The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts

by Chozanshi, Issai; Wilson, William Scott

• ISBN13: 9784770030184
• ISBN10: 4770030185
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-15
• Publisher: Kodansha USA

Summary

Chozanshi was a swordsman with a deep understanding of Taoism, Buddhism,onfucianism and Shinto. "The Demon's Sermon" is a masterful syncreticreatment of these philosophies and religions, bringing their centraleanings to bear on the essence of the martial arts. The demon delivering theermon is the long-nosed half-man, half-bird Tengu, a terrifying but notecessarily malevolent figure who inhabits the recesses of Mount Kurama.pening this volume is a selection of short, humorous tales from Chozanshi's "he Hayseed Taoist" ("Inaka Soshi"). The stories are lessons aboutpontaneity and non-attachment, and prime the reader philosophically for 'Theemon'. The final section is a translation of "The Mysterious Technique ofhe Cat" ("Neko no Myojutsu"), also from "The Hayseed Taoist" and araditional favourite of the martial artists of Japan. The section summariseshe entire work and adroitly illustrates Lao Tzu's dictum that "The mastercts, relying on nothing."

Author Biography

ISSAI CHOZANSHI (1659-1741) was the pen name of Niwa Jurozaemon Tadaaki, a samurai of the Sekiyado clan. Among his works, The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts (1729) and "The Swordsman and the Cat"(1727) are his most famous.
WILLIAM SCOTT WILSON's first translation, Kodansha's bestselling edition of Hagakure, was published in 1979, the same year he completed a Master's degree in Japanese language and literature at the University of Washington. Hagakure was featured prominently in the Jim Jarmusch film, "Ghost Dog." Wilson's other translations include The Book of Five Rings, The Life-Giving Sword, The Unfettered Mind, Taiko, Ideals of the Samurai and The Flowering Spirit, published in June 2006. He is also the author of The Lone Samurai: he Life of Miyamoto Musashi. In 2005, Wilson was awarded Japan's Foreign Minister Commendation. He lives in Miami, Florida.

Table of Contents

Preface	9	(6)
Introduction	15	(18)
The Discourses	33	(54)
Transformation of the Sparrow and the Butterfly	35	(5)
The Owl's Understanding	40	(4)
The Seagull and the Mayfly Discuss the Tao	44	(5)
Profit and Loss for the Bulbul and the Wren	49	(3)
The Centipede Questions the Snake	52	(6)
The Skills of the Heron and the Crow	58	(3)
The Toad's Way of the Gods	61	(8)
The Greatest Joys of the Cicada and Its Cast-off Shell	69	(2)
The Dream of the Cucumber	71	(4)
The Ghost at the Old Temple	75	(6)
Meeting the Gods of Poverty in a Dream	81	(6)
The Sermon	87	(88)
Preface	89	(3)
The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts	92	(83)
The Gist	92	(2)
Chapter 1	94	(21)
Chapter 2	115	(14)
Chapter 3	129	(24)
Chapter 4	153	(19)
Afterword	172	(3)
The Dispatch	175	(17)
The Mysterious Technique of the Cat	177	(15)
Afterword	192	(3)
Endnotes	195	(25)
Bibliography	220