I’m enjoying The book of the five rings (Miyamoto Mushashi) way more than what I thought. It’s not only teaching m about martial arts and war but all the lessons are easily applicable to professional and personal situations. Even if I wish to never have to apply this knowledge about sword mastering in my real life (although with my passion of role games, I know they’re going to be handy!), revisiting some experiences in my head as they were a duel, running through all the points Mushashi explain in this amazing book.
What hooked me to continue reading (on top of my inner nerd feeling like a ninja!) was how surprisingly relatable were the lessons and statements to my career. And we’re talking about a half a century old manuscript about surviving duels to the death.
For instance, Mr Mushashi talks about how a bad rhythm can kill you. Moving too fast in a fight is as bad as being slow, as you might make a mistake. That’s why he always keep a steady pace: fighting, walking and living. It allows you to study your opponent and plan a strategy.
He also says that repeating a technique that previously failed will kill you. You might be tempted thinking that the failure was because a bad performance, but the chance of another failure is really high. If you tried it and manage to survive, your adversary will be ready for the third time. And you’ll die.
He stays the importance of your environment. Every one of its details might be an advantage, and you have to avoid that they become an adversity. You should also have expertise with a large variety of weapons, not just mastering a few of them like other duelling schools. Adaptability is required if you plan to keep duelling and survive. People will bring new weapons and tools, and they’ll focus on countering the common techniques.
As he says: no technique is invalid if it makes you survive. I want to end talking about the book with some if its quotes:
“Do nothing that is of no use”
“It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet”
“You can only fight the way you practice”
“You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings
May the force be with you,
Gino
Just call me Gino, please 