First of all, everyone in this world fancies the insignificant principles of the martial arts, whether knowing how to give the wrist a three- to five-inch advantage with the fingertips, or in understanding how to gain victory by extending the forearm by handling a fan.
Fire is the chapter where Musashi describes to us his view and approach to combat and battle itself. He starts with basically telling us it is necessary to spar, it is necessary to do force on force, it is necessary to put yourself at risk. To Musashi a warrior must go to war. You cannot learn The Way without danger.
Musashi went so far to start fights and initiated combat in order to further practice his art in situations he could not outright control at the start. That is why Musashi’s actions through his life keep him from heroism, but yet what he wrote to better the warrior class on Earth forever would have been impossible to learn otherwise. You may learn from his experience, you may believe he was with great merit and awesome, without emulating him. That alone might be a lesson in that we can look up to someone, we can celebrate their accomplishments and life, without working to be like them.
This chapter is the most literal and useful to our purposes as warriors. I’m mostly going to summarize what Musashi discusses, a cliff’s note if you will as less interpretation is needed here.
Concerning Place Musashi tells us we should keep the light to our back, and if unable to do that to the right. That we want our left side free. How does this apply to gunfighting? The light at your back means you are silhouetted and likely a third blade on a sight, which is easy to hit instinctively. However, if that light is so intense, so blinding that your opponent cannot see you or it is painful to look at this is good advice. Police do this with traffic stops at night. The lesson is control the light, use it to your advantage. He tells us to take elevated positions and have our left side clear. This might be another sword fighting thing, but, consider : it is easiest to engage a target moving from your right to left, or requires you to turn left. It is easy to shoot while moving horizontally to the right, very difficult when going left - especially with a long gun. These are all things you need to think about and investigate.
Chasing Opponents This is straight Sun Tzu and almost perfectly translates to modern combat as well. Chase him to your left (though in our case it is towards the direction that you can best fire and move), get the difficult terrain to his rear, and drive him to those difficult places. Because your opponent is busy facing you to defend from your attacks, they will not be able to see this terrain as you drive them backwards into it. Do not let your opponent see or understand what is going on - as in you interrupt his OODA loop. Keep him from being able to turn by always being on the attack. Do not let your opponent drop their defenses for even a moment. Remember from the previous chapter, whenever you strike at your opponent do so with the intent to kill them right there.
Taking the Three Initiatives Attack, Wait, Body-Body. These are if you strike first, you wait and counter attack, or you meet your opponent’s attack. We are told that time and place dictate which strategy is best and it is difficult to write about such things. And we should investigate them thoroughly. I find myself with the same difficulty as Musashi. There are things I wish to say, wisdom I wish to share but it comes from having done it, from seeing and being in the situations and utilizing my talents and wisdom. I will say that for a modern gunfighter on the lawful side of things we’ll be waiting and meeting. Very rarely will we have the opportunity to strike first before our opponent is able to respond, we are in a time where decisive counter attack and met attack are the only ways to operate and not spend the rest of our lives in prison. Such it is incredibly important we learn the rhythm of counter attack.
Pressing Down the Pillow Musashi almost explicitly describes interrupting the OODA loop in this section. It is keeping your opponent’s head down and suppressing their action while they attempt that action. One must lead their opponent around letting them do useless things and interrupt useful things. He suggests interrupting at the earliest possible moment they commit to the action. We’re warned that a mind that thinks “suppress this, suppress that” is a defensive one and incorrect. That we should trust ourselves in the Way. “Sustain your action over your opponent so that anything he does comes to nothing”. Of course we are told to investigate this thoroughly. I strongly agree.
Ferrying Across A metaphorical section. I think Musashi is advising us to step outside of our comfort zone and do difficult things, using our wisdom to make it happen. In doing we grow, we improve, and do something that others will not dare to do. I realize in writing this… this is why I do Spartan and go on crazy hikes. This is why I attempt tasks, projects, and jobs I’m not certain I can accomplish or how at the start. Sometimes it doesn’t go well. I always learn.
