Fulminata reviewed The Book of Five Rings by Sean Michael Wilson
Review of 'The Book of Five Rings' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I picked this up as one of those recommendations for "those who liked Musashi" after finishing my second read of that novel by Eiji Yoshikawa.
This book is an abridged version of Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings, with a little bit added from other sources, and, of course, illustrated.
The Book of Five Rings is a mix of advice that is generally practical to mastering anything and advice that is extremely specific to fighting with the weapons of 17th Century Japan. Most of the abridgment is from the latter, which makes this a good introduction to the Book of Five Rings for those not interested in the minutiae of 17th Century fighting, even if the full text wouldn't take that much longer to read.
The afterword by William Scott Wilson, whose translation of the Book of Five Rings was used for this adaptation, is interesting for the insight it …
I picked this up as one of those recommendations for "those who liked Musashi" after finishing my second read of that novel by Eiji Yoshikawa.
This book is an abridged version of Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings, with a little bit added from other sources, and, of course, illustrated.
The Book of Five Rings is a mix of advice that is generally practical to mastering anything and advice that is extremely specific to fighting with the weapons of 17th Century Japan. Most of the abridgment is from the latter, which makes this a good introduction to the Book of Five Rings for those not interested in the minutiae of 17th Century fighting, even if the full text wouldn't take that much longer to read.
The afterword by William Scott Wilson, whose translation of the Book of Five Rings was used for this adaptation, is interesting for the insight it gives into the Buddhist teachings upon which Musashi probably based the philosophy he presents. It alone was just about worth the price of the book.