The complete book of five rings by Miyamoto Musashi

Author:Miyamoto, Musashi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2010-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

In the practice of hyoho, Musashi distinguishes two levels, which he refers to frequently in the text: daibun no hyoho and ichibun no hyoho. Dai means "great" and ichi means "one." Sometimes he uses the words tabun instead of daibun and shobun instead of ichibun. la means "many" and sho means "small."

For bun I give here only the senses that are relevant to the use of the term in our context:

i. Separate part or division of a part, a party, social situation, degree of ability. 2. The position or hierarchical place that corresponds to a particular role.

Since Musashi uses these pairs of terms interchangeably, I conclude that daibun and ichibun, on one hand, and tabun and shobun, on the other, have the same sense. What they refer to is something relating to a party composed of a single person and something related to a large or numerous party.

I translated ichibun and shobun by "individual strategy." It was difficult, without a long paraphrase, to render the sense of "small" that goes with bun but does not apply to strategy. "Small-scale strategy" was a possible translation. With the words daibun and tabun, strategy having to do with large divisions or large parties, Musashi refers not only to the art of leading large groups in combat but also to leading groups in all aspects of life. Two translations struck me as possible—either "large-scale strategy" or "group strategy" as opposed to "individual strategy." I decided on the latter, more concise formulation.

Hyoshi

It seems necessary to explain the precise meaning of hyoshi, since this notion is quite complex.

According to the dictionary, it has three main senses:

i. A musical term.

a. Basic element of a rhythm. Division of a melody arrived at by counting the number of rhythmic elements. The break in a melody made by a rhythmic unit.

b. Unit of time measure in the performance of music. Powerful drum sound that marks a rhythmic unit in traditional Japanese music (gagaku).

c. Musical instruments of Noh theater.

2. Rhythm, cadence, or momentum in things or in musical expression.

a. Striking a drum or striking two pieces of wood together to give a signal or a warning.

b. The momentum or cadence with which things evolve or advance.

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