Is The Book of Five Rings worth reading...

Is The Book of Five Rings worth reading? It is kind of off-putting that people treat Musashi as the Marcus Aurelius of the east.

No he is much better and different, some interesting combat theory vague spiritualism

When you say he do you mean Marcus or Musashi?

Musashi

So you're saying it's not worth reading?

I'd say he's worth reading if you have any interest in the zeitgeist of the 80's. If not, ehh...

Maybe not for you with that comprehension, I was saying no to the Musashi-Aurelius comparison then explained why, he is worth it for sure

Unless youre interested in japanese swordsmanship about 50% of the book will be irrelevant to you.

>he's worth reading if you have any interest in the zeitgeist of the 80's.
Explain

Musashi was mandatory reading if you were a yuppie.
They were absolutely in awe/ terrified of the Japanese.
The reason you can find several copies of Five Rings in any used book store is because every Reaganaut had a copy on his shelf.

Why they were so afraid? Wasn't in that decade that the japanese recession begun?

Not saying you are wrong but how did the yuppies go from yuppies to reaganauts?

Join me in reading classical literature in the following order:
1. Apollodorus
2. Iliad
3. Odyssey
4. Aeneid
5. King james Bible
6. Dantes Inferno

What Apollodorus?

>Dantes Inferno
Will you read it in the original?

Yeah but not straight away, problems started in 1985 with the Plaza Accord, the market collapsed in 1990.

Isn't Japans attitude to samurai pretty negative? Isn't that why Kurosawa had a bad reputation? At the very least they don't like westerners with a fascination for it.

This. And even most people who practice Japanese swordsmanship won't get it.

No, it's like some weird Naruto styled version of The Secret.

That's a terrible description

>Will you read it in the original?
not him but ive read both and i can say that you can get the same message even if you dont read the original.

As much overrated western lit that people read i think we could all do with some eastern classics.

seriously? Classic liberalism. The rebellious youth eventually got to a position where they had something to lose, so they did away with the hippy stuff.

A Confucian Veeky Forums would be god-tier

>Isn't Japans attitude to samurai pretty negative?
not really, maybe it was more back in the early post-war because it was used as a symbol of the nationalist masculine ideal. I think Kurosawa's movies weren't as well received in Japan simply because period pieces were so common - and still are - in japanese cinema. Kurosawa was also a mega autist and battled with everyone constantly to get the sets right; Akahige has everything accurate down to the specific type of aged wood used on the buildings.

My problem with confucianism is the insistence on hierarchy and subservience. But yeah there's some good shit in there. I like daoism myself, and i feel it's really misunderstood in the west.

My initial reading of the Taoist texts was that they served as a sort of 'how to survive during politically turbulent times' manual. Now I'm thinking you have to be born a Taoist in order to grasp what ol' Lao Tzu was driving at. I don't think I can be a Taoist.

Collectivism isn't inherently bad, I would argue Confucianism is a large part of the reason for the survival of Chinese civilization, and was necessary for the maintenance of such a large centralized state (In addition to the maintenance of historical records).