The Way of the Samurai

A lonely samurai wandering through a boundless forest, climbing formidable cliffs of a high mountain range or voyaging through a monstrous river to reach his ultimate destiny, A lonely samurai who is on a path to avenge the lost lives of his family or loved ones, A lonely samurai carrying a katana sheathed in his sash that’s worn around his waist. The cutting edge is facing up, ensuring the readiness of his next battle. That lonely samurai is not someone who existed only in fiction. The stories closely resemble a person in history.

In his time, warriors used to carry two swords with them known as the long sword and the sword or the sword and the companion sword. However, they fought using only one at a time and they held their swords with both hands. Musashi was against this demeaning use of two swords. He propagated the advantages of using both swords in a battle. The students of the Ichi school trained from the start with the sword and the long sword in either hand, they practiced cutting using one hand.

In his words, you can win using a long weapon and you can also win with a short weapon. The way of the Ichi school teaches the spirit of winning regardless of the weapon used or the size of the weapon.

Musashi Miyamoto was born in Japan’s Harima province, in the village ‘Miyamoto’ from which his family received its surname. Details of his early life are shrugged with mystery, fable, and fantasies. There are five variants of his birth ancestry. The uncertainty of his birth comes from his father Munisai’s tomb which declared his death in 1580 but genealogical evidence suggested Musashi was born in 1582. Some even weened Musashi to be adopted by his mother.

Regardless of the truth behind his ancestry, Musashi was raised in the hands of his uncle Dorinbo. His uncle educated him in Buddhism and taught him basic skills such as reading and writing. Although the relationship with his father was not so good, he was critical to the techniques his father had used in martial arts. The tension reached a natural climax when his father threw a dagger at him which Musashi managed to dodge successfully. The dagger buried itself in the wall beside him. But the fathers’ outrage was not yet over- he threw his seven-year-old son out of his house, disowning him.

Maybe it was his anger against his father that led him to the path of developing his own techniques and becoming arguably the greatest of the samurai.

He entered into his first real fight at the age of thirteen. A challenge was posted by an old samurai named Arima Kihei. Musashi put his name on it. When his uncle came to know about this, he was shocked, he went to the arena before his nephew and tried to beg it off. But, Arima denied his request. Musashi took on the battle with a six-foot wooden staff, he caught Arima off-guard striking him between the eyes. Pinning him to the ground, he beat him to death with successive blows.

At the time Japan was going through a period of change. The country was seethed with feudal wars. Musashi partook in the battle of Sekigahara. He was on the losing side. The whole of Japan was taken over by the Shogunate military government.

Between the ages of thirteen to twenty-nine, he fought as many as 60 decisive battles in his solitary quest from province to province. Defeating strategists of famous schools, at the age of thirty he realized that his victories were not owing to having mastered strategy. Rather, he believed it was either his natural ability or the order of heaven or perhaps that the other schools’ strategy was inferior.

In the book, he claimed his Way of Strategy to have mirrored the Way of heaven and Kwannon.

Although, his approach in the book was very practical. He followed a no-nonsense theme throughout his text.

The book is actually a combination of five books. The five books refer to the different elements of battle.

Providing an introduction to the Way of Strategy, it delves into a metaphorical discussion on martial arts, leadership, and training.

The way of strategy is similar to the way of the carpenter. The carpenter uses a master plan for building, and the Way of Strategy is similar in that there is a plan for campaign. Like the foreman carpenter, the commander must know the laws of nature, the rules of the country, and the rules of houses.

In the construction of houses, the carpenter selects his wood and places them according to their features. The timbers which have a good appearance are placed on pillars that are revealed. Timbers of finest appearance though they may be weak are used on doors and straight timbers that have defects or are gnarled but strong is used for the inner pillars. The foreman carpenter also allots his men work according to their ability. If the foreman knows and deploys his men well, the finished work will be good.

The principles of strategy follow the same notion. The commander should take into account the abilities and limitations of his men. He should not be asking anything unreasonable from them. He should know their morale and spirit and encourage them when necessary.

2. The Book of Water :

The book depicts of spirituality. Water takes the form of where it’s beholden. It demonstrates flexibility and clarity. To be a master of strategy one must possess the ability to adapt and shift through the methods and techniques in keeping with changing situations. He must aspire to learn many ways to acquire both balance and flexibility.

Achieving the balance requires what is known as Yin-Yang within yourself. In fighting and in everyday life you should be determined but remain calm. Your approach should be without tenseness yet not reckless. Even when your spirit is calm do not let your body relax, and when your body is relaxed do not let your spirit slacken. Be neither insufficiently spirited nor over spirited. An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. The goal is not to let your enemy perceive your spirit.

3. The Book of Fire:

The fire book talks about the spirit of fighting. Whether the battle is small or big the spirit remains the same.

On the battlefield, it is difficult to change position of thousand men, but it is easy to maneuver a small group of men. It is easy to predict the movement of a large army but harder to predict that of an individual. Musashi also prescribes some old tactics of holding the high ground, getting behind the sun, and keeping your left side clear of obstacles. His fighting style follows the routine of chasing around the enemy and leading him to a disadvantageous position.

In this book, he described many large-scale strategies.

4. The Book of Air:

This book is not concerned with the teachings of Ichi school, rather it is a composition of old and present-day traditions of strategy. Why it is important to learn about other schools? or other Ways? In his words, It is difficult to know yourself if you do not know others. Another lesson from this book is that an important part of mastering your own way is to understand the way of your opponent as precisely as possible.

Through explaining the ways of other schools, he identified their weaknesses in fighting.

5. The Book of Void:

He draws a distinction between what is bewilderment and what is truly void. Not being able to understand something is not the void, it is bewilderment. In the void, there is virtue and no evil. There is the existence of wisdom, principle, and the Way but that is no place for the spirit.

In this void, what can be grasped is what we can see or do, things we cannot see or do, can only be perceived on a conscious level but of which (spirit) we are always aware.

According to Musashi, this book reveals the true meaning of Ni Ten Ichi Ryu.

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