A Book Of Five Rings

A Book Of Five Rings
I have been many years training in the Way of strategy, called Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first time.
The Way is shown in five booksconcerning different aspects. These are Ground, Water, Fire, Tradition (Wind), and Void.
The body of the Way of strategy from the viewpoint of my Ichi school is explained in the Ground book. It isdifficult to realise the true Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things. As if it were a straight road mapped out onthe ground, the first book is called the Ground book.
Second is the Water book. With water as the basis, the spirit becomes like water. Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes atrickle and sometimes a wild sea. Water has a clear blue colour. By the clarity, things of Ichi school are shown in this book
Third is the Fire book. This book is about fighting. The spirit of fire isfierce, whether the fire be small or big; and so it is with battles. The Way of battles is the same for man to man fights and for ten thousand a side battles. You must appreciate that spirit canbecome big or small. What is big is easy to perceive: what is small is difficult to perceive. The essence of this book is that you must train day and night in order to make quick decisions.
Fourthly theWind book. This book is not concerned with my Ichi school but with other schools of strategy. By Wind I mean old traditions, present-day traditions, and family traditions of strategy
Fifthly, thebook of the Void. By Void I mean that which has no beginning and no end.
Strategy is different from other things in that if you mistake the Way even a little you will become bewildered and fall into badways.
By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist. That is the void.
People in this world look at things mistakenly, and think that what they do not understand must be...