In The Book of Five Rings, one of Japan’s most famous Samurai warriors, Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), shares his principles for any aspiring warrior wishing to know the true Way of Japanese swordsmanship. Musashi claims that those who know the true Way are invincible in combat, arguing that it is strategy and discipline, not brute strength or innate ability, that make a successful warrior. Although a product of 17th-century Samurai culture, some of Musashi’s key principles can still be used by the modern reader in their personal and professional lives. In this guide, we will explore the key principles in each of the five “books,” or chapters, and examine their modern relevance.
The Samurai were an elite caste of warriors in Japan with a military tradition that endured for several centuries. The Samurai first came to prominence during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) and lasted until their official dissolution in 1879, when Japan began to favor modernization in its military. Apart from combat duties, many Samurai also held important government positions. The values of the Samurai were largely influenced by different strains of Eastern philosophy, such as Buddhism and Confucianism, and were centered upon loyalty, bravery, and tranquility of body and mind.
Musashi is not the only Samurai to have left behind a written account of his strategies. Some other famous Samurai whose works have been translated into English include Taira Shigesuke, Yamamoto Kansuke, and Natori-Ryu.
While no longer an active force in the modern world, the Samurai remain historically and culturally important in the Japanese popular consciousness, and the traditional art of swordsmanship is still practiced today in some martial arts schools.
The Book of Five Rings is divided into five “books” or chapters, each named after a different natural element important in Buddhism: ground, water, fire, wind, and what Musashi calls “the Void.” The Ground Book lays out the fundamental principles of Musashi’s Way; the Water Book focuses upon cultivating the right physical and mental approach to combat; the Fire Book is about fighting, both in one-to-one combat and in battles between armies; the Wind Book contains Musashi’s criticisms of other martial arts schools; and the Book of the Void is a brief Zen-like meditation on how to achieve the right spiritual state for a successful warrior.
(Shortform note: Musashi can be obscure and disorganized in his structure. He emphasizes a student-centric approach to learning, which means that he doesn’t usually offer clear guidance on how to apply his teachings. He frequently leaves it up to the reader to interpret and apply the principles for themselves.)
The Ground Book introduces some of the most important aspects of Musashi’s Way. We can group these core fundamentals into three categories: Know your discipline, use your tools well, and be flexible, patient, and disciplined.
Musashi believes that you must thoroughly learn about your discipline before you can put your knowledge into practice. Musashi also strongly believes that while the teacher can facilitate learning, it’s the student’s responsibility to put what he learns into practice. Musashi repeatedly warns that this is not a quick or easy process: He urges his reader to tirelessly study “day and night,” as Musashi himself claims to have done for decades.
Student-Centric Learning: Then and Now
While ideas around the importance of student-centric learning have gained increasing prominence in recent decades, versions of this approach have existed for many centuries. Socrates (470-399 BC) and his Socratic Method is perhaps the most famous example in the Western tradition. There are also current pedagogical methods aimed at creating student-centric learning even for very young children, such as the Montessori Method, which takes as one of its founding principles the idea that the child should follow their own interests and abilities, with the teacher offering individualized guidance and support instead of just a one-size-fits-all curriculum that all students must follow.
Musashi says that an essential part of strategy is knowing how to use tools and resources well. This component of strategy is twofold: You must begin by knowing the tools and weapons you have available and how best to apply them in any situation.
(Shortform note: Musashi’s advice about knowing your resources and tools and making the best use of them requires being creative and flexible in discovering how best to use them to achieve your goals. Similarly, today some life coaches advocate creating a “life resource” list to help you figure out which resources you can use in whichever situation, personal or professional, you may find yourself in. A “life resource” list covers multiple areas, such as mindset, skills, support systems, and knowledge.)
Musashi teaches that a successful warrior is, above all else, flexible, patient, and disciplined. Developing these key qualities depends on the following factors:
(Shortform note: Musashi’s advice to avoid becoming dependent on particular conditions or settings in order to succeed applies to today’s continuously evolving workplace. Transferable skills are becoming increasingly valuable, especially since the number of workers looking to switch their roles or industries has risen dramatically. An article by Forbes even argues that workers who switch jobs frequently may be more successful in the long run than those who remain within the same role or company long term.)
Musashi says that the ideal warrior is like water: flexible and adaptable. Just as water can change its form (liquid, solid, gas) and take on the shape of whatever container it’s poured into as a liquid, so too must the ideal warrior learn how to adapt to any situation through cultivating the right mental and physical approach. The right approach rests on three factors: absorbing rather than memorizing, training the body and mind together, and cultivating self-control.
Musashi repeatedly warns that reading The Book of Five Rings will not automatically make someone a great warrior. It is not enough to simply know the principles of the Way—you must absorb the principles on a deeper level, incorporating them into your very essence. This is not a quick or easy process: You must be patient and disciplined, as there are no shortcuts apart from constant study and training.
Making Knowledge and Skills “Second Nature”
When Musashi urges his readers to absorb his principles instead of merely memorizing them, he does so for two reasons. First, this is in keeping with Musashi’s student-centric approach more generally. Since true knowledge is active and not passive, the aspiring warrior must always seek ways of making the knowledge truly his own before putting it to use. Second, by fully absorbing knowledge, the warrior increases his chances of applying it more effectively in real-world situations, even while under pressure in combat situations.
The modern concept of “muscle memory” also claims that making something instinctive and automatic is both a mental and physical process. Muscle memory refers to the way in which repetition while learning a skill or performing a task helps to forge new neural pathways in the brain, allowing the process to eventually become physically and/or mentally automatic.
Musashi believes that being a great warrior has both mental and physical aspects. The body and mind must work together for success. Training body and mind in sync involves maintaining good posture, staying calm under pressure, and learning how to be perceptive—the true warrior doesn’t just see things, he learns how to perceive everything around him and weigh its importance accordingly.
(Shortform Note: Scientific studies have identified direct links between mental and physical well-being, reinforcing the idea that the body needs to be approached holistically. In fact, we’re relearning what most of the world already understood—that the body and mind are connected—up until the 17 century, when the Western world began to view the body as separate and machine-like with independent parts.)
Musashi says the warrior must master himself before he attempts to control others. In developing self-mastery, the warrior avoids falling prey to nerves or lack of skill when fighting an enemy. Furthermore, self-control makes the warrior both a successful individual and an effective leader: By embodying the qualities and skills you wish to see in your team, you will inspire others to follow your example.
(Shortform note: The idea of self-control as a crucial component for success in life has had a long pedigree in both the East and West. For example, Stoic philosophers, such as Seneca and Epictetus, urged their followers to cultivate an inner tranquility that would prove unshakeable regardless of external factors. Modern research also suggests mindfulness can help you develop better self-control. In taking time to learn how to center yourself and regulate your mind, you can make strengthening your self-control a part of your daily routine.)
Musashi discusses how to apply your training in both one-on-one and large-scale combat in The Fire Book. When faced with a real-life challenge or enemy, the warrior must keep three principles in mind: awareness and adaptability, the essentiality of always taking the initiative, and how to apply strategies on both large and small scales.
(Shortform note: In urging readers to know their environment, think like their competitor, and adapt their strategy to the circumstances, Musashi demonstrates that adaptability is, fundamentally, a certain type of mindset that is applicable to all three areas. Some experts claim there are certain qualities that determine how adaptable a person will be: flexibility, curiosity, emotional intelligence, focus on opportunities, interpersonal skills, being proactive, and cultivating a positive mindset.)
Musashi emphasizes that the successful warrior is proactive and not reactive. The single greatest advantage you can have is to always take the initiative. For Musashi, this is one of the most crucial aspects of strategy. A warrior who has learned how to carefully perceive his environment and who demonstrates a willingness to change tactics—as discussed above—will always know the best way to gain the upper hand.
