Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings: The Manga Edition
Japan's Legendary Book on Samurai Military Strategy
Miyamoto Musashi is the greatest swordsman who ever lived. He is renowned for his fighting prowess and famous for having never having been defeated. Then he mysteriously disappeared at the relatively young age of 29 to meditate and study.
This book tells the fascinating story of Musashi's return from isolation as he pens his great masterpiece on military tactics, The Book of Five Rings, and begins to train a new generation of Samurai warriors.
The exciting events recounted in this book include:
- How and why Musashi wrote The Book of Five Rings, a revolutionary work that has become the most widely-read book on swordsmanship and Samurai strategy ever written
- The important lessons he provides including the idea of 'no mind', or what we now call 'flow', which involves endless practice emptying your mind of thoughts to move intuitively without thinking
- Musashi's school for young Samurai warriors where students flock to study with the great master and his final days as he passes the torch to a new generation and solidifies his legacy as Japan's greatest swordsman
Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings: The Manga Edition is a beautifully-illustrated look at the life and legacy of Japan's greatest warrior in graphic novel form.
Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) was a Samurai, writer, philosopher and strategist who is known today as the greatest Japanese swordsman to have ever lived. He founded the revolutionary Niten Ichi-ryu style of swordsmanship. In the last year of his life, he penned The Book of Five Rings, his masterpiece on military strategy which offers insights into the Zen Buddhist state of 'no-mind' that enables warriors to will themselves to victory, and the philosophy of Bushido — 'the way of the warrior'.
Koji Kondo is a manga artist based in Japan. He has published several manga titles including the popular Run! T School Basketball Club series.
Translation by Makiko Itoh. Itoh is the author of the Just Bento cookbook series and has translated many Japanese works into English including Zen Wisdom for the Anxious and Modern Japanese Ikebana. She writes regular columns on food for The Japan Times.