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Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea."

"With water as the basis, the spirit becomes like water. As if it were a straight road mapped out on the ground, the first book is called the Ground book.” Water “Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things. Musashi describes the essence of the ground book as the foundation of the other books. Musashi breaks the book into five books: Ground, Water, Fire, Wind, and Void Ground To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well.” I love this idea : “You should not have a favourite weapon. Thus you will have difficulty in actual encounters.” “Anyway, if you learn “indoor” techniques, you will think narrowly and forget the true Way.

When you become used to wielding the long sword, you will gain the power of the Way and wield the sword well.”

Bows are difficult to draw, halberds are difficult to wield as you become accustomed to the bow so your pull will become stronger. “It will seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon yet undrawn.” He touches on the importance of using all of your weapons in combat and life: “This is a truth: when you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. In combat, Musashi would typically use two swords, one short and one long. Musashi compares learning with being a carpenter, the teacher cannot force learning on the student, and the student cannot learn in isolation: “The teacher is as a needle, the disciple is as thread. He spent his whole life mastering the craft, and then summarized his lessons so concisely and eloquently. After that I studied morning and evening searching for the principle, and came to realise the Way of strategy when I was fifty.” Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or that other schools’ strategy was inferior. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy.

“When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. I love how long Musashi has been thinking of the strategy that went into this book: