Best translation of Musashi's Book of 5 Rings?

**brihno360** · Posted On: 2/27/2011 5:45pm

Haha! that's the one I have from about 10 years ago and I thought it seemed like BS, which is why I started this thread...

It's such BS that I knew it was BS and I don't speak any more Japanese than is necessary to practice Judo under my sensei.

**Eddie Hardon** · Posted On: 2/28/2011 12:55pm

Originally Posted by NeilG

It's not a translation, it's Kaufman's "interpretation". And seeing as he can't even translate the name of his own BS dojo correctly...

I'm sure he's been thoroughly stomped on here, and if you do a search for him on e-budo you will find plenty of reasons to avoid anything the man is involved with like the plague. He was actually one of e-budo's first highlight guests, but after we took him to task for, well, everything, he left in a huff.

Hmm, Ta for this. I'll have to dig it out and check. The only thing I am clear on is that the copy I've got had the bloke down as a 10th Dan. At that time, my thinking was..."Only in America..." no disrespected intended - and he had a pony-tail. Uh-oh.

Hmm, yeah, I'm going to have to check.

Cheers

**Outis** · Posted On: 3/03/2011 12:23pm

Originally Posted by Jim_Jude

Isn't that the Snake Dojo guy?

IIRC, he was the one who named his dojo dojo no hebi, which supposedly means "the dojo of the snake"; according to speakers of Japanese, however, the word order actually has the meaning of "the snake of the dojo."

**IYRDC** · Posted On: 3/21/2011 12:39pm

Personally, I enjoyed the translation in "Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings" by Kenji Tokitsu. It includes a very large section on research into Musashi's life, which was facinating, and helped provide some context which seperates the man from the legend.

**Ming Loyalist** · Posted On: 3/21/2011 12:50pm

Originally Posted by IYRDC

Personally, I enjoyed the translation in "Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings" by Kenji Tokitsu. It includes a very large section on research into Musashi's life, which was facinating, and helped provide some context which seperates the man from the legend.

i've been reading this as well, and find it to be quite good. my wife wants to read the original text, as she is able to read classical japanese of that time, and after she is done, i was hoping to have her read tokitsu's work and tell me what she thinks.