The Book of Five Rings

Product Information

Currently, Shawn Carman is the head of the Legend of the Five Rings Story Team. He has had great success at incorporating player effects into the game in a smooth manner, regardless of how odd the results of a tournament may be to the setting of the game. His team includes Nancy Sauer, Brian Yoon, Yoon Ha Lee, and Robert Denton with Fred Wan acting as co-lead and continuity editor. The team formerly included Rusty Priske and Lucas Twyman.

I'd recommend this to people interested in martial arts, the Japanese "way," Japanese history, "traditional" ideas of Japanese culture, and maybe business strategy. But those interested in the latter are going to have to wade through a lot of tall about stances and swords before you get your kernels of wisdom. Of course you're supposed to dominate the battlefield with your own timing, never losing momentum, and always face your opponents with courage. The Book of Five Rings is a book that pops up over and over again in many other titles I've read. It was only a matter of time before I got to it myself.Miyamoto Musashi was born in either the Harima Province of Japan or the village of Miyamoto in Mimasaka in 1584. Little is known about the life of Musashi, but what has been pieced together from a small number of reliable sources has highlighted his inability to lose a fight. Musashi is remembered as an undefeated samurai and won his first fight against the swordsman Arima Kihei at 13 years old. From then until the day he died, he was victorious in every battle he fought in, and it was close to the end of his life that Musashi wrote down his Way of the martial arts, and it was in 1645, at the age of 62, that the great swordsman passed away. Those looking for free handouts need not apply; those looking for the Western romanticized (Therefore erroneous) view of Bushido need not apply. Musashi explicitly states that in a fight, there is no honor beyond victory. You do whatever you can to throw your opponent off balance, onto their weak hand, blind them, use every advantage you know to utterly remove them from the equation. Go Rin no Sho calligraphed in Kanji. Musashi strove to be as great a master in Japanese calligraphy just as much as he did in swordsmanship.

There are subjects and views that on the surface seem to to be contradictory. Musashi speaks of "venerating" the gods and the Buddhas he then speaks of total self reliance especially not appealing to or depending on the "gods or Buddhas". The most commonly used phrase (in translation) is "this should be investigated thoroughly". Legend of the Five Rings has many cards that are directly influenced by players and their actions. These cards often feature an attribution on the vertical right side of the card, which includes the name of the player, the event, and the date involved in the creation of the card or theme behind the card. Having your name on a card is a goal of many players of Legend of the Five Rings. The third chapter is The Fire Chapter, which focusses on the matter of battle because, like fire, battles can be small or large. Musashi takes into consideration the best placement of light, using your surroundings to your advantage, and strategies in using your mind during battle. The Wind Chapter comes next, which is not about Musashi’s Way, but the issues of various other styles and martial arts, and what makes his Way superior. The final chapter is the Emptiness Chapter, which is the shortest section, which Musashi has written "so that you might naturally enter the Way of Truth" (15). There is timing in the whole life of the warrior, in his thriving and declining, in his harmony and discord. You win battles with the timing in the Emptiness born of the timing of cunning by knowing the enemies' timing, and thus using a timing which the enemy does not expect. We shout during the fight to get into rhythm. It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of the pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways.This book actually has two translations by Thomas Cleary of two books from Japanese martial artists. My thoughts on both and a short comparison are below. In 2020, all Role-Playing Game lines previously published under Fantasy Flight were transferred to Edge Studios. This included the Legends of the Five Rings RPG.