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Erroneously subtitled “The Real Art of Japanese Management”, the front cover depicts a suited businessman in trench coat with umbrella and briefcase confronting a samurai warrior attired in traditional clothes with sword. The 1982 Bantam Books edition of Musashi’s great treatise is a prime example. Barett (tr.), Eisuke Sasagawa (tr.), The Book of Five Rings (Gorin no sho) (Bantam Books, 1982) pp.xxxi+108 ISBN: 0553270966. Brown (tr.), Yuko Kashiwagi (tr.), William H. Unfortunately, Western publications of books on the martial arts are often marketed in a way that is contrary to the spirit of their content, and Musashi’s work is representative of this. But few samurai are as famous or as lionised as the “sword saint” Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), whose treatise on combat The Book of Five Rings has become a global selling phenomenon. įrom the finale of Hiroshi Inagaki’s magnificent trilogy on Musashi: with his back to the sun, the sword saint prepares to duel his great rival Ganryu Kojiro.įor centuries, the samurai warriors of Japan have been a source of fascination for both outsiders and the Japanese themselves, with many books and films having been produced about their customs and martial prowess. The following essay is a revised, expanded, footnoted, and illustrated version of an article that was first published in Dawn.
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