book of five rings vs. tao of gung-fu

[Son Goku the monkeyking]

which book do u think is better for more knowledge own martial arts philosphy and Combat and sparring techniques, philosophy, and science of combat.

book of five rings

or tao of gung-fu by bruce Lee

[Sohan]

It's like asking which is better for you, apples or oranges.

They're both unique and useful. But Bruce Lee's book may be more approachable for the beginner.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[elbows_and_knees]

sparring techniques? have you read a book of five rings? It's about philosophy and strategy, not sparring techs. you can apply the strategy to what you do, but it will not blatantly give you techniques...

[Zatoichi]

The Art of War is pretty good and it's principles can be applied to every aspect of life from business to martial arts.

[bushido_man96]

I have to go with Bruce Lee here. Musashi is great, but Lee is a bit easier for me to understand and relate to. Mabye it has to do with the time frames in which they were written. And besides, Bruce Lee is still one of the greatest wealths of martial knowledge around. Even after 30+ years, he still impacts the martial arts world.

[TigerDude]

Gotta go with the one in my sig.

[Menjo]

sparring techniques? have you read a book of five rings? It's about philosophy and strategy, not sparring techs. you can apply the strategy to what you do, but it will not blatantly give you techniques...

I think it does actually in the "fire" section, involving swords.

[Menjo]

sparring techniques? have you read a book of five rings? It's about philosophy and strategy, not sparring techs. you can apply the strategy to what you do, but it will not blatantly give you techniques...

I think it does actually in the "fire" section, involving swords.

Example: How he used strategy to plan out an effective technique for an opponent. I would count it as sparring tactics, because he says exactly what he did and how it could be used on other situations.

P.S. This was meant to be an edit

[elbows_and_knees]

I have to go with Bruce Lee here. Musashi is great, but Lee is a bit easier for me to understand and relate to. Mabye it has to do with the time frames in which they were written. And besides, Bruce Lee is still one of the greatest wealths of martial knowledge around. Even after 30+ years, he still impacts the martial arts world.

actually, no he's not. his views on fitness training are long since outdated, and didn't he only train WC for five years? He doesn't still impact the MA world himself, rather his jkd does. lloking at it from that perspective, many people still impact the MA world that have been doing it a lot longer than him.

[Anbu Alex]

i belive bruce lee in his book made the understanding of martial arts easier to the western world to understand i believe that at one point he writes that he's is revising things that have already been said by other martial arts masters i feel that Five rings is more spiritual and has alot of hidden meaning cause that seems to be the way japanese esspecially back then wrote i personally like both equally and can read them forever