him onto bad footing and obstructions, never letting him see the ground or turn his face, pressing without slack. Use the virtue of the ground, and win by the ground.

The three initiatives (三ツの先). At the start of any combat there are only three "leads": the attacking lead (懸の先), where you attack — calm, then sudden and fast, strong on the surface with depth held back; the waiting lead (待の先), where he attacks — show weakness, then seeing his slack, win hard, or catch the gap as his attacking-rhythm shifts; and the simultaneous lead (体々の先), where both attack at once — meeting fast with calm strength, or light speed, and winning the instant you see his slack. Since victory follows from the order of the lead, the lead is the first thing in strategy.

Holding down the pillow (枕をおさふる). Do not let the enemy raise his head. Having gained the true Way, read the sign of his intent before he acts, and suppress the very head of the act — at his "strike," press the head of the word; at his "leap," its head; at his "cut," its head — all the same. Let him do the useless things; suppress the useful, so nothing he does serves. A mind merely set on "suppressing" is a following hand; rather, act by the Way and press down the head of his intent as you go. This is the mastery born of training.

Crossing the ford (渡を越す). As a good captain knows the strait, the bearing, and the weather, and crosses a long sea by borrowing the wind and trusting oar and rudder — so in life and in combat, "cross the ford": receive the enemy's position, know your own competence, find his weakness, put yourself ahead, and mostly win at once. Once across, the mind is at ease.

Reading the conditions (景気を知る). In large strategy, know the enemy's flourishing and declining, the temper of his troops, and the ground, and grasp the place of certain victory. In single strategy, discern his school, the kind of man he is, his strengths and weaknesses; do what runs counter to his temper, know his ups and downs and the rhythm of the interval, and take the lead. Where the wisdom-power is strong, the conditions of things are always visible.

Treading on the sword (剣をふむ). Attack while the enemy is still loosing — fast, before he can nock the arrow or reload — and "tread on" whatever he attempts, receiving its advantage at once. With the sword, if you strike after his sword it becomes totan-totan and gets nowhere; tread on his striking sword — with foot, body, mind, and sword — and deny him a second strike. This is the spirit of the lead: not "meeting at once," but "following close after."

Knowing collapse (くづれを知る). Collapse belongs to all things, when the moment comes and the rhythm goes awry. Catch the rhythm of the enemy's collapse and pursue without missing the gap; slacken at the breath of his collapse and he recovers. At his collapse-point pursue surely, striking free so he cannot recover his face — for without breaking off there is a lingering slackness.

Becoming the enemy (敵になる). Put yourself in the enemy's place. The burglar barricaded in a house seems a strong foe; but become him, and he is a man who, with all the world against him, has fled and is at his wit's end. The one barricaded is the pheasant; the one entering to kill is the hawk. Face a true master and you will know yourself beaten — so judge from his side, not only your own.

Releasing the four hands (四手をはなす). When you and the enemy lock in the same straining mind, combat gets nowhere. The instant you feel that deadlock, throw the mind away and win by an advantage he does not expect. In an army it wastes men; one against one, change your mind and win by a quite different advantage.

Moving the shadow (陰を動かす). When the enemy's mind cannot be seen, feign a strong attack to draw out his devices; once shown, win easily by a separate advantage. One against one, make as if to strike sharply and he reveals his intent in his sword; once revealed, receive the advantage and win — but relax and the rhythm slips.

Suppressing the shadow (影をおさふる). When the enemy's attacking intent shows, show him strongly that you suppress its very advantage; pressed by your strength his mind changes, and then, from an empty mind, you attack and win. One against one, by the rhythm of advantage stop his strong rising intent, and at the point where it stops, take the victory and the lead.

Infecting (うつらかす). Sleepiness is catching, yawning is catching — even moods. When the enemy is restless and hurried, take no notice and show yourself utterly at ease; he catches it and slackens, and then, from an empty mind, you attack fast and strong. (A like thing is "making him weak," in three kinds — the bored mind, the careless mind, the weakening mind.)

Causing upset (むかつかする). Upset the enemy, in three kinds — putting him in danger, facing him with the impossible, taking him by surprise. Attack where he does not expect, without let-up, and before his mind settles take the advantage and the lead; or show yourself slow, then suddenly attack hard, and as his mind wavers, without missing the breath, win.

Frightening (おびやかす). Startle the enemy by what is not before his eyes — by a sound, by making the small seem large, by a sudden move from a flank; or, one against one, with body, sword, or voice, do what is not in his mind. Catch the rhythm of his fright and win by it.

Intermingling (まぶるる). When you and the enemy strain hard against each other and combat gets nowhere, merge with him as one, and within that intermingling take the advantage and win. When both sides strain and victory will not come, close until you cannot be told apart, find the virtue within it, and win hard.

