Customer Reviews
I've not read this edition - By: R. Court, 05 Oct 2008 
I have three copies of Sun Tzu's Art of War, one fairly expensive by Cleary, & two cheaper translations, I like the expensive one least of the three for it's pushing of a pacifist Taoism that isn'tin the others.
Victor Harris's translation of the book of five rings is fine.
review and non-review - By: Vik Singh, 11 Oct 2007 
This book actually has two translations by Thomas Cleary of two books from Japanese martial artists. My thoughts on both & a short comparison are below.
The Book of Five Rings is a pretty good insight into a disciplined mind & professional samurai from 17th century Japan. A lot of it is practical advice & there is some spiritual Zen leaningin there too but I would not go as far to say it is required leadership reading materialin the same way as The Art of War by Sun Tzu but no martial artist should be without this book.
The second translationin the book is The Book of Family Traditions on the Art of War by Yahyu Munenori is far more flowery & makes more sense if you have an understanding of buddhism otherwise the section on existance & non-existance may (or may not be ;-)) be tricky to grasp.
In comparision the first book is plainly superior to the secondin the mannerin which it is written & executed. It's plain talkng & easy to grasp with none of the flowery language prevalentin the second.
Two Books for the Price of One!! - Musashi & Munenori together in one place!! - By: Terry Tozer, 01 Jul 2007 
Unlike the dozens of other translations of "The Book of Five Rings", this one also contains "The Book of Family Traditions on the Art of War" by Yagyu Munenori (A contemporary of Musashi). How's that for value for money?!
The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) is a GREAT book! If you take time to properly absorb & understand ALL of its teachings. It's not a very long book & so would be easy to read a few times over so that you get a proper flavour of the important message being presented. Thomas Cleary is a prolific writer & well qualified to produce such a translation.
A better & easier to digest version (IMHO) of this small book is "Samurai Strategies: 42 Martial Secrets" by Boye De Lafayette Mente, who very cleverly summarises this book into 42 easy to digest & understand & apply chapters.
The ideasin this book are NOT dangerous to anyonein the least, IF you balance & apply ALL of the lessons within it - that's the idea that the great undefeated warrior Musashi was trying to put across. The life saving principles he expounds here are designed to help us all have a better, easier & more fulfilled life, Martial Artist or not. His strategies can be applied & used by anyone.
"A knife is dangerous for anyone - you just have to learn how to use is safely & intelligently"
We are all so lucky & truly blessed that, nearly 400 years ago, someone called Lord Hosokawa had the foresight to ask the ageing Musashi to write down his secrets of success. Musashi himself was not only extremely talented but must have been a very intelligent man for his time to write such a treatise.
The comment (else ware) about this book not being for beginners is misleading I think, it isn't that hard to understand & extrapolate the true meaning & intentions that Musashi was trying to put across.
Don't be put off by ANY of the negative criticisms (in other reviews), it's only because they've missed the point or just quickly scanned & glossed over the book.
Although we are not entirely certain of Musashi's religious bent, Musashi bases his book [loosely] on the Zen Buddhist philosophies of the Five Elements - Earth, Water, Fire, Wind & Emptiness. One of his close associates was Takuan Soho, author of "The Unfettered Mind".
