The Book of Five Rings: A Classic Text Reimagined with New Illustrations

Jack: Most of the information you can find on wikipedia, but if you are a book lover, this isn't a bad buy.

United States on Nov 02, 2023

Jeremy Ellis: I live my life by the ways of Christ. I am also a student of Bushido and this is the bible of samurai!

United States on Sep 10, 2023

D. Markélov: I recently purchased "The Book of Five Rings: The New Illustrated Edition" by Miyamoto Musashi, and I can only express profound disappointment. The quality of this edition is nothing short of a disaster, severely lacking in both aesthetic and literary standards.

Firstly, the book's size is an impractical A4. Combined with paper of such low quality that it feels thin and cheap, the physical presentation is a letdown.

Unfortunately, the misrepresentation doesn't stop at the physical properties. This edition is advertised as an "Illustrated Edition", which naturally led me to expect a generous inclusion of images that would enhance my understanding of the text. Sadly, the reality was far from it. The book contains a mere five black and white images, making the 'illustrated' claim a gross exaggeration.

Most egregious, however, are the numerous spelling mistakes and text formatting issues that are littered throughout the book. Reading it feels like navigating through a maze of typographical errors that makes an otherwise enriching experience into a chore.

It's quite shocking, but it feels like someone hastily copied the text from a legitimate version of the...

Sweden on Jul 08, 2023

Amazon Customer: I like that the book teaches you strategy of how to fight with short & long Sword. How to take steps and move.

This book could have been more detailed but it was done 300 years ago. Wish he explained more about the void book. Wanting more is what makes this book special. Understanding Broadly is what he teaches about strategy.

United States on May 31, 2023

Nooh Muhammad: It’s a bit of a boring book but you need to persevere through that to understand it’s meaning.

Canada on Apr 24, 2023

Shawn PethelShawn Pethel: It's a nice hard back and has beautiful pictures and illustrations in it as well as including all five books of the five rings it also has some delightful insight that wasn't in some of the other books

United States on Apr 16, 2023

5 star: I liked the content

United Kingdom on Apr 06, 2023

Djimbus: The fact that I got this book for about 4 bucks is great, but the spelling mistakes and typos really make it hard to really immerse myself fin the book

France on Feb 12, 2023

Kunde2003: Sollte man gelesen haben

Germany on Jan 05, 2022

SCM: I would place Musashi-san's Book of the Five Rings on par with classical teachers like Sun Tzu, Laozi. His book lacks detail compared to some of the classics, but that is one of its strengths. He spends approximately 1/6th of the short book on the movements and tactics for sword-fighting, which may be of varying value to readers - depending on their interest on the subject.

Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" places emphasis on large scale military operations; which lends itself to modern business (in the mind of the reader, and in many modern expositions on a domain-by-domain basis) - supply chains, market saturation, globalization, operational budgeting, etc., Musashi-san's "Way" is likewise applicable. Musashi-san focuses on large scale and small scale (individual) battle, offering useful comparisons and contrasts. For me, the individual focus was extremely insightful and personal. It may suit individuals who have situations of high responsibility or discretion (e.g., negotiations, debate, martial arts, software development), or cases where an individual does not have an abundance of resources or allies - and opportunity is gained through competition.

The book is highly...

United States on May 31, 2017