(Shortform note: Stephen Covey lists being proactive as his first “habit” in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey argues that people who are proactive are happier and more successful in life, because feeling in control allows you to respond more calmly to setbacks and to learn more readily from failure. Being proactive also boosts overall mental well-being and motivation, which in turn increases your chances of success. Covey argues that learning to understand what you can and can’t control, learning from mistakes, and actively shaping your self-image are all strategies you can use to become more proactive in your life.)
Musashi argues that a truly solid strategy works on both large and small scales in combat, which is why a warrior trained in the true Way will be able to apply his knowledge and skills regardless of what sort of battle he fights. Musashi urges his reader to always keep this in mind while training and even in one-to-one combat: The strategies that can help you win against one man can help you win against a whole army.
(Shortform note: An article for the Harvard Business Review notes that flexibility isn’t just about mindset or strategy, but also about execution. So it’s important to recognize common pitfalls that can interfere with executing your company’s plans effectively, such as inflexibility, creating plans with too many steps, refusing to adapt your plans, and relying too much on data. You can also learn how to become more personally flexible at work through cultivating your sense of optimism, calmness of mind, and training yourself to plan ahead.)
In the Wind Book, Musashi critiques the combat approaches of some of the rival Samurai schools of his day. In a modern context, two of Musashi’s principles remain important: understanding your competitor’s strategies and relying on skill over strength for victory.
Musashi argues that it’s never enough just to thoroughly know your own strategies during combat: To outwit your competitor and strengthen your own position, you must first thoroughly understand what their strategy is. You must observe your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses and their circumstances, and try to anticipate their next move.
(Shortform note: Musashi urges the warrior to observe the enemy carefully to outwit him and gain the upper hand in combat. Similarly, in the fifth book of The Art of War, Sun Tzu also outlines tactics for determining your enemy’s position and outmaneuvering them in combat. Sun Tzu’s advice includes always taking the initiative, determining your enemy’s weak spots, adapting your tactics when needed, and favoring speed.)
Musashi argues that strength alone never determines the outcome of combat: It’s the smartest and most skillful warrior who wins—brute strength alone is never enough. By relying on his skills and knowledge of strategy, the warrior will be able to win even against the strongest of enemies.
Skill Trumps Strength in Combat and Sports
While the Samurai have ceased to exist as an active force, Musashi’s insistence on the superiority of skill and strategy over brute strength still applies to some modern martial arts contexts. Martial artist Lawrence A. Kane argues that skill is more important than strength in martial arts. It is, however, also interesting to note that some studies show that cognitive strategies in sports can affect strength in athletes. These strategies include setting goals, mental preparation, and visualization, and some correlation has been observed between the use of these strategies and increased strength performance. Such research suggests that while Musashi might not see strength as a determining factor in combat or competition, it can nevertheless be a positive by-product of the sort of mental discipline he advocates.
Musashi suggests that the “Void” is a state of spiritual enlightenment, in which you find the virtue and wisdom that make up the true Way of the warrior. To discover the Void and access it at will during combat, you must do two things: Seek to develop deep knowledge of all things, and constantly train and put the principles you’ve learned into practice.
(Shortform note: In speaking of “the Void” and its importance for the warrior, Musashi draws upon a key concept in Zen Buddhism known as “sunyata.” Sunyata is the state in which your sense of self becomes immersed in the five skandhas, or elements, of existence: form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. Achieving sunyata leads to mental and physical harmony through the abandonment of an egotistical, individualistic notion of “self,” allowing the warrior to become one with his environment.)
In The Book of Five Rings, legendary Samurai Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) shares his principles for aspiring warriors wishing to learn the true Way for success in combat. For Musashi, the essence of the Way is strategy: how a warrior trains himself mentally and physically for mortal combat, his skill in wielding any kind of weapon, and his ability to adapt to any kind of circumstances in order to achieve his victory. Above all else, Musashi argues that success in combat is about discipline and strategy, not innate talent. Modern readers can apply Musashi’s principles to personal and professional contexts, allowing them to develop the habits and mindset necessary for achieving their goals.
Miyamoto Musashi was born in the Harima Province of Japan in 1584, the son of a swordsman. Musashi fought and won his first duel at age 13. At age 16 he embarked on his personal musha shugyō, the traditional rite-of-passage for Samurai in which the aspiring warrior traveled throughout Japan, fighting duels and learning more about his craft. Afterward, Musashi took up residence at a Buddhist temple while continuing to hone his skills in swordsmanship. In 1612, Musashi fought one of his most famous duels against another leading Samurai, Sasaki Kojirō, whom he killed.
In later years, Musashi ran his own school for training aspiring Samurai. A couple of years before his death, Musashi recorded his key principles of swordsmanship in his Book of Five Rings. He also later completed a short book called The Way of Walking Alone. Apart from his legendary status as a swordsman, Musashi was also known as an accomplished calligrapher and painter. He died in 1645, after having spent his final years mostly in seclusion. In the centuries since his death, Musashi’s life has inspired numerous films, novels, and television series—a testament to his lasting impact in Japanese popular culture.
The Book of Five Rings was written in Japanese around 1643, and it now exists in multiple modern English translations. Due to the book’s linguistic and historical challenges, producing a definitive translation can be tricky. Musashi’s writing style can be vague even at the best of times; the fact he is writing in centuries-old Japanese about a martial arts tradition deeply embedded in his 17th-century culture adds to the possible difficulties of interpretation.
The first mainstream English publication featured a translation by Victor Harris and was published by Overlook Press in 1974. The book was marketed as particularly useful for businessmen seeking to understand strategy in a modern competitive context. A later translation by Thomas Cleary sought to contextualize Musashi’s thinking within its spiritual and historical context. Cleary’s interest in the culture of the Samurai is also displayed in his translation of a book of strategy by another Samurai, Taira Shigesuke, and his numerous translations of other works related to martial arts.
Our guide uses the Kindle edition of the translation by William Scott Wilson. Wilson’s translation is fairly terse and functional, and it seems to aim for clarity over style. Readers who wish to learn more about other Samurai manuals of instruction, the Samurai tradition itself, or Miyamoto Musashi can consult our “further reading” list at the end of this guide.
The Samurai were an elite caste of warriors in Japan with a military tradition that endured for several centuries. The Samurai first came to prominence during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) and lasted until their official dissolution in 1879, when Japan began to favor modernization in its military. Although trained as warriors, many prominent Samurai dynasties also became involved in politics, with members of Samurai clans holding important civil positions within the Imperial government.
The values of the Samurai were largely influenced by different strains of Eastern philosophy, such as Buddhism and Confucianism. The ideal Samurai had to be brave, calm, highly skilled with his weapons, and fiercely loyal to his Lord or Emperor. A true Samurai who had failed in combat or behaved dishonorably would commit seppuku, a ritual suicide. Oftentimes, shortly before the seppuku, the Samurai would compose a short “death poem” as a formal leave-taking of the world.
While no longer an active force in the modern world, the Samurai remain historically and culturally important in the Japanese popular consciousness. There are many novels, films, and other forms of media inspired by the Samurai, and the traditional art of swordsmanship is still practiced today in some martial arts schools.
Although perhaps the most famous Samurai of his day, Musashi is not the only Samurai to have left behind a written account of his strategies. Some other famous Samurai whose works have been translated into English include Taira Shigesuke, Yamamoto Kansuke, and Natori-Ryu (see our “further reading” list at the end of this guide for details). When Musashi discusses rival schools of instruction in the Book of Wind, a chapter in The Book of Five Rings, it is important to keep his contemporary context in mind: Musashi was not the only Samurai offering an interpretation of the Way, and opinions did differ in terms of approach and technique among different Samurai. In assessing these rival schools and offering his own strategies for aspiring warriors, Musashi was contributing to important debates and rivalries active in his time.
