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June 10, 2005
GO RIN NO SHO
Written by Miyamoto Musashi
..."Miyamoto Musashi was born in 1584, in a Japan struggling to recover from more than four centuries of internal strife. The traditional rule of the emperors had been overthrown in the twelfth century, and although each successive emperor remained the figurehead of Japan, his powers were very much reduced. Since that time, Japan had seen almost continuous civil war between the provincial lords, warrior monks and brigands, all fighting each other for land and power. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the lords, called daimyo, built huge stone castles to protect themselves and their lords and castle towns outside the walls began to grow up. These wars naturally restricted the growth of trade and impoverished the whole country."...
..."Musashi belonged to the samurai class."...
..."Kendo, the Way of the sword, had always been synonymous with nobility in Japan. Since the founding of the samurai class in the eighth century, the military arts had become the highest form of study, inspired by the teachings of Zen and the feeling of Shinto. Schools of Kendo born in the early Muromachi period - approximately 1390 to 1600 - were continued through the upheavals of the formation of the peaceful Tokugawa Shogunate, and survive to this day. The education of the sons of the Tokugawa Shoguns was by means of schooling in the Chinese classics and fencing exercises. Where a Westerner might say "The pen is mightier than the sword", the Japanese would say "Bunbu Ichi", or "Pen ans sword in accord". Today, prominent businessmen and political figures in Japan still practise the old traditions of the Kendo schools, preserving the forms of several hundred years ago."...
1. The Ground Book
2. The Water Book
3. The Fire Book
4. The Wind Book
5. The Book of the Void
Posted by Yabu at June 10, 2005 11:17 PM | The Past
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Tracked on July 2, 2008 03:11 AM
I can't count the number of times I've read that book.
Yabu, if you haven't already, pick up and read Eric van Lustbader's:
The Ninja
The Miko
White Ninja
The stories are great in and of themselves, but you'd enjoy Nicholas Linnear's thoughts on the Go-Rin-No-Sho.
Posted by: Average Tobacco Chewing Joe at June 11, 2005 10:46 PM
