Kensei

I have been many years training in the Way of strategy, called Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first time. It is now during the first ten days of the tenth month in the twentieth year of Kanei (1645). I have climbed mountain Iwato of Higo in Kyushu to pay homage to heaven, pray to Kwannon, and kneel before Buddha. I am a warrior of Harima province, Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Geshin, age sixty years.

From youth my heart has been inclined toward the Way of strategy. My first duel was when I was thirteen, I struck down a strategist of the Shinto school, one Arima Kihei. When I was sixteen I struck down an able strategist, Tadashima Akiyama. When I was twenty-one I went up to the capital and met all manner of strategists, never once failing to win in many contests.

These are the introductionary words of Book of Five Rings, the great masterwork by Miyamoto Musashi, who is widely regarded as the greatest warrior in the history of mankind. Though nominally a guide to Swordsmanship, in reality it is a book on philosophical teachings of all aspects of life. Many of his teachings are completely relevant today just as they were in ancient times, and his saying "The Way is in training" is certainly one that I have tried to adhere to all my life. Most of his lessons are decptively simple, yet difficult to follow. Musashi sees the Way in everything, and urges his readers to study all skills and crafts to improve their knowledge. He was the founder of the Way that combines both sword and pen, not believing that arts of war are inherently superior to those others. This insight allowed Musashi to surpass the other swordsmen of his era, who were prisoners of the tradtion and unwilling to abosrb new ideas.

Musashi stresses the value of peception over seeing, self-reliance, and disregarding frills. His attitude to fighting as well as life is amazingly no-nonsense, hardly surprising since he was proven in battlefield time and again agaist war-hardened opponents. It is this approach of directness and simplicity that makes his work so relevant today, just as it was in ancient Japan. Musashi's teachings are perhaps best solidified at the end of the Book of Fire where he simply states "The purpose of swordsmanship is to defeat your enemy in combat and nothing other than this." Though he was a man who could shatter his enemy's blade with a single strike, Musashi would never attach any mysticism to his skill. It was all result of hard practice and his innate humility in studying other people.

Though of course Musashi is widely recogniced as the greatest swordsman that ever lived, Japanese actually value him as an artist at least as much as a warrior. He was an outstanding painter, calligrapher, sculptor and portraitist. He actively sought out master artists and craftsmen, and eagerly studied their methods according to the same principles he had developed for his swordsmanship. His work speaks for itself -though witnesses of his duels are long gone and forgotten, his artwork remains as powerful as it was during the day it was created. This was due his ability to set aside his pride as a warrior and approach masters of other fields with humility and open mind. The paradox of Musashi's life was that though he defeated countless men in the battlefield, his creed was acutually one of tolerance, humilty, virtue and peace. Or as he said, best swords are those that are left in their scabbards.

Some of his works can be found here and to read the Book of Five Rings in its entirety, you can go here.

Thank you, Sensei.

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