Musashi left another text before his death, The Way of Walking Alone, which is a meditation on self-reliance. It contains 21 general principles that Musashi believes are key to having a successful and peaceful life.
Manuals of instruction have long existed as a genre in both the West and East, and they can address an almost limitless number of topics. As noted above, many manuals of instruction by other Samurai exist. Within a broader Eastern historical context, the Chinese The Art of War by Sun Tzu is a useful point of comparison to The Book of Five Rings. It is an earlier example (5th century AD) of strategy offered for forms of combat. However, Tzu focuses on strategies for armies, as opposed to focusing on individual combat as Musashi tends to do.
Within the Western tradition, a manual of instruction that exhibits a similar sort of spirit to The Book of Five Rings is Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince, which was written in around 1510 and first published in 1532—approximately a century before The Book of Five Rings was written. While Musashi seeks to create the perfect warrior, Machiavelli offers advice for becoming the perfect politician. Like Musashi, Machiavelli is not concerned with conventional morality—an aspect of The Prince that has become somewhat infamous, both during Machiavelli’s own time and in the centuries since. What Musashi and Machiavelli share in common above all else is a total commitment to victory: Both writers argue that a man must be ruthlessly disciplined in achieving his goal and willing to succeed at any cost.
The Book of Five Rings has found popularity outside of martial arts contexts in two general respects: as a guide to strategy that can be applied to a modern business context, and as principles that can be applied to an individual’s personal goals or interests more generally.
As mentioned above, when an English translation of The Book of Five Rings first appeared in 1974, it was marketed as a guide for businesspeople. This helped to popularize the book with Western readers, especially in the wake of Japan’s economic boom in the 1980s. Nowadays, the book’s relevance for modern business is sometimes questioned by some readers and commentators; however, this guide notes principles that may be useful for a reader’s professional life.
The Book of Five Rings has also attracted interest from readers seeking a “self-help” guide to becoming more disciplined or successful. Musashi’s principles about training the body and mind to be in sync, his encouragement of focus and discipline, and paying attention to detail are some of the strategies such readers will find of value.
Musashi remains alive and well in the popular consciousness in Japan, and several studies about his life have also appeared in English in recent years (see our “further reading” list at the end of this guide for some biographical sources).
However, in spite of its historical and cultural significance, The Book of Five Rings has some potential obstacles for the modern reader. Some reader reviews complain about Musashi’s habitual vagueness, arguing that it is difficult to discern Musashi’s principles—or to apply them—since he rarely offers explicit guidance. Others argue that the book is limited to its historical or martial arts value, as they struggle to see any meaningful connection to modern contexts. Some readers mention feeling uncomfortable with Musashi’s lack of interest in ethics, reflected in his dispassionate killing of opponents.
The difficulties of Japanese-to-English translation and the vagueness and disorganization of the text present many challenges, especially for the more casual reader. As noted, Musashi’s indifference to moral issues—and his wholehearted embrace of the violence inherent to the Samurai lifestyle—means that the Book of Five Rings lacks a well-developed ethical or philosophical side. Even the more Zen-like meditation in the fifth book, the Book of the Void, is included by Musashi only because he believes “the Void” is the key to being a successful warrior, not because he aspires to Buddhism’s traditional renunciation of violence.
Although The Book of Five Rings is technically a manual of instruction, it doesn’t necessarily instruct the reader especially well—or at least, not in the way a modern reader might expect it to. While reading the book, it is important to keep the following key factors in mind:
The Book of Five Rings is divided into five chapters or “books,” named after the five core elements in Buddhism: ground, water, fire, wind, and “the Void.” Musashi doesn’t explain his use of “rings” in the work’s title, although the “five rings” appear to be synonymous with the five books, and could refer metaphorically to the five main areas of Japanese swordsmanship.
Sometimes the link between a book’s element and its subject matter isn’t fully apparent:
Musashi’s general organizational approach in The Book of Five Rings can be a little confusing for readers familiar with other manuals of instruction, both historical and modern. Although a short book, the text is quite dense, and it isn’t always intuitive in its structure. This lack of clear, linear organization can make the thread of Musashi’s thought hard to follow. Musashi himself admits that his book is disorganized: For this reason, distinguishing main principles from sub-principles—or the ideal order in which the warrior should study these principles—is not clearly laid out. Furthermore, Musashi doesn’t usually give specific guidance when it comes to applying his principles—there are no handy step-by-step instructions to illustrate each principle before moving on to the next one.
In our guide, we attempt to identify the key themes from each book and present them in ways that could make them useful for the modern reader, as detailed below.
In this guide, we explain and contextualize Musashi’s main principles. However, our focus is not on the martial arts aspect of the book, but instead on principles and strategies potentially useful in professional and personal contexts.
As previously noted, modern readers differ in terms of how they prefer to use The Book of Five Rings. While some enjoy applying Musashi’s strategies to the world of modern business, others prefer to stick to a more individualized approach based on adapting Musashi’s teachings to their day-to-day lives. This guide identifies opportunities for application in both senses, but overall we tend to favor a focus on personal lifestyle to provide relevance for the greatest possible number of readers. Furthermore, not everything Musashi says is relevant within a modern context, so we’ve focused on what is directly useful for the modern reader.
It’s also important to note that interpretations of Musashi’s principles can vary, due to his student-centric approach and his insistence upon the reader’s “absorption” of ideas over his explicit instruction. Our guide singles out some key themes for each book and offers guidance for applying the main points to your personal and professional life, but these themes can sometimes be applied in more than one way.
The Book of Five Rings presents legendary Samurai Miyamoto Musashi’s (1584-1645) strategies for following the true Way of ancient Japanese swordsmanship, so that anyone diligent and committed enough can become an undefeated champion. For a Samurai like Musashi, combat was frequently a kill-or-be-killed situation, somewhat similar in this respect to the gladiatorial combats of Ancient Rome. For an aspiring warrior at the time this was written, learning the true Way was not just a matter of personal achievement, but also a matter of personal survival.
The work is divided into five “books” or chapters, each named after a different natural element important in Buddhism: ground, water, fire, wind, and what Musashi calls “the Void.” The Ground Book lays out the fundamental principles of Musashi’s Way; the Water Book focuses upon cultivating the right physical and mental approach to combat; the Fire Book is about fighting, both in one-to-one combat and in battles between armies; the Wind Book contains Musashi’s criticisms of other martial arts schools; and the Book of the Void is a brief Zen-like meditation on how to achieve the right spiritual state for a successful warrior.
The Five Rings of Japanese Swordsmanship
As explained in this article by leading martial arts magazine Black Belt, the five “rings” mentioned in Musashi’s title are a metaphorical representation of the five main areas of study in Japanese swordsmanship. The five main areas are:
Suburi is the area of basic exercises for both body (e.g. movement, posture, balance) and weapon (the basic moves of swordsmanship), to establish the fundamentals of the discipline.
Goho Battoho covers the five main methods for moves during combat (horizontal, thrust, right-to-left diagonal, left-to-right-diagonal, rising cut).
Tanren Kata covers transitions and more advanced combat moves. Body work is also included to improve aspects such as muscle memory and balance.
Tachiuchi covers the exercises performed with a partner instead of solo drills.
Tameshigiri is when the aspiring swordsman begins to use a real sword and engage in actual combat with an opponent. It is the culmination of his training.
While The Book of Five Rings can be difficult to follow and repetitious, a handful of themes recur throughout the five books:
(Shortform Note: While Musashi believed that commitment and training are more important for success than being lucky or naturally gifted, there is some evidence that modern employers demonstrate a “natural talent” bias when selecting job candidates. This suggests that, for the modern reader, recognizing and openly acknowledging your natural talents can still give you a competitive edge in your career, instead of relying too much on work ethic alone.)
