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The Book of Five Rings  By  cover art

The Book of Five Rings

By: Miyamoto Musashi,William Scott Wilson - translator
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Publisher's summary

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 readers of earlier times on the battlefield and now serves the modern listener 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 17th-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.

©2002 William Scott Wilson (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"On Wall Street, when Musashi talks, people listen." ( Time)

What listeners say about The Book of Five Rings

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    5 out of 5 stars

DO NOT Listen to David P. Grange's Review

It is clear that he skipped the forward, or he would realize how ignorant his statement about the translator is. William Scott Wilson isn't some "western elitist" (whatever that means). He is a master linguist and historian who was granted access to one of the original copies of this work by the Soke of Musashi's own surviving Niten Ichi-ryu school. He had extensive help and guidance from non-western, non-elitists to complete this work, which took up a major chunk of his life to complete. Even the most famous translations of A Book of Five Rings did not come from the source material that he had access to. This is a pure gem of a book for us lucky readers and history/martial arts enthusiasts. Wilson's focus on translating the semantics of the original papers is a work of dedication and passion that literally distills down to he and his co-writers writing notes on "untranslatable puns" that Musashi made (as just one example), in order to help the reader better understand Musashi's mindset and nuance - not just the raw words or a direct and watered down English translation. He explains the approach to translating this work in such detail STRICTLY FOR all the people like David out there - though, as we all can plainly see, it's a fruitless effort. I've read several different versions of this masterpiece, and this has by far been my personal favorite, mainly due to all the detailed work that was put into allowing us laymen and non-Japanese speakers to understand tiny morsels of information we may have missed otherwise. Form whatever opinion you like; this review is just my own opinion, afterall. But don't pass on this wonderful book strictly based on guys like David's ignorance, impatience, and his own brand of elitism.

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86 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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When you get to Musashi's writings it gets good.

The voiceover fit the writings well. My only turnoff for this book is that it starts with a 30 minute introduction from some Westerner saying what he believe Musashi meant to say/was thinking when the 5 rings were originally written. The "short" introduction is longer than some of the chapters from Musashi's actual writings. I'm not interested in the opinions of some self-important elitist trying to proclaim his theories as actual facts. Just get to what I was actually wanting to read about.

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19 people found this helpful

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  • JB
  • 11-29-16

Great guide for a great mindset

Great work, it is quite short though. A lot of the information you will have to investigate thoroughly elsewhere. However, he does put you on the right course for a winning mind set. Really insight into the mind of a man who won over 60 life and death fights.

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The way of all things.

If you could sum up The Book of Five Rings in three words, what would they be?

Exactly as hoped.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Book of Five Rings?

The introduction of the book by the original author, Musashi.

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no idea

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I listened to it 5 times allready, I am sure I will do so again.

Any additional comments?

A marvelous book that I without a doubt will also buy in print. The performance of Scot Brick was excellent, clearly understandable and with good pronouncement, at least as far as I understand it (I do not speak japanese).

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An excellent audio book! Will listen again!

A great audio book that's short but containing practical information. Something to review multiple times. Good book!

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A classic must read

Would you listen to The Book of Five Rings again? Why?

Yes, anyone into martial arts or philosophy.

Any additional comments?

If you read books like "Art of War" then you need this one in your collection as well.

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5 people found this helpful

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The book of the five rings

You should investigate this thoroughly study this in great detail. Put it to practice daily

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • KC
  • 04-09-16

interesting but ehhh

cool topic, performed well, story is not as cool as I thought it was going to be. Some good zen lessons and a sort of warriors way story. Just kind of bland.

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2 people found this helpful

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Amazing book

I really liked hearing about one of the greatest samurai. Also hearing about the two sword style and how the kata works

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Lessons for everyone

So much practical information that you can take out of these martial art lessons. Quite intriguing to hear the methods of the true swordsman.

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