The Book of Five Rings

This is the basic text of the Niten Ichi-ryu school of martial arts, and is said to be the last document of the founder of the school, Miyamoto Musashi Genshin (1584-1645). It consists of five volumes. Musashi's handwritten copy no longer exists, and the best known copy is a scroll (owned by Hosokawa Ienaga Eisei Bunko) that was sent to his disciple Yamamoto Gensuke by his senior disciple Terao Magonojo in May 1667 (Kanbun 7), more than 20 years after his death. The gist of the book can be found in a memorandum called the "Thirty-five Articles of Military Art" that was presented to the feudal lord Hosokawa Tadatoshi in 1641 (Kan'ei 18), which was expanded and fleshed out, with the contents organized into five volumes modeled after the five great elements of Buddhism: earth, water, fire, wind, and space. Musashi's unique view of military arts and the legitimacy of the two-sword tachi-suji sword technique are powerfully expressed in simple, concise language, and it is considered the pinnacle of early modern martial arts instruction books.

[Ichiro Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

兵法(へいほう)二天一流(にてんいちりゅう)の基本的伝書で、流祖宮本武蔵玄信(むさしげんしん)（1584―1645）の遺書と伝えられる。全5巻。武蔵の自筆本は現存せず、写本としては、その没後20余年を経た1667年（寛文7）5月、高弟寺尾孫之丞(まごのじょう)が門人山本源介にあてた巻子本(かんすぼん)（細川家永青(えいせい)文庫蔵）が善本とされる。その骨子は、1641年（寛永18）藩主細川忠利(ただとし)に奉呈した「兵法三十五箇条」とよばれる覚書にみられ、これを敷衍(ふえん)し、肉づけしたもので、内容は、仏教でいう地水火風空の五大五輪にかたどって5巻に編成されている。武蔵独自の兵法観、および二刀兵法の太刀(たち)筋の正当性について、簡潔平易な文章で力強く表現されており、近世初期の流派武道伝書の白眉(はくび)とされている。

［渡邉一郎］

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