Sun Tzu’s Five Factors for Effective Warfare
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu builds his theory of effective combat upon a series of core principles, just as Musashi does. However, while Musashi tends to favor a strategy built purely upon winning, Tzu shows a greater interest in the nuances of the ethical and social sides of combat. Tzu also aims his advice at armies, whereas Musashi’s principles are designed mostly for one-to-one Samurai combat.
Tzu claims that successful warfare depends on the general always keeping the following five factors in mind:
The Moral Law. By moral law, Tzu refers to the bond between subjects and their ruler. The subject owes their ruler unquestioning obedience and will fight to the death in defense of their ruler and homeland if ordered to do so. This factor is reminiscent of the loyalty to Lord or Emperor that was an essential part of the Samurai creed.
Heaven. This factor includes all of the natural climatic elements that can affect warfare, such as temperature and seasons of the year.
Earth. The “earth” factor refers to on-the-ground factors such as the condition of the terrain for battle and the distances involved. In The Book of Five Rings, Musashi also discusses the importance of examining your terrain and planning your combat strategy accordingly in Book 3, the Fire Book.
The Commander. For Tzu, a commander embodies the moral values all great leaders should have, such as wisdom, bravery, and discipline. In the Book of Five Rings’ Water Book, Musashi briefly discusses the importance of the Samurai demonstrating self-control to be a strong leader in combat.
Method and Discipline. Tzu considers anything logistical to fall under this category, such as how the army is organized and how funds are managed. Musashi doesn’t say much about logistics in The Book of Five Rings—his focus is always more on the warrior at an individual level, instead of the technicalities of managing large-scale operations.
The first book, the Ground Book, introduces the reader to some of the most important aspects of Musashi’s Way. The Way is, in essence, the strategy that a warrior must follow in order to be successful. In the Ground Book, these core fundamentals can be grouped into three categories:
We will now take a closer look at each fundamental below.
For Musashi, the foundation of effective strategy lies in first establishing a thorough knowledge of your discipline. Developing genuine knowledge of your discipline depends on two factors:
1. You are responsible for your own development and learning. Although Musashi mentions having his own school for aspiring Samurai and writes The Book of Five Rings to explain the Way to others, he nevertheless believes that it is up to each individual to take charge of his own learning. He uses the metaphor of the needle and thread to explain his reasoning: The teacher is the needle, but it is the student, as the thread, who must find a way through the needle in developing and applying his knowledge. In other words, the teacher can facilitate learning, but it is the student’s responsibility to put what he learns into practice.
Student-Centric Learning: Then and Now
While ideas around the importance of student-centric learning have gained increasing prominence in recent decades, versions of this approach have existed for many centuries. Socrates (470-399 BC) is perhaps the most famous example in the Western tradition. The Socratic Method was rooted in the idea that the teacher should only guide the student, usually through asking a series of thoughtful questions, leading the student to develop his own ideas and draw his own conclusions. Some modern pedagogues argue for the benefits of applying a reformed Socratic Method within contemporary disciplines.
There are also current pedagogical methods aimed at creating student-centric learning even for very young children, such as the Montessori Method, which takes as one of its founding principles the idea of “autoeducation.” “Autoeducation” means that the child is encouraged to be an independent learner by having the freedom to develop their own interests and abilities, with the teacher offering individualized guidance and support instead of just a one-size-fits-all curriculum that all students must follow.
2. You must thoroughly know the ways of your art before you can put it into effective practice. The aspiring warrior must seek to know every aspect of his art, from technique to weaponry to achieving the right state of body and mind, before he is ready for combat. Musashi repeatedly warns that this is not a quick or easy process: he urges his reader to meditate deeply and slowly on what he has written and to tirelessly study “day and night,” as Musashi himself claims to have done for decades.
Mastering New Skills
Some modern life coaches echo Musashi’s idea that mastery is usually more about application than innate ability. Such coaches argue that what really separates masters from amateurs is the amount of time and commitment shown to both gaining the right knowledge and putting that knowledge into practice. Here are the eight steps for mastering a new craft or skill:
Commit to something specific. Narrow in on the skill you wish to have and give it your full attention. Don’t try to master more than one serious skill at a time.
Play the long game. Learn to think in terms of long-term success instead of shortcuts. Be patient during setbacks.
Take action. Lay out a reasonable plan of action and stick to it. Remember that reaching a goal means putting in the time and effort consistently.
Seek mentorship. Guidance from a coach or mentor can be invaluable in helping you develop your new skill. Be prepared to accept advice and correction gracefully.
Lean on your support network. Surround yourself with people who believe in your goals and who will share their positive energy with you.
Channel your passion. You need to foster a strong sense of purpose to get yourself through all the challenging times. Strive to be self-motivated and self-disciplined.
Find inspiration. Read about people who have achieved things you admire, and try to learn from their example.
Keep practicing. Don’t slack off when you think you’re getting good—keep right on practicing and perfecting your skill to not just achieve mastery, but maintain it!
Musashi writes that the true warrior is aware of all of the resources available to him, and strategizes accordingly. These resources include tools, such as different swords and other forms of weaponry, and the different abilities warriors have both individually and when working collectively as an army.
Creating a “Life Resource” List
Musashi’s advice about knowing your resources and tools and making the best use of them requires being creative and flexible in discovering how best to use them to achieve your goals. Similarly, today some life coaches advocate creating a “life resource” list to help you figure out which resources you can use in whichever situation, personal or professional, you may find yourself in. A “life resource” list covers multiple areas, such as:
Mindset: your personal qualities, beliefs, and feelings that you can draw upon to help achieve your goals, such as integrity, inner strength, and focus
Skills: any talents or abilities you have that help you succeed in life, such as communication and interpersonal skills, self-discipline, time management, and so on
Support System: your support system encompassing multiple categories, such as personal (friends and family), professional (colleagues, mentors), and social (associations and organizations, e.g. clubs for your hobbies or religious institutions you attend)
Possessions: anything you physically own or can readily access to support yourself, such as money, assets, investments, or tools
Knowledge: information you have already absorbed and can refer to whenever you need it. It may be discipline-specific knowledge for your profession, language skills, or even facts about people, places, or contexts relevant to your goals
Information: external resources such as books, articles, and any other form of media that can provide you with whatever further information you need for success
See our exercise at the end of this chapter to brainstorm matching your resources to goals for more effective goal-setting.
Showing Team Leadership
For the modern boss, Musashi’s advice about being aware of others’ abilities and knowing how to use them still applies. Many of the top 10 traits of effective bosses are linked to effective relationship-building with team members, including:
Treat problem-solving as an opportunity for coaching and mentoring. An effective leader won’t just solve problems, she will also use problems as “teachable moments” for members of her team.
Know when to guide and when to give rein. While the leader must provide explicit guidance and mentorship at times to her team, she will also give her team members the freedom to take initiative and discover things for themselves.
Lead by example. The modern leader must model the work habits and professional attitude that she expects of her team members.
Communicate openly. The effective leader will be consistent and clear in giving instructions and constructive feedback, and she’ll also be open to hearing her team members’ ideas, opinions, and concerns.
Be aware of each team member’s roles and duties. The leader understands the role and duties of each team member in order to manage them effectively in achieving the company’s goals.
Motivate the team through awareness of common goals. The modern leader unifies and motivates her team through clear common goals that they can achieve by working as an effective unit.
