In 1614 Musashi once again fought for the Toyotomi against the Tokagawa at the Winter and Summer Battles of Osaka, but wasn’t persecuted for being on the losing side. One Tokagawa loyalist, Ogasawara Tadanao, hired him as a ‘construction supervisor, to help build Akashi Castle. Six years later he helped plan the White Egret Castle in Himeji. In 1627, after various failed attempts to reestablish himself somewhere as a swordmaster vassal, Musashi began to travel again, but his life of battle and dueling began to slow down, as one would expect from an aging man. In 1640 he was retained by his old lord Tadatoshi, and moved into Chiba Castle in Kumamoto. Two years after that he began to suffer attacks of neuralgia. Musashi recognizing this as the first sign of a terminal illness, hermitically retired to a cave named Reigandō.
Here he wrote his masterpiece on strategy, tactics, and philosophy, the Go Rin No Sho. The Book of Five Rings was a compendium of Musashi’s technical principles and contemplative approach to the craft of war. A warrior was considered incomplete, unless he had mastered of many art forms away from that of the sword. Musashi had done that. In addition to studying Buddhism, he was a brilliant sumi-e Zen brush painter, wood and metal sculptor, and calligrapher. He had architectural and tea drinking skills. There are five ways in which men pass through life: as gentlemen, warriors, farmers, artisans and merchants.
Musashi’s five books collected his life’s lessons on the essential elements of combat- Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and The Void.
The Book of Earth was a metaphorical introduction to martial arts strategy. The first metaphor was for that of the bulb and the flower, for the student and the technique. Musashi accused most other strategies of being more concerned with coloring and showing off the beauty of their technique, trying to ‘hasten the bloom of the flower,’ rather than to perfect the harmony between strategy and skill. His second metaphor described the strategy of building of a house, or the pursuit of any other artisanal endeavor, was the same as that of a warrior. As a carpenter becomes better with his tools, so too can a warrior become more skilled in his technique. Builders thrive through events- the ruin of houses, the splendor of houses, the style of the house, the tradition and name or origins of a house. The samurai thrives on the rise and fall of prefectures. The master plan of a building is similar to a plan of campaign. As a carpenter, expert enough in all aspects of his job, can become a foreman, so too can a warrior acquire the power to show others.
The value of strategy is homogeneous. There is no iron-clad method, path, or weapon, and no one can gain strategy by being confined to one particular style. Musashi practiced ‘many arts and abilities- all things with no teacher.’ The way of his Ichi school was the spirit of winning, whatever the weapon and whatever its size. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things as if it were a straight road mapped out on the ground... From one thing, know ten thousand things. When you attain the Way of Strategy there will not be one thing you cannot see. You must study hard.
Different situations required different weapons and tactics. During battle, using only one weapon is as bad as using the weapon poorly, since an enemy will find the weakness in your style. Some weapons, like naginata and spears, can be only used on the battlefield whereas long and short swords can be used together everywhere, on horseback or in close quarters on the ground.
Mastering the long sword grip was a platform for moving onto the mastery of all weaponry. Musashi’s use of the term ‘two fingers’ to describe the way to hold the katana, didn’t tell the whole story.
‘Grip the long sword with a rather floating feeling in your thumb
and forefinger, with the middle finger neither tight nor slack, and
with the last two fingers tight. It is bad to have play in your
hands. However, just because the grip is to be light, it does not
mean that the attack or slash from the sword will be weak. If you
try to wield the long sword quickly, you will mistake the way. To
wield the long sword well, you must wield it calmly. If you try to
wield it quickly, like a folding fan or a short sword, you will err
by using ‘short sword chopping.’ You cannot cut down a man
with a long sword using this method. ... the movement of the
sword after the cut is made must not be superfluous... one should
allow the sword to come to the end of its
path from the force used. In this manner, the technique will become
freely flowing, as opposed to abrupt...’
He regarded the gun as the supreme weapon on the battlefield, until swords clashed. Then it was useless. In the seventeenth century, guns were inaccurate at anything more than point-blank range, reloading speed was slower than that of a skilled archer, and the invisibility of bullets precluded any adjustment in aim.
Musashi recognized timing as a core strategic principle.
‘In all skills and abilities there is timing.... There is timing in the
whole life of the warrior, in his thriving and declining, in his
harmony and discord... From the outset you must know the
applicable timing and the inapplicable timing, and from among
the large and small things and the fast and slow timings find the
relevant timing, first seeing the distance timing and the
background timing. This is the main thing in strategy. It is
especially important to know the background timing,
otherwise your strategy will become uncertain.’
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