“Through a man should conquer a thousand times a thousand men in battle, he who conquers himself is the greatest warrior.” -Teachings of Budo. I have learn to adopted this wisdom to my life. A true Warrior’s path will strengthen a persons character through pain, lost and suffering. I found after my time in war, although I had strong character -my spirit was weakened and at times lost. In the teachings of the martial arts, “If one cannot control oneself, then how can one control the situation? This wisdom has allowed me to live my life with a strong mind -suppressing my hate, depression, others opinions, negativity... etc. I no longer act out on my emotions for I have trained my mind to control my spirit, therefore controlling the situation.

The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, 1645. was my first step of a thousand miles to rebuild my broken spirit after my time in war. The words from this past Rōnin provided a path to my personal spiritual understanding and my willingness to dedicate my life to understanding the Way of the Warrior. As a child born in war (Vietnam War), my heart and soul have been devoted to the ways of strategy. As a former Green Beret and an Unconventionally trained Warrior of the WAY, I have and continue to study to advance ways to train my hands and eyes. Through constant practice and my devotion to the Way, I have come to understand the spiritual aspects of this true WAY of strategy. Understand, one will never truly understand the WAY unless they truly have lived out its teachings. I find more and more people are practicing this way and that is why the true Way is becoming meaningless and eventually lost to all except the ones the truly LIVE and experience its teachings. This means total devotion to serve ones God and Country by the sword. Understand through time, the term or definition of Bushido “The Way” became more of a martial arts term, usually taught by teachers that never truly LIVED it. Bushido was a Samurai military code-“Bu” meaning, to intercept the spear, to go to war against evil, to fight. “Shi” meaning, The One strong enough to walk the WAY. “Do” meaning, to take ones LIFE’s teachings and give back to the good in the world. Bushido was never meant to be read and understood, it was meant to be LIVED.

In Oct 2018, I’ve decided that I needed to spiritual speak to this Ronin from the past. Please join me