While Mushashi emphasizes the importance of developing a deep knowledge of the warrior’s art first and foremost, he also argues that in order to apply this knowledge effectively, the warrior must develop flexibility of mind. Flexibility of mind depends on the following habits:
Identify and Use Your Transferable Skills
Musashi’s advice to avoid becoming dependent on particular conditions or settings in order to succeed applies to today’s continuously evolving workplace. Transferable skills are becoming increasingly valuable, especially since the number of workers looking to switch their roles or industries has risen dramatically. An article by Forbes even argues that workers who switch jobs frequently may be more successful in the long run than those who remain within the same role or company long term.
With this in mind, it’s important to identify your transferable skills and how you could apply them within a new role or industry. Begin by making a three-columned chart to help organize your experiences and what you have gained from them. In the first column, write down an experience or responsibility you have had. In the second column, list the qualities or skills the experience required. In the third column, identify which of those qualities or skills could be transferred to a different role or situation.
For additional help in identifying your transferable skills:
Ask a friend or mentor which skills or abilities they think you have. Ask them to provide examples of when you demonstrated those skills.
Review your CV. What key words or terms do you keep mentioning, e.g. reliable, attention to detail, interpersonal skills?
Consult a transferable skills checklist, many of which are freely available online to help get you brainstorming.
Dealing With Details More Effectively
Learning how to become more detail-oriented and better at spotting the little things that matter takes time and practice. You can learn how to be more detail-oriented at work—for example, by reading instructions carefully, taking time to check over work before submitting it, and finding ways to break big goals down into smaller steps.
However, while Musashi argues that everything is relevant in some way, be it large or small, this is not always practical today. Learning how to prioritize is crucial for time management and effective goal-setting, and this means learning how to separate what is important or relevant from what is less so. The analogy of rocks, pebbles, and sand can be useful in learning how to sort out tasks and details in order of importance. The analogy works by showing how fitting all of the rocks, pebbles, and sand in a jar is a matter of knowing which to add first and in what order. If you prioritize the wrong material, not everything will fit in the jar.
Guerrilla Warfare: The Danger of Small Threats
Musashi’s warning about an agile enemy or small force being sometimes more dangerous than a large army has particular relevance in recent history. In the latter half of the 20th century, guerrilla warfare became a particularly successful strategy used by small, under-equipped forces against much larger and more powerful armies. Some notable examples include:
The Viet Cong Communist forces that waged guerrilla warfare against the US during the Vietnam War (1954-75). Although the US boasted one of the most powerful military forces in the world after WWII, the unrelenting guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong led to the US spending enormous amounts of time, money, and personnel in Vietnam over nearly two decades, ultimately to no avail.
Fidel Castro ultimately seized power in Cuba from former President Fulgencio Batista, after starting out with just a small band of guerrilla fighters during the Cuban Revolution (1953-59). Over roughly five years, Castro and his guerrillas used stealth, strategic military strikes, and constant movement throughout the Cuban countryside to harass the regime and slowly amass popular support for their cause.
Portugal lost the last territories of its former global empire after costly, protracted warfare against guerrillas in its African colonies. In colonies such as Angola and Mozambique, nationalist guerrilla fighters waged relentless campaigns against the Portuguese colonial forces from 1961 until 1974. The Colonial Wars became so unpopular in Portugal that they led to both the overthrow of Portugal’s Estado Novo dictatorship and the liberation of the African colonies in 1974.
Musashi consistently emphasizes that developing mastery in any discipline takes a great deal of time and perseverance. His three main strategies for nurturing resilience and commitment are:
Build Your Resilience
Developing resilience and a determined attitude toward achieving your goals are learnable with the right methods and mindset.
Here are some tips for boosting your resilience:
Get enough sleep. Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to irritability, lack of focus, and less emotional control, all of which can impact your level of resilience. Keep a consistent sleep schedule by going to bed and waking up at set times every day.
Manage your stress levels. Feeling overwhelmed can make it harder to face challenges. You can learn how to cope with stress to help build resilience under pressure.
Set specific and realistic goals. If you don’t know what you want to achieve, it can be harder to maintain momentum. Follow the SMART goal principle, setting goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Set a mix of both short-term and long-term goals so you can see how you are working toward larger objectives step-by-step.
Seek support. Maintain emotional balance by reaching out to family, friends, and professional mentors whenever you need encouragement and advice. Sometimes resilience is a team effort.
The Importance of “Deliberate Practice”
Habits coach James Clear advocates for “deliberate practice” when adopting new skills and pursuing goals. Deliberate practice is rooted in the idea that effective practice is, above all, focused practice: You give your full attention to what you are doing, and seek to understand and perfect it. Because you’re applying sustained focus to the skill or habit you’re trying to develop, you’ll be able to spot your errors more easily and correct them. Clear argues that deliberate practice applies to any discipline, giving examples of success stories from fields as varied as cooking, writing, music, and sports.
This idea of deliberate practice is reminiscent of Musashi’s urging of constant, focused training, especially since Musashi considers deeply meditating upon each principle before practicing it to be a part of the process. Musashi wants the ideal warrior to learn and practice everything mindfully—or, as James Clear would say, deliberately.
Counterpoint: Sun Tzu Argues Against “Total” Victory
Musashi’s attitude to victory is single-minded: Only winning matters, and completely subduing—or in the case of Samurai combat, killing—your enemy is the only victory worth having. Sun Tzu, by contrast, takes the opposite approach. In Book III of The Art of War, he argues that total warfare is not always good or necessary. Instead, Tzu advocates the route of least possible damage: Kill as few of the enemy as possible, destroy as little of their lands and property as possible. He even claims that the highest form of military skill is gaining victory over your enemy without having to fight at all. Instead, you can thwart the enemy’s plans and rout him through your knowledge and superior strategy alone.
Furthermore, Tzu doesn’t share Musashi’s admiration for smaller forces that gain impressive victories over larger forces—Tzu advises avoiding such uneven matches in the first place, preferring to always be superior or equal to the enemy’s forces. If your forces are smaller in number, Tzu’s advice is unequivocal—avoid, or retreat.
The main difference between Musashi’s and Tzu’s approaches becomes readily apparent in such passages: Musashi’s Way embodies the grandeur and stylized violence of Samurai culture, while Tzu’s “arts of war” are more pragmatic.
At the end of the Ground Book, Musashi lists nine general principles for warriors wishing to learn the Way. These principles are:
(Shortform note: Musashi doesn’t elaborate on these principles, or give specific advice on how or when the warrior can apply them during or after training. However, some of these principles reflect the qualities that Musashi urges the warrior to have elsewhere in the text: a total commitment to learning, iron discipline in training, the development of both perception and sight, and paying equal attention to small things as well as large. As with so much of Musashi’s approach in The Book of Five Rings, it is up to the warrior (or student) to meditate upon these principles and to learn how best to apply them in his own life.)
Saitō Chikamori’s Samurai Principles
In 1642, Musashi’s contemporary and fellow Samurai, Saitō Chikamori (1603-1674) wrote a work called the Kashoki in which he listed a code of ethics for Samurai built upon principles that echo but also differ from Musashi’s:
Sincerity: Never lie, and don’t be insincere or superficial.
Serve with dignity: Don’t flatter or behave in a sycophantic manner.
Frugality: Avoid being greedy.
Politeness: Never slander or be rude to others.
Modesty: Avoid being boastful or arrogant.
Loyalty: Be faithful.
Harmony: Be civil to others.
Tranquility: Accept what happens with a calm mind.
Compassion: Be compassionate and dutiful toward others.
While Chikamori and Musashi agree on the importance of sincerity (Musashi’s “Be honest”) and tranquility in the face of external events (similar to Musashi’s “Learn to tell the difference between true loss and gain”), Chikamori’s principles are more openly concerned with moral virtues than training and knowledge, which are Musashi’s recurring focus.
Musashi advises developing the appropriate knowledge, using the right tools, and being flexible and committed. Let’s take a step-by-step approach to putting Musashi’s principles into practice.