Touching the corner (かどにさはる). A strong thing cannot be pushed straight in. Strike at the corner of the enemy's strong projecting part — as the corner wears down, the whole wears down. One against one, injure a corner of his body, and as it weakens to collapse, victory comes easily.

Unsettling (うろめかす). Keep the enemy from holding a settled mind: make him think "here? there?", "slow? fast?"; feign a strike, a thrust, an entry — catch the rhythm where his mind grows flustered, and find the certain victory.

The three shouts (三ツの声). The shouts of beginning, middle, and end. The voice shows force — we shout at fires and against wind and waves. In battle the opening shout is pitched as large as can be; the shout during combat is low, from the depths; and after winning, large and strong. One against one, feign a strike and shout "Ei!" from the head, loosing the sword after the voice; the shout after the strike announces victory. One does not shout loudly together with the sword.

Threading through (まぎるる). When the enemy is strong, attack one flank; seeing it collapse, leave it and attack the next strong place, going as down a switchback (つづらをり). Against many, do not attack everywhere at once — gauge the rhythm, go left and right in a zigzag, and strike through with no mind to retreat. "Threading" is to thread forward knowing not one step of retreat.

Crushing (ひしぐ). Seeing the enemy weak, become the stronger and crush him from the head with overwhelming weight, as if gripping in the hand — for a weak crush lets him recover. One against one, when his rhythm is off and he is in retreat, give him no breath, do not let your eyes meet, and crush him straight down. The first thing is not to let him rise even a little.

The mountain-and-sea change (山海のかはり). It is bad to do the same thing twice; never a third time. If a technique fails, do something quite different, suddenly; and if that fails, yet another. If the enemy thinks "mountain," attack as "sea"; if he thinks "sea," attack as "mountain."

Pulling out the bottom (底を抜く). You may win on the surface, yet because the enemy's spirit is not spent, he is beaten on top but unbeaten at the bottom of his mind. There, take a suddenly-changed spirit, exhaust his mind, and watch for the place where he breaks from the bottom. This may be done with the sword, the body, or the mind. Once he has broken from the bottom, you need keep nothing in reserve.

Renewing (新たになる). When you fall into an entangled mind and get nowhere, throw away your mood and begin everything afresh, catching that rhythm to find the victory. Whenever you feel the grinding deadlock, change your mind at once and win by a quite different advantage.

Rat's-head, ox's-neck (鼠頭牛首). When both fall to minding small details and the mind grows entangled, keep thinking, in the Way of strategy, "rat's-head, ox's-neck" — and in the very midst of the fine and small, suddenly become large, switching great and small. This is one of strategy's attitudes of mind, and the warrior should keep it even in ordinary life.

Knowing commander and soldiers (将卒を知る). Carrying out this law and gaining the wisdom-power of strategy, take all your enemies to be your own soldiers — "I may do with them as I will; I will turn them about freely." Then you are the commander and the enemy your soldiers.

Releasing the hilt (束をはなす). This has several senses: a mind of winning without the sword, and a mind of not winning even with the sword. They cannot all be written. Train well.

The rock-body (岩石の身). Having attained the Way of strategy, one becomes at once like a great rock — unmoving, untouched by any of the ten thousand things. Orally transmitted (口伝).

Afterword (後書). What is written here sets down only what comes constantly to mind in my school's swordsmanship; written for the first time, the order runs together, and it is hard to say things finely — yet it may serve a learner as a guide to the heart. Since my youth, inquiring into other schools, I found some that talk and excuse with the mouth, some that do fine techniques to please the eye — but not one with the true heart. Such things become a sickness of the Way, hard ever to be rid of, and the root by which the straight Way decays. To make swordsmanship the true Way and win over enemies differs not the least from this law; gaining the wisdom-power of my strategy and carrying out the straight Way, victory is beyond doubt.

The twelfth day of the fifth month, Shōhō 2 (1645). Shinmen Musashi — to Terao Magonojō.

(The Wind and Void scrolls follow.)

See also

The Long Saber (單刀法選) — the Japanese-derived Chinese two-handed sabre

Qi Jiguang (戚繼光) — who took Japanese sword methods into the Chinese army

The Bubishi (武備志) — the other great China–Japan martial text on this wiki

Source Texts — the wiki's primary manuals and classics

Sources

[1] 五輪書 (Go Rin no Sho), the public-domain Hosokawa-line original — read here via the transcription at koten.net/gorin (original text + modern-Japanese reading). English translation on this page is the wiki's own CC0 rendering.

[2] The Book of Five Rings, English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Five_Rings) — the manuscript lineages, the five scrolls, and the in-copyright modern translations (Harris 1974, Cleary, Wilson, Bennett 2018) linked rather than reproduced.

[3] On the China–Japan sabre transmission: 苗刀 and 紀效新書, Japanese/Chinese Wikipedia; Benjamin Judkins, Kung Fu Tea, on the miaodao and "invented tradition" — establishing that the Japanese→Chinese sabre influence predates Musashi.