The Life-Giving Sword

This is the long-awaited, authoritative, English-language version of the classic text on the art of the No-Sword by seventeenth-century swordsman Yagyu Munenori. Munenori's remarkable career began when he was just thirteen years old and culminated in his serving as sword instructor and political and military advisor to two successive shoguns. (The position of instructor to the shogun was one that his fellow swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi, had coveted but was never able to obtain.) He also was appointed a feudal lord with a large domain by the shogun -- the only swordsman in Japanese history ever to be granted this honor. Despite his swordfighting ability and his proximity to the seat of national power, Munenori's life was spent immersed in the teachings of Zen Buddhism. These teachings formed the framework for his own deeply spiritual approach to swordfighting. His central theme is the concept of the "life-giving sword" -- the idea of controlling an opponent by spiritual readiness to fight, rather than by actual fighting. His ideas are readily applicable not only to the martial arts but to business and human relations.