Choose a goal you would like to achieve during the next three months, either personally or professionally. Write down what your goal is, and why you’d like to achieve it.
List the knowledge or advice you might need to achieve your goal. How could you gain this knowledge or advice—reading an article, doing market research, meeting with a mentor?
List three to five tools or resources that will help you achieve your goal. For each tool/resource, define what it is and how you can best apply it.
Since flexibility and commitment are important in achieving a goal, write down several challenges or obstacles that you may have to overcome to achieve your goal (e.g. lack of time, minimal support, etc). Name two or three things you can do to minimize these challenges and stay focused on your goal.
Having introduced the key elements of the Way in the Ground Book, Musashi next details his strategies for developing an optimal mental and physical state as a warrior. In the Water Book, he explains how the warrior can train himself both mentally and physically. Musashi names this book the “Water” book because he believes that the ideal warrior needs to be like water. Water can change its form (liquid, mist, ice), and can also adapt to any container it is poured into when it is a liquid. Like water, the ideal warrior must also be adaptable according to circumstances and flexible enough to apply different weapons or techniques.
(Shortform note: Like Musashi, Sun Tzu also compares the successful warrior to water in Book VI of the Art of War: The warrior is like water, Tzu writes, because he can always adapt his approach to the changing conditions of battle.)
Flexibility as a Law of Power
Musashi’s idea that the warrior gains huge advantages by being flexible still has resonance in the thinking of modern commentators. In The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene sets out flexibility as his 48th and final law. Greene argues that remaining flexible and elusive always gives you the upper hand by making it hard for your opponent to guess your true emotions, intentions, or plans—those who are more rigid or emotionally open, he argues, are easier to predict and outmaneuver.
However, there are times and contexts when being firmly and openly committed to a particular approach or idea can also bring success, and can even bring a form of moral authority that boosts your public image. For example, both Gandhi and, later, Martin Luther King Jr. showed unwavering commitment to their strategy of non-violence. The firmness of both leaders led to success in the end, and the moral stature they gained in the public perception of them granted them an enduring presence in the popular consciousness.
There are three components to this training: pursuing absorption of principles over memorization; training the body and mind in tandem; and gaining control over oneself before seeking to lead others.
Musashi repeatedly warns that reading The Book of Five Rings will not automatically make someone a great warrior. It is not enough to simply know the principles of the Way—you must absorb the principles on a deeper level, incorporating them into your very essence. Musashi urges the reader to reflect deeply upon everything he reads in the book, and repeats that some things cannot be clearly explained in writing: They can only be fully understood through personal absorption and application.
After absorption of the principles, Musashi argues that it is only through constant practice that something can become second nature. Be patient and train step-by-step. There are no shortcuts.
(Shortform note: While Musashi has previously acknowledged the importance of constant training, his emphasis here on patience and commitment to a process suggests that warriors need to follow logical, step-by-step regimens if their constant training is to be effective. Musashi doesn’t explain what he expects this process to look like; as is typical of his style, he leaves it to the reader to determine the best regimen for themselves.)
Making Knowledge and Skills “Second Nature”
When Musashi urges his readers to absorb his principles instead of merely memorizing them, he does so for two reasons. First, this is in keeping with Musashi’s student-centric approach more generally. Since true knowledge is active and not passive, the aspiring warrior must always seek ways of making the knowledge truly his own before putting it to use. Second, by fully absorbing knowledge, the warrior increases his chances of applying it more effectively in real-world situations, even while under pressure in combat situations.
The modern concept of “muscle memory” also claims that making something instinctive and automatic is both a mental and physical process. Muscle memory refers to the way in which repetition while learning a skill or performing a task helps to forge new neural pathways in the brain, allowing the process to eventually become physically and/or mentally automatic. For example, an elite soccer player will practice certain kicks and moves thousands of times to make his reactions instinctual. An opera singer will sing a piece many times over with the sheet music so that she can effortlessly summon both the notes and lyrics, unaided, during her on-stage performance. See the exercise at the end of this chapter for reflecting on the process of skill “absorption” in your own life.
Musashi believes that being a great warrior has both mental and physical aspects. The body shouldn’t overpower the mind, and the mind shouldn’t overpower the body. Both must be carefully trained and work in sync. Musashi offers the following strategies for forging a strong mind/body connection:
The Mind-Body Connection
For Musashi, the mind and body need to be in harmony with one another for optimal performance. Scientific studies have also identified direct links between mental and physical well-being, reinforcing the idea that the body needs to be approached holistically. With this in mind, it’s important to educate ourselves on the mind-body connection.
While Musashi stresses the importance of always maintaining the “combat stance,” modern commentators such as Jordan Peterson in 12 Rules for Life argue that continuous good posture can be life-changing in helping you develop the right attitude. You can even use different exercises to help improve your posture and give your body a boost.
(Shortform Note: Although it’s a challenge for many people, remaining calm under pressure can be learned like any other skill. Some tips include maintaining good posture and eye contact, moving confidently around the room, speaking slowly and projecting your voice, and avoiding fidgeting. Sometimes focusing on looking confident can help you feel more confident even when stressed.)
“Deep Perception” in The Art of Learning
In The Art of Learning, dual chess and Tai Chi champion Josh Waitzkin discusses the importance of nurturing deep perception to achieve elite skills within a discipline. Waitzkin argues that there are two components to fostering deep perception:
Mastery of fundamental skills. Like Musashi, Waitzkin advocates perfecting the fundamental skills in your discipline slowly and methodically, over and over again, until they become second nature to you.
Focused but unconscious mental presence while performing. While you must be focused and present in order to do the task at hand, Waitzkin argues that you can do so while still maintaining a relaxed mental state that allows your unconscious mind to access your “muscle memory” knowledge and skills, deploying them effectively at will.
Musashi says the warrior must master himself before he attempts to control others. In developing self-mastery, the warrior avoids falling prey to nerves or lack of skill when fighting an enemy, making his victory possible. Furthermore, self-control makes you both a successful warrior on an individual level and an effective leader: a warrior who can control himself helps to uphold the broader military and social order entrusted to him as a Samurai, enabling him to become an inspiring figure for the troops he commands.
Self-control is therefore fundamental to Musashi’s approach. A warrior’s first victory is in overcoming the personal defects or habits that could hold him back from reaching his true potential.
Stoicism and Self-Control
The idea of self-control as a crucial component for success in life has had a long pedigree in both the East and West. For example, Stoic philosophers, such as Seneca and Epictetus, urged their followers to cultivate an inner tranquility that would prove unshakeable regardless of external factors. Here are five Stoic strategies for developing better self-control:
Identify your personal weaknesses and triggers. What personal flaws make it difficult to control yourself—impatience, sensitivity, anger issues? In explicitly identifying which qualities are holding you back, you can better assess how to target each one specifically. Similarly, it can also help to identify what typical triggers cause you to lose your cool.
Distinguish between what you can and can’t control. The Stoics argued that wisdom lies in knowing what is under your control and what isn’t. They said that once you make this distinction, self-control becomes easier to practice. When faced with something that leaves you feeling stressed or vulnerable, ask yourself whether it is something you can fix, or something you just need to cope with. If it’s the former, you can strategize what you can do to fix things. If it’s the latter, you can practice acceptance or seek support in dealing with it.
Analyze your emotions objectively. The Stoics claimed that emotions and other sense-perceptions are neither good nor bad, and that the way to manage them is to refuse to give in to them unthinkingly. The next time you feel an unpleasant, overpowering emotion, analyze it objectively. Ask yourself what has caused this feeling, why you are feeling this way, whether the feeling is proportionate to the situation, and what you can do to mitigate its effect on you.
