Yagyū Munenori Quotes

Yagyū Munenori was a Japanese swordsman, founder of the Edo branch of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, which he learned from his father Yagyū "Sekishūsai" Muneyoshi. This was one of two official sword styles patronized by the Tokugawa shogunate . Munenori began his career in the Tokugawa administration as a hatamoto, a direct retainer of the Tokugawa house, and later had his income raised to 10,000 koku, making him a minor fudai daimyō , with landholdings around his ancestral village of Yagyū-zato. He also received the title of Tajima no Kami . Wikipedia  

✵ 1571 – 11. May 1646
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Yagyū Munenori: 10   quotes 2   likes

Famous Yagyū Munenori Quotes

“There may be a hundred stances and sword positions, but you win with just one.”

A Hereditary Book on the Art of War (1632)

“See first with your mind, then with your eyes, and finally with your body.”

As quoted in Living the Martial Way : A Manual for the Way a Modern Warrior Should Think (1992) by Forrest E. Morgan, p. 88.

“Throwing down your own sword is also an art of war. If you have attained mastery of swordlessness, you will never lack for a sword. The opponent's sword is your sword. This is acting at the vanguard of the moment.”

As quoted in Soul of the Samurai (2005) by Thomas Cleary, p. 28
Variant translation: If you have attained mastery of swordlessness, you will never be without a sword.

Yagyū Munenori Quotes

“A stroke of the sword that does not hit its target is the sword stroke of death; you reach over it to strike the winning blow.”

A Hereditary Book on the Art of War (1632)
Context: A stroke of the sword that does not hit its target is the sword stroke of death; you reach over it to strike the winning blow. Your adversary's initiative having missed its mark, you turn the tables around and get the jump on your adversary.

“Conquering evil, not the opponent, is the essence of swordsmanship.”

As quoted in Behold the Second Horseman (2005), by Joseph Lumpkin, p. 44.

“It is easy to kill someone with a slash of a sword. It is hard to be impossible for others to cut down.”

As quoted in Behold the Second Horseman (2005), by Joseph Lumpkin, p. 53.

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