Knowing Conditions Musashi’s version of know thy enemy, know thy self, and you will win a thousand battles. Musashi adds knowing the mind of your enemy as the better you know it the more paths to victory you will have.
Stepping on the Sword Expanding on Pressing Down the Pillow, this section describes intercepting and defeating an opponent’s moves whether on the large scale of battle or one on one. Musashi instructs us to use the correct counter at the correct time for the attack, and not to wait in doing so. We should not wait for our opponent to fire before we load or draw. We need to prevent them from firing another round. Better if when they are prepping the shot we touch off a useful round to keep them from firing theirs. The interruption is jarring and causes them to re-set or fail their attack. It’s an expansion of interrupting an OODA loop by interrupting the action such that observation becomes dealing with observing the attack has been broken, the orientation becomes how to deal with your counter that is already incoming, the decision is what to do about it (if there is time, which there is likely not), and the action is now behind your power curve thus is panicked without decision. You intercept this panicked poor action and this messed up cycle repeats. Interestingly in this section Musashi refers directly to archers nocking arrows and firearms being loaded. We step on their sword such they may not raise it again and we cut them down. Of course this is not literal but the sense of the rhythm and method we are deploying. Rhythm of battle is somewhat literal, we interrupt the performance of our opponents with our rad guitar solo in such a way they cannot keep up or harmonize. They are stilted and discordant, clumsy and unable to keep up or find a place to match our performance. Such we flow while they pluck, and stop, and start, and pluck again, miss notes and generally sound terrible. And we do this to them.
Knowing Collapse All things collapse, all things fail, all things have moments where dismantlement and failure are possible. “It is essential that you grasp the sign of your opponent’s collapse and rush him with certainty so that he will be unable to recover.” Seizing opportunities is critical because you may not get another, or a possible moment of your collapse will arrive before there is another with your opponent and you will be defeated. Do not wait on victory. See how your opponent collapses and help them. Musashi encourages us to investigate thoroughly “cutting them down with vigor”.
Becoming your Opponent There is a passage in here that utterly changed my way of thinking. Consider I was a young police officer at the time. We often would deal with barricaded subjects as if they were of the utmost danger, and I read this from Musashi: “… people are apt to think that someone who has committed a robbery and has holed himself up in a house must be a strong opponent. But if you consider it from the opponent’s view, he is thinking the whole world is against him and that there is no way of escape. The man who has holed himself up is a pheasant. The man who is going in to cut him down is a hawk.”
I often think in my own martial arts that I am looking to defeat the best version of myself. That if I can defeat an opponent as strong and clever as myself on a perfect day making no mistakes, I surely can defeat an opponent that is lesser. Musashi touches on this in trying to instill our confidence that our knowledge and capabilities in the martial arts should strike fear in our opponent such they are constantly worrying about fighting someone greater, as such they have set themselves up for defeat. You should not set yourself up that your opponents are greater than you, for if you think this way you have already been defeated.
Letting Go of Four Hands Musashi advises that when a fight comes to a stalemate that it is appropriate and necessary to immediately do something unexpected by disregarding your current thinking and approach. Ideally something that your opponent would never think of or maybe is out of bounds. Musashi is very much in the mind that the winner decides what is honorable in lethal combat. Effective is better than fair.
Moving the Shadow When you cannot see inside your opponent’s mind it is necessary to attack vigorously, or appear as if you are doing so, in which your opponent will then telegraph their intentions. From this telegraphing you should now see the path to victory. Musashi tells us if we are negligent we will miss this timing and know defeat.
Controlling the Light When you can see your opponent’s intentions you can control their tactics and set up their defeat. You can lead them to thinking they know what you are doing and know your strength, so try to avoid it. Then from the void (future chapter) you pull an unforeseen tactic and crush them. They cannot know what you’re going to do if you do not know what you are going to do. We are encouraged to take the initiative, to flip the OODA loop such that we are in charge of it and ahead. Craig Douglas advises us the same in his ECQC courses.