Develop strategies for slowing down when stressed or angry. Many people tend to lose their self-control when pressured or provoked. Taking a moment to slow down and recenter yourself can help you maintain your composure, even if it’s something as simple as counting to 10 before responding.
Practice meditation/mindfulness. Research suggests mindfulness can help you develop better self-control. In taking time to learn how to center yourself and regulate your mind, you can make strengthening your self-control a part of your daily routine.
Musashi emphasizes the importance of absorbing information and technical know-how so that it will become second nature. In this exercise, you’ll consider what knowledge or skills you’ve already absorbed, and how you could absorb a new skill.
Recall a motor or intellectual skill you have developed to a high degree. Write down the skill below.
What steps did you take to “absorb” it so that you could draw upon it automatically when needed? Write down three steps or strategies you used.
What is a new skill you would like to learn within the next six months? Write it down below.
List three steps or strategies you will use to aid you in “absorbing” your new skill (e.g. a set practice routine, resources you could use, and so on.)
Having introduced the core mental and physical training necessary for success, Musashi now turns his attention in the Fire Book to applying this training when engaged in combat. When faced with a real-life challenge or enemy, the warrior must keep three key principles in mind:
Let’s take a look at how each of these principles works in practice.
(Shortform note: The Fire Book has many passages centered upon particular sword fighting moves and strategies for landing blows on your opponent’s body. We have chosen not to deal directly with such passages to keep the focus on more generally applicable principles. For readers interested in learning more about the technicalities of Musashi’s sword-wielding strategies, The Martial Artist’s Book of Five Rings by Steven F. Kaufman may be helpful.)
Musashi warns that many people make the mistake of becoming set and narrow-minded in their ways. When faced with real-life challenges, they jeopardize their chances of success by failing to optimize the strategies they have developed. No matter how knowledgeable or experienced a warrior may be, he must always keep the following rules in mind to win in combat.
Musashi says that awareness is the defining factor in maintaining control of a difficult situation. Take note of everything in your environment that could help or hinder you, and adjust your plans accordingly to maximize your advantages. This requires keeping in mind the difference between perception and sight as discussed in The Water Book: It is not enough just to passively see things; you must constantly perceive things and weigh what you are observing when planning your methods of attack. For a warrior, this means actively taking note of any relevant aspects of the battleground’s terrain, the positioning of the enemy, and other conditions of climate and logistics that could affect the combat.
Musashi observes that it’s not enough to know your own goals and strategies inside and out: The mark of a true champion is the ability to think about things from the competitor’s point of view. Learning to think like the enemy enables you to anticipate potential tactics the enemy might use, while also making it easier to evaluate your own position more objectively. Musashi describes this ability to see things from the enemy’s point of view as a form of infiltration, both literally and figuratively. On a figurative level, you infiltrate by getting a sense of what the enemy is going to do and why, and what his strengths and weaknesses are. On a literal level—in terms of real-world combat—you can sometimes disorient and rout the enemy by blending in and taking him by surprise.
Musashi has nothing but disdain for “one-trick ponies.” In practical terms, this means that if you discover one tactic isn’t working during combat, you must immediately switch to a different strategy. Using the same tactic again after it has already failed to achieve the desired results is a waste of time and energy, and jeopardizes final victory.
Becoming More Adaptable
In urging readers to know their environment, think like their competitor, and adapt their strategy to the circumstances, Musashi demonstrates that adaptability is, fundamentally, a certain type of mindset that is applicable to all three areas. Some experts claim there are certain qualities that determine how adaptable a person will be. Further, adaptability has become increasingly important in today’s changing economy, especially with the rise of remote work. By cultivating the right mindset, anyone can learn to be more adaptable through putting these behaviors into practice:
Be flexible. Voluntarily change up your routines and habits from time to time instead of falling into the same old patterns. Remain open to networking, taking on new tasks, and changing the way you apply your skills.
Stay curious. Seek to know more about your chosen profession or a subject that interests you. Read a book or article, take a course, or practice a new hobby or skill.
Focus on opportunities. Even challenges or failures hold the possibility for new opportunities within them. When faced with an obstacle or failure, ask yourself what you have learned from your past experiences, what you could have done differently, and how you could use your new knowledge to benefit yourself in the future.
Work well with others. Learn how to accept constructive criticism with grace, and be tactful when offering it to others. Always be willing to compromise if the situation demands it.
Be proactive. Take charge of your life and career by being active instead of passive. Network, upgrade your skills, nurture your personal connections with others, and remain alert to opportunities.
Hone your emotional intelligence. Practice empathy toward others, and seek to understand instead of judge. Respect differences of opinion and/or strategy whenever possible. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves point out in Emotional Intelligence 2.0 that it can literally pay off: People with high emotional intelligence make an average of $29,000 more a year than people with low emotional intelligence.
- Stay positive. Positive people tend to be more resilient than negative people. Cultivating gratitude, making the most of things, and focusing on the big picture can help keep you grounded and optimistic.
Musashi emphasizes that the successful warrior is proactive and not reactive. The single greatest advantage you can have is to always take the initiative. For Musashi, this is one of the most crucial aspects of strategy. Musashi explains that taking the initiative in battle means waging combat on your own terms instead of on the enemy’s terms, giving you more control as a result. A warrior who has learned how to carefully perceive his environment and who demonstrates a willingness to change tactics—as discussed above—will always know the best way to gain the upper hand. Therefore, use any advantages of environment or logistics you’ve perceived to weaken and disorient the enemy, such as driving the enemy into unfavorable terrain or cornering them.
Regain the Initiative When You’ve Lost It
While Musashi says that the warrior needs to be proactive and not reactive at all times, you may nevertheless find yourself in unexpected situations from time to time. In such situations, the best response is to regroup and take back control, so that you can shift from being reactive back to proactive as quickly as possible.
In a business context, here are seven steps for regaining your initiative:
Practice self-care. Take care of yourself both physically and mentally through practicing healthy habits like a good sleep schedule and a balanced diet. You can weather setbacks more easily if you are already doing your best to stay healthy.
Work through your emotions. Don’t repress your negative emotions. Instead, work through how you feel in a productive way by facing your feelings without letting them control you—don’t do anything impulsive just because you’re upset.
Rethink your perspective. Try to see the setback as an opportunity to learn something or to become better in some way. Growing wiser with experience—both good and bad—often leads to success further down the line.
Use your support system. Surround yourself with family, friends, and colleagues who will support you but also help you find a way forward.
Plan your comeback. Reflect upon what happened and come up with steps to recover from the setback and move forward again in your career.
Put your plan into action. Start working towards recovery using manageable, smaller steps to reach your bigger goals.
Reflect and learn. Ask yourself what you learned from the setback, how you could avoid a similar outcome in the future, and what you can do to improve moving forward.
Become Proactive
Stephen Covey lists being proactive as his first “habit” in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey argues that people who are proactive are happier and more successful in life, because feeling in control allows you to respond more calmly to setbacks and to learn more readily from failure. Being proactive also boosts overall mental well-being and motivation, which in turn increases your chances of success. Covey argues that learning to understand what you can and can’t control, learning from mistakes, and actively shaping your self-image are all strategies you can use to become more proactive in your life.
In the Ground Book, Musashi argued that one of the fundamentals of the Way is flexibility of mind: the ability to adapt to any situation. Here in the Fire Book, this flexibility is presented in a new light: Musashi argues that a truly solid strategy works on both large and small scales in combat, which is why a warrior trained in the true Way will be able to apply his knowledge and skills regardless of what sort of battle he fights. Musashi urges his reader to always keep this in mind while training and even in one-to-one combat: The strategies that can help you win against one man can help you win against a whole army.
Furthermore, developing strategies applicable to any situation renders the warrior less vulnerable because his success is not context-specific: Instead, he has principles and techniques at the ready that can be deployed at will.
