Takuan Sōhō

The original author, the Zen monk Takuan Souhou from the era of the founding of the Shogunate at the end of the Warring States Period of Japan, addressed matters public and private, personal and formal, military and diplomatic, and others as well. He applied insight to these matters to advise swordmasters of his time -- particularly Yagyuu Munenori, swordsmanship instructor to more than one shogun. In at least one point, communicating with such a highly placed personage with the essays show more collected in this book, he actually scolded the man. A shogun spent years and great resources seeking his favor and friendship. This was a person of influence, despite humility of lifestyle and eccentricity of ideas.

Having not read this in full before, in any translation, I am not sure how much of its character is due to the original author or the translation. It gets overly wordy at times, and dwells on the prosaic and obvious when the subtle and profound lurk behind, as if he just doesn't get that people might miss important implications. Then again, maybe the culture of his time was influenced by bromides so pervasive that a simple restatement makes the metaphorical purpose obvious to his reader, or perhaps shared context allows him to make a joke of belaboring the blatantly superficial and expect his interlocutor to understand. Suffice to say that, if I wrote a similar tract for a general audience of warriors, I would likely have tried to lighten the verbosity load a bit and cut to the quick a bit more.

I wouldn't call this an introductory bit of philosophizing, practical or theoretical, in large part because of the above. Having gotten some real insights out of works like Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching, though, should prepare one for getting past the packing material to the precious cargo inside this book. I enjoyed it, and the next time I read it I'll probably go through all the end notes, too -- because it's brief and interesting enough for a second reading. show less

The profundity of this succinct text, essential to its longevity, can be gauged from the fact that it outlived its premier readership- the aristocratic Samurai warrior class in feudal Japan.

So what makes it relevant today? Takuan Soho renders crisp advisory guidance which emphasizes that contrary to popular religious thought (in the East at least), the human mind is not to be made static. Rather, it is to be unfettered of all coagulation. The mind must flow like water rather than show more statify.

William Scott has done an exceptional job in preserving both the brevity and essence of the original text while rendering it in lay English. A marvelous read indeed. show less

REVIEW from LibraryThing:
This book contains a collection of three letters/essays from Takuan Soho to masters of the sword arts. They contain some incredible gems. This book should not just be read; but reflected upon.As another reviewer said, "The ideas of the interval between striking flint and steel to the production of the spark, or the visual and mental image of the glint of light on the blade of a sword become captivating and even revelatory." I could not have said it any better myself.

Will need to read this again. What little I did understand I found profound but again understood little (hence the reasoning for the 3 star rating which is a fault in myself rather than the book).