Drawing Your Opponent In We are advised to do the opposite of our opponents. That if our opponent is moving quickly and hurried, we should be leisurely on purpose. We should attempt to cause an infectious lethargy, sleepiness, boredom, and weakening in our opponent. Our methodology is to make them think the rhythm of battle is something different than what it is. When they slow, we accelerate past them to their defeat. “Making them Drunk” is another way Musashi tells us to think of this.
Agitating Your Opponent “There are many kinds of agitation. One is a feeling of danger, a second is a feeling that something is beyond your capability, and a third is a feeling of the unexpected” It is important once making your opponent lethargic you agitate them.
Imposing Fear Again we are told to do the unexpected. People do not fear what is right in front of them, but what they do not know, what they are not sure of, what they do not understand, what they do not expect. A fearful mind is one that cannot act effectively. Remember, Musashi believes the mind is the true weapon so is looking to diminish the minds of his opponents such they are trivial to defeat as he will never actually face their true skills or abilities.
Entangling What Musashi describes here is in literal sense what boxers do when they get tired or need a break. They grapple and hug in until the referee breaks them apart. In the metaphorical sense what Musashi advises is when you see the fight going nowhere get in so close and do not let your opponent re-group or retreat. Make them deal with you and continue to deal with you as this will give you the ability to score victory.
Touching the Corner Anything strong is difficult to attack or defeat directly. So, you strike at a corner, you take an edge, you diminish your opponent such that as they weaken as they bleed and become distracted you can have an easy victory. Understand Musashi means doing this as a direct action tactic, not defeating opponents by wearing them down over time. He is not advising “death by a thousand cuts” but instead creating opportunities and forcing mistakes.
Causing Confusion Simply. Do not telegraph to your opponent what you’re actually going to do, instead give them a bunch of possibilities such they cannot know which course you will take. Make him think various things, let his imagination run with the possibilities of what you may do. Having a reputation as a cunning & clever warrior who utilizes unexpected tactics and strategy helps to do this job for you! Your opponent will make up in their own minds possibilities that even you did not consider, thus splitting their attention and wasting their resources, and further telegraphing to you their intentions and defenses. When you see the signs of your opponent’s confusion, take the victory freely. This is a specialty of battle. You should investigate this thoroughly.
The Three Voices Here’s a spot where feudal battle norms is shown. I don’t think this really applies to modern day, or at least my martial art and its application. Maybe it still applies in some military applications. Voice is a weapon I use to demand compliance or submission, it in itself a form of attack. If I do not do this there is silence. In my police days we were instructed to continually yell “stop resisting stop resisting” and other such things for the benefit of onlookers. One could also argue it was useful to get the officers to continue to breathe, though I often found it was harder to breathe when trying to yell such things during a fight just for CYA purposes. There is no victory yell. Musashi discusses the voice one uses before a strike or battle, the low roar during, and after victory. He makes a point of the timing of when to yell and to avoid yelling at the exact moment of a strike. My investigation of this is his experience in this case does not really apply to today other than to consider and think about how things have changed.
Mixing In Musashi’s tactic for fighting battles with a strong opponent, or in multiple or single combat with strong opponents is to get in tight and avoid over-focusing on any single target or objective. He tells us to attack a point of strength, route it, then quickly move to attack another not focusing in utterly defeating a single person or target. From his advice earlier he’s re-enforcing keeping our focus broad. In modern terms he’s telling us to not tunnel nor get bogged down ourselves. We’re advised to never retreat, instead getting lost in the crowd. This is sounding like some special forces stuff where your enemy is all around, they don’t precisely know where you are, but their stuff keeps breaking. By the time they notice it’s broken or that you’ve attacked you’ve already moved on.
