The Sword & the Mind: The Classic Japanese Treatise on Swordsmanship and Tactics

by Yagyu Munenori

Book Overview

Introduction by Sato Hiroaki Long considered a classic of tactical wisdom, this book is an extraordinary synthesis of the ideas and experiences of three swordsmen: Hidetsuna, Muneyoshi and Munenori.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760765316
• ISBN13: 9780760765319
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Length: 133 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Essential Book on Swordsmanship

If you are unfamiliar with this author and his work, this is not a story or entertaining piece but rather a highly advanced treaty on the zen and psychology of mastering swordsmanship. While some techniques are described, it is also not a how-to manual that teaches swordsmanship. Rather, this book will assist experienced practitioners and provide virtually unlimited insight into the art to expand one's practice. This is a great companion book to Munenori's "The Life Giving Sword". There is some redundancy for example both books include the prints comprising "The Book of Shinkage-ryu Swordsmanship". The Sword and the Mind starts out with a brief chronology of Japanese events folowed by a brief outline of major Yagyu-related events. There is a 19-page introduction where Sato talks about the 3 swordsmen whose observations make up the actual book: Kamiizumi Hidetsuna; Yagyu Muneyoshi; and his son Yagyu Munenori. The last part of the intro talks about the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, or their school of swordsmanship. The reason I advocate owning this along with Wilson's "The Life Giving Sword" is that there are some differences even though the main body of that book is included here. Specifically, The Sword & The Mind also contains Fudochi Shinmyo Roku or "Divine Record of Immovable Wisdom", a zen mind treaty, and Taia Ki or "On the Tai-a", a short martial philosophy text.

The Fighting Manual the Samurai Really Followed!

Everyone oohs and ahs over Musashi's book these days. The funny thing is that in Musashi's own time, and later in the Edo period, the book that was considered to be the best was "The Sword and the Mind", not "The Book of Five Rings". In Fact, the fighting style of "The Sword and the Mind" became and remained the official style of the Shogunate! Why there is so little interest in this most important of Japanese combat books I cannot understand. In fact, this book even has woodcut pictures demonstrating the techniques! If you want proof as to the skill of the authors, let it be known that one of them had the habit of defeating swordsmen using only his bare hands! Another one of the authors fought seven men at once and beat them all; Musashi only fought individual one-on-one duels. The guys who wrote this book had a system which worked, and which they could teach to others. Victory is achieved through science. One especially nice thing about this book is that you can, based on the pictures, immediately practice the techniques, even if you will do so rather informally. Another great thing is that it is written in a very polished style typical of the ruling class, and it gives the reader a window into the lives and thoughts of upper-ranking samurai. The book was written over time by the three successive masters of the school. This book and no other is the definitive combat manual of the samurai: this is the one you have to read if you are interested in Japanese Martial Arts and the Samurai.

Outstanding book! A must have for the seasoned practicioner

I have been practicing Yagyu Shinkage ryu in Japan for the last 5 years. In fact, I just finished a 3 day intensive practice in the village of Yagyu near Nara in Japan. We visited the graves of the Yagyu family and stayed in the dojo where they practiced and taught. My dojo is in direct lineage to the founders of this ryu. Finding old scrolls translated so well into English is extremely difficult. This book is absolutely incredible! I have searched years for this. (Translating it myself would have taken much longer!)I would recommend this book to anyone with a good amount of experience in Japanese sword fighting techiques, but even so, without the verbal lessons that have been handed down to accompany the text, and without seeing it in action, you would find this book too difficult to understand. Beginners would find the discriptions of the kata hard to follow, but would be able to get the essence of the spirit or the mindset of the practicioner. There is also the history of the ryu and it's lineage that is very informative.Well written and translated by someone with an understanding of the subject, historically accurate, this book is tops!

Unless you came to this page by mistake, BUY THIS BOOK!

If you are interested in ancient samurai philosophy, you need to buy this book. I maintain a website on all things Japanese, and I received many inquiries about this book when it was out of print for so long. Now it has recently been re-released, I highly recommend you get a copy before it goes out of print again.Yagyu Munenori was the "fencing" teacher to the Tokugawa shogunate in early 17th century Japan. Those "in the know" revere him as one of the wisest -- as well as most skilled -- swordsmen of his day. The Sword and the Mind could be considered a companion text to Takuan's The Unfettered Mind. It is dry in the way of Zen texts, so don't buy it looking for action. It is more the sort of text you meditate on -- figuratively or literally -- and hopefully come away with an expanded understanding of the samurai mentality of "a focused life, a willing death." If you're really into these sorts of things, you can even find ways to apply the philosophy to your own, modern life.

One philosophy

To be exact, this book is a translation of Yagyu Munenori's treatise on swordsmanship. It talks a lot about spiritual and mental aspects of swordsmanship, particularly from a Zen standpoint. But it must be remembered that this only one philosophy on swordsmanship. The book contains the complete text, plus translated excerpts from Takuan's (a Zen master) letter to Munenori about Zen and swordsmanship and Takuan's letter to Ono Tadaaki (another master swordsman). Serious students of Japanese swordsmanship will know about this book already but it is a good read for those interested in Zen and its incorporation in martial arts.