Samurai Strategies: 42 Martial Secrets from Musashi's Book of Five Rings

The astounding transformation of tiny, resource-poor Japan into the world's second largest economy in the span of less than 30 years was due to the ongoing influence of an ancient samurai code of ethics-a code that once made the Japanese unbeatable warriors in hand-to-hand combat and which now makes them formidable strategists in business and other fields.

The most famous combat strategist in Japanese history was Musashi Miyamoto, a warrior who lived from 1584 to 1645. Musashi fought his first duel to the death when he was 13, killing a veteran warrior more than twice his age. By the time he was 29 he had killed over 60 other warriors in death duels and was a legend in his own time.

Just before he died, Musashi recorded his philosophy, strategies, and tactics in a short treatise entitled Go Rin Sho "The Book of Five Rings". Samurai Strategies has extracted the fundamentals of Musashi's tactics from this esoteric little book and explains them here in the modern context of business, politics, and war. Musashi's strategies for winning are as valid today as they were in seventeenth century Japan and provide valuable insights for anyone in any field of endeavor--from business, war, and sports to the fields of art, love, and politics.