Musashi's Dokkodo (The Way of Walking Alone) - Half Crazy, Half Genius - Finding Modern Meaning in the Sword Saint’s Last Words

Miyamoto Musashi

Stickman Publications

2015

276 páginas

9h 12m

ISBN-10: B017ROWVU8

Miyamoto Musashi (1584 - 1645) was arguably the greatest swordsman who everlived, a legendary figure whose methods of thought and strategy havebeen studied and adopted across a wide spectrum of society, from martial artists to military leaders to captains of industry. The iconic swordsaint of Japan was clearly a genius, yet he was also a functionalpsychopath--ruthless, fearless, hyper-focused, and utterly withoutconscience. Shortly before he died, Musashi wrote down his finalthoughts about life for his favorite student Terao Magonojo to whom Go Rin No Sho, his famous Book of Five Rings, had also been dedicated. He called this treatise Dokkodo, which translates as "The Way of Walking Alone." The book you hold in your hands is the definitive interpretation of Musashi's final work.

Readers are oftentimes subject to a single perspective about what some famousauthor from the past had to say, yet we are more holistic here. Thistreatise contains Musashi's original 21 precepts of the Dokkodoalong with five different interpretations of each passage written fromthe viewpoints of a monk (Wilder), a warrior (Burrese), a teacher(Smedley), an insurance executive (Christensen), and a businessman(Kane). Each contributor has taken a divergent path from the others, yet shares the commonality of being a lifelong martial practitioner andpublished author. In this fashion you are not just reading a simpletranslation of Musashi's writing, you are scrutinizing his final wordsfor deeper meaning. In them are enduring lessons for how to lead asuccessful and meaningful life.