The Book of Five Rings

Strategy is the craft of the warrior. Commanders must practice this craft. Troops should understand it. And yet there is no warrior alive in the world today who really knows the Way of strategy.

There are many Ways a man can take in this world. The Buddhist follows the Way of salvation through the law of Buddha. The Confucian follows the Way of learning. There is the Way of healing for the doctor, the Way of waka for the poet, the Way of tea, the Way of archery, and many other arts and skills besides. Each man practices what suits him. Few are drawn to the Way of strategy.

It is said that the warrior follows a twofold Way: pen and sword. He should have a taste for both. Even a man with no natural ability can become a warrior if he sticks to both halves of the Way.

Most people think too narrowly about strategy. They use only their fingertips. They know maybe three of the five inches of their wrist. They settle a fight by the span of their forearms, like waving a folding fan. They specialize in dexterity. They drill hand and leg movements with a bamboo practice sword and call it skill.

My training is for killing. It comes through real contests, fighting for survival, learning the line between life and death, learning the Way of the sword, judging the force of attacks, and knowing the edge and the ridge of the blade.

Small techniques will not save you, especially in full armor. My Way is a reliable method to win when you are fighting for your life, one man against five or ten. The principle is simple. One man can beat ten, so a thousand can beat ten thousand. Study it. You cannot put a thousand men in your training yard every morning. But you can become a master by training alone with a sword. You learn to read the enemy's strategy, his strength, his resources. You learn how to apply that against ten thousand.