The book of 5 rings

[Hyoho]

Musashi wrote these scrolls in hiragana (basic Japanese alphabet). He did not use Kanji because Confucian and Buddhist meaning might be derived in reading it. As a practitioner I would say, you read the book, do the practice and it works. But its not definitive. You keep reading, practicing and derive deeper meaning. In my opinion...as yet no one who actually studies has translated the work. There's something missing from all the translations. You had to read them all to glean information. There is one unpublished translation out there by Taylor Sensei (Canada). He practices and the translation makes sense to those that practice. If you read the Tombstone book and don't practice? You will read into it other things. For me I need to studyand try to abide by Dokkodo (going my way). HNIR's profound meaning can be studied as a culture with deep Buddhist ideology.Like any art there is a grey area. But the Ryu is the intellectual property of the current Soke. Having a line isn't much good if you drift away from the fundamentals. After being made to do one waza only for 7 years....it helps a lot.The human frailties of greed, self importance and arrogance still permeat any Ryu. Reading of Musashi's values is of the utmost importance and of the lesson he learned in life. Imai Soke would often have us sit and study after physical practice.