The Book of Five Rings
The legendary undefeated samurai’s treatise on strategy, combat, and mastery, read for centuries as a guide to excellence in any discipline.
Miyamoto Musashi fought more than sixty duels without defeat, then retired to a cave to write down what he knew. The result is a short treatise on strategy organized into five books named for earth, water, fire, wind, and void. Musashi’s advice runs from sword grip and footwork to the psychology of timing and deception, and he insists the principles apply to any conflict at any scale. Modern readers mine it for lessons in business and competition. It remains one of the most direct things ever written about winning.
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Joe Rogan
My right arm, I have a tattoo of Miyamoto Musashi because I read a quote when I was 16 years old when I was doing martial arts. I read the Book of Five Rings, and this is – that's Miyamoto Musashi on my right arm. And he wrote this book, the Book of Five Rings, which was a book on strategy. And Miyamoto Musashi was a samurai who killed 62 men in one-on-one combat.
Podcast · November 2022
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