A book of five rings

Few works of literature speak almost equally to the businessman, the philosopher, and the practitioner of the martial arts. Musashi's great classic, until now unknown in the West except by reputation, is one which speaks to all three. Famous for over 300 years, A Book of Five Rings is likely the most perceptive guide to strategy ever written.

Musashi is known to the Japanese as Kensie or "sword-saint." Though the facts of his life might suggest to American readers that he was a cruel and merciless man, in fact, Musashi relentlessly pursued an honest ideal, and its truth emerges from A Book of Five Rings. It is not a thesis on battle strategy; it is, in Musashi's words, "a guide for men who want to learn strategy" and, as a guide always leads, so its contents seem always just beyond the student's immediate understanding.