Crushing Here Musashi advises overkill. When your enemy is weak, confused, just outmatched, etc, you utterly and completely destroy them. You do not allow for them to have a chance to rally or recover. Swiftly, deftly, immediately smash them into the dirt and do not let them back up. Hit them with your strongest and most effective attack such they may not have even a hope of success. Of course Musashi tells us to investigate this thoroughly.
Mountains and Seas The definition of insanity is attempting the same thing again and again expecting different results. You must do the opposite of what your opponent is thinking, and be constantly trying new and different things. Using the same technique twice, especially after it has not worked once, why try it a third time? You won’t hammer your way through.
Piercing The Bottom Musashi overlaps with Machiavelli here, especially when combined with “Crushing” from above. Our opponent’s spirit must be utterly defeated, to the bottom of their heart. If any bit of spirit or hope remains in them you must remain alert. If you are beating them to their very depths then your opponent will help you undo them.
Renewal Again if you are fighting an opponent and nothing is going right, you should begin anew, try new tactics, take an all new approach and rhythm. You cannot know victory on this approach so another must be used. Musashi tells us we must do this immediately once a need for Renewal is recognized.
Head of a Rat, Neck of a Bull This is a common military saying in Japan. You must be both clever and courageous, lacking either can be disastrous. Musashi tells us that we can focus too deeply on details in a fight; for us it may be a specific grappling technique, we’re focusing on sights or trigger control, our grip is weak on our weapon allowing it to take us for a ride so we focus on grip. Yet nothing is going right as we concentrate on these details. He advises in these cases we show great courage and heart to exchange the small for the large. From a later chapter, in these moments it is important to embrace the Void and do what we know how to do. Change your thinking grand and gross, not small and fine in these moments.
The General Knows the Soldiers Think of your opponents as your soldiers that you order and move around freely. Consider them as your actions move them as you wish them to move, and for them to do what you wish them to do. Action and re-action.
Releasing the Hilt of the Sword A vague section. “There are various meanings but I will not write them all down”, yet he writes none and tells us to investigate this thoroughly. I believe this section Musashi is telling us that we cannot think of our weapons as a token of victory. A talisman of protection and power. We can win with our weapons, we can win without them. Thinking that a specific tool or technique will save us is folly. It is us. Our wisdom of the martial arts. Our courage. Our mind. We run into this problem a lot in how we numerate everything, we think of combat like a video game. What are the stats on a 9mm or a 45. What about 5.56 vs 7.62. Do I do enough damage. Is my gun good enough for xyz thing. Truth is it’s you. Numbers don’t pop up over your enemy’s head when you strike them. There are no numbers, you tear the tissue needed to destroy function or you don’t. The gun doesn’t matter. Not really. You cannot in real life pick up a legendary class weapon (if they even exist) and utterly steamroll your enemies simply because you have it. The guy with the crazy weapons and sci-fi shielding can be undone by a wise and clever warrior with a rock or a stick, maybe their bare hands. So, yes, investigate this thoroughly.
The Body of a Rocky Crag In studying the wisdom of the Martial Arts you become unmoving and struck by nothing. Musashi writes it is an oral tradition. We know of this. The above is a lot of me sharing my knowledge of the martial arts with you. All of us who have studied this discipline know how it makes us more calm, more decisive, more capable all on its own. Because it must. We adapt and apply its lessons always because it becomes who and what we are.
Conclusion Musashi tells us he has thought on these principles and fought for them his whole life. Yet he is now writing them down for the first time such that the order is disjointed and he cannot write in the detail he would like. We should use them as sign posts in our own Path and Way. “Looking into other styles, I have found that they were either speaking with clever pretexts or demonstrating detailed hand maneuvers; while they looked good to the eye, none of them had the heart of truth.” He believes this will cause the undoing of the Martial Arts (McDojos my friends). The true Way is to win, and this should not be forgotten.
Next Wind.