12/02/2026
Musashi gave us insight into his philosophy on martial arts in The Book of Five Rings, saying, “The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.” He did not believe in wasted effort or wasted time. If he thought that a certain weapon was not as useful to him, then he did not want to waste his time training with it.
He is teaching us, once again, to avoid excess possessions by focusing on what is truly necessary. Musashi knew it is more important to master a few weapons than to simply be familiar with many. Decide which weapons make sense for your purpose and then master those weapons. It is better to be an expert with one or two weapons than to be familiar with many, but a master of none.
It is completely up to each practitioner which weapons he chooses to train with during his training. But, if you are training for true self-defense, I would advise you to only train with the weapons that are useful for self-defense in today’s world, and I think Musashi would agree with this.
What weapons would this be? Well, when you get right down to it, anything can be used as a weapon, but not too many people train to defend themselves with a remote control or rolled up newspaper. I would recommend learning the art of the stick, how to use a firearm for self-defense, and some knife training. And yes, you do need to know more than “the end with the hole in it is the dangerous end” or “the pointy end goes in the other guy.” Your training must be deadly serious, because one day it may just save your life. Bohdi Sanders ~ excerpt from MUSASHI’s DOKKODO: The Way of the Lone Warrior, available from Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937884295
Signed copies are available from:
https://thewisdomwarrior.com/bookstore
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