The Life-Giving Sword by William Scott Wilson

The Life-Giving Sword by William Scott Wilson

A real-life samurai's Zen teachings on sword training as a spiritually transformative practice-essential reading for aspiring martial artists and strategic thinkers alike

The legendary seventeenth-century swordsman Yagyu Munenori was the sword instructor and military and political adviser to two shoguns-and a great rival to Miyamoto Musashi. Despite his martial ability and his political power, Munenori's life was spent immersed in Zen teachings. These teachings formed the framework for his deeply spiritual approach to sword fighting. Munenori saw in the practice of the sword a way to transform the student into a total human being.

The Life-Giving Sword is Munenori's manifesto on his approach. His central themes are the "life-giving sword"-the idea of controlling one's opponent by spiritual readiness to fight rather than by actual fighting-and "No Sword," which is the idea that the mind must be free of everything, even the sword itself, in order to get to the place of complete mastery. Munenori's ideas are applicable not only to martial arts but to business and human relations as well.

YAGYU MUNENORI was so widely renowned that he was appointed official sword instructor to two Tokugawa shoguns. (The position was always coveted by Miyamoto Musashi, but he never succeeded in gaining the post). Yagyu's style is known as the Shinkage-ryu style, for centuries the official style of the
Tokugawa dynasty. His spiritual mentor was Zen priest Takuan. Here, Yagyu's Buddhist spirituality is clearly reflected in his central idea of the life-giving sword - the notion of controlling an opponent by the spiritual readiness to fight, rather than during the fight. His mastery of restraint
and diplomacy made him a trusted political and military advisor to the shoguns. This book is a look into a master swordsman's thoughts on nonattachment and even non-violence.

WILLIAM SCOTT WILSON, the translator, was born in 1944 and grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College in 1966, he was invited by a friend to join a three-month kayak trip up the coast of Japan from Shimonoseki to Tokyo. This eye-opening journey, beautifully
documented in National Geographic, spurred Wilson's fascination with the culture and history of Japan.

After receiving a B.A. degree in political science from Dartmouth, Wilson earned a second B.A. in Japanese language and literature from the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies in Monterey, California, then undertook extensive research on Edo-period (1603-1868) philosophy at the Aichi Prefectural
University, in Nagoya, Japan.

Wilson completed his first translation, Hagakure, while living in an old farmhouse deep in the Japanese countryside. Hagakure saw publication in 1979, the same year Wilson completed an M.A. in Japanese language and literature at the University of Washington. Wilson's other translations include The
Book of Five Rings, The Life-Giving Sword, The Unfettered Mind, the Eiji Yoshikawa novel Taiko, and Ideals of the Samurai, which has been used as a college textbook on Japanese history and thought. Two decades after its initial publication, Hagakure was prominently featured in the Jim Jarmusch film
Ghost Dog.

Wilson currently lives in Miami, Florida.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781590309902
ISBN 10	1590309901
Title	The Life-Giving Sword
Author	William Scott Wilson
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Shambhala Publications Inc
Year published	2012-12-11
Number of pages	192
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.