Maintaining Flexibility in Business
An article for the Harvard Business Review notes that flexibility isn’t just about mindset or strategy, but also about execution. So it’s important to recognize common pitfalls that can interfere with executing your plans effectively:
Busyness over effectiveness. Making plans that are too complex or getting too bogged down in details can cause you to become distracted from your ultimate goal.
Relying too much on measurements/data. Not everything that is valuable can be quantified. Some goals require more open-ended thinking and approaches.
Refusal to adapt plans. Plans need to be flexible—any plan that is too rigid won’t serve you well if your circumstances change.
Not learning from small-scale outcomes. Even the smaller steps of a plan lead to either success or disappointing results. Oftentimes these outcomes can provide valuable lessons on how to better reach the larger goal.
Too many steps. While breaking large goals down into smaller, more manageable steps is often a good thing, creating plans with too many steps can sometimes slow you down too much or lead you on a tangent away from your larger goal.
Not seeing the bigger picture. If you don’t think holistically and keep the bigger picture in mind, you might end up doing something that appears to work well on a small scale or in the short term, but which leads to long-term damage to your goal.
Having a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Types of execution that may work well for one business might not work as well for another. Determine what is best for your unique needs.
Being too practical instead of visionary. While being pragmatic can be a good thing, keep your eye out for new opportunities and changing circumstances. Businesses that get too set in their ways might not realize when changing their execution or focus is necessary for their continuing success.
Throughout the Fire Book, Musashi focuses on how adaptability helps a warrior succeed in any form of combat. In this exercise, you will reflect on a challenge you overcame in the past and how to develop your own adaptability.
Think of a challenge you faced, either personally or professionally, within the last 12 months. Describe the challenge.
List at least three tools or strategies you used to overcome this challenge and explain how you applied them.
Which of the seven qualities of adaptability do you struggle with the most (flexibility, curiosity; focusing on opportunities; working well with others; emotional intelligence; being proactive; positivity)? How did you wrestle with this quality within the last six months?
Now list several things you could do within the next three months to make yourself more adaptable. How will you put them into practice?
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 lessons that Musashi offers: Understand your competitor’s strategies, and use skill over strength to ensure your own success.
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 understand what their strategy is.
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.
Musashi argues that too many warriors believe that brute strength alone can guarantee success in combat: They think the strongest warrior always wins. Musashi counters this belief with the argument that the smartest and most skillful warrior wins—brute strength alone is never enough.
(Shortform note: In such passages, Musashi appears to be implicitly criticizing rival schools who emphasize physically overpowering your opponent.)
Throughout the book, Musashi has mentioned instances in which a small army was able to overpower a much larger one, simply due to their better strategy and morale. By relying on his rigorous training and knowledge of strategy, physical and mental equilibrium, superior perception, and ability to adapt to any circumstance, the successful warrior will be able to win even against the strongest of enemies.
Skill Trumps Strength in Combat and Sports
While the Samurai have ceased to exist as an active force, Musashi’s insistence on the superiority of skill and strategy over brute strength still applies to some modern martial arts contexts. Martial artist Lawrence A. Kane argues that skill is more important than strength in martial arts. Kane also draws on some historical examples to prove his point more generally. In the famous showdown between the Spartans and Persians at Thermopylae (480 BC) during the Persian Wars, the Spartans were vastly outnumbered. And yet, because they were more skillful warriors and knew how to use both the terrain and their fighting techniques to their advantage, they managed to hold the narrow pass at Thermopylae against the invading Persians for several days. In the end, the Spartans were defeated only because they were betrayed by a defector to the Persian side, who showed the invading army a way around the pass.
It is, however, also interesting to note that some studies show that cognitive strategies in sports can affect strength in athletes. These strategies include setting goals, mental preparation, and visualization, and some correlation has been observed between the use of these strategies and increased strength performance. Such research suggests that while Musashi might not see strength as a determining factor in combat or competition, it can nevertheless be a positive by-product of the sort of mental discipline he advocates.
This exercise will help you think of ways you can learn from others, as Musashi learned from studying other Samurai schools.
Think of a situation from within the past year when you noticed something, good or bad, about someone else’s behavior. Describe what you noticed.
What made this behavior stand out to you? What impact did it have?
Is this behavior something you wish to emulate, or avoid? Explain why.
List several strategies you could follow in order to emulate or avoid the behavior.
The final book, the Book of the Void, is the briefest and most abstract in The Book of Five Rings, and it is best treated as a sort of addendum to the first four books. Musashi suggests that the “Void” is a state of spiritual enlightenment, in which you find the virtue and wisdom that make up the true Way of the warrior. To discover the Void and access it at will during combat, you must do two things:
Zen Buddhism and “the Void”
In speaking of “the Void” and its importance for the warrior, Musashi draws upon a key concept in Zen Buddhism known as “sunyata.” Sunyata is the state in which your sense of self becomes immersed in the five skandhas, or elements, of existence:
Form. Material matter, including natural elements and the five senses of taste, sight, sound, touch, and smell.
Sensation. The feelings of pleasure or pain induced in you as a reaction to different types of material matter and circumstances.
Perception. The thinking process, in which you recognize and process the objects and circumstances around you.
Mental Formations. The thoughts that lead you to behave in a good way or in a bad way, affecting your karma in the process. Buddhism teaches that thought and action are always directly linked.
Consciousness. Awareness, which allows us to experience the other four skandhas above.
Achieving sunyata leads to mental and physical harmony through the abandonment of an egotistical, individualistic notion of “self.” Instead, the warrior who achieves sunyata understands the nature and ephemerality of the skandhas, and can exist harmoniously amongst them without clinging to his former notion of “self.”
In this exercise, you’ll explore ways for bringing more mental and physical harmony into your life.
Describe an aspect of your mental or physical health that you would like to improve within the next few months.
List three specific, measurable goals you could achieve within the next few months that could help you improve the mental or physical aspect you mentioned above (for example, set a sleep schedule, drink less, meditate daily, and so on).
List several tools and resources you have that can help you in reaching your goal. For each tool or resource, define how you will use it.
What strategies could you incorporate into your life that could help you improve your mental and physical well-being more generally?
Other Samurai Manuals of Instruction
1. Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke. Translated by Thomas Cleary. Published by Tuttle Publishing, 2021.
2. Secrets of the Japanese Art of Warfare: An Annotated Translation of Yamamoto Kansuke’s Classic Treatise on Strategies and Tactics. Translated by Thomas Cleary. Published by Tuttle Publishing, 2012.
3. The Lost Samurai School: Secrets of Mubyoshi Ryu. Translated by Antony Cummins. Published by Penguin Random House 2016.
4. Samurai Arms, Armour, & the Tactics of Warfare: The Collected Scrolls of Natori-Ryu. Translated by Anthony Cummins and Yoshi Minami. Published by Watkins Publishing, 2018.
Books about Samurai History and Culture
5. Samurai: A Concise History. By Michael Wert. Published by Oxford University Press, 2019.
6. Legends of the Samurai. By Hiroaki Sato. Published by Abrams Press, 2012.
7. Tour of Duty: Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and the Culture of Early Modern Japan. By Constantine Nomikos Vaporis. Published by University of Hawaii Press, 2009.
8. A History of the Samurai: Legendary Warriors of Japan. By Jonathan López-Vera. Translated by Russell Calvert. Published by Tuttle Publishing, 2020.
Books About Miyamoto Musashi
9. Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings. By Kenji Tokitsu. Translated by Sherab Chodzin Kohn. Published by Weatherhill/Penguin Random House, 2006.
10. Miyamoto Musashi: A Life in Arms. By William de Lange. Published by Floating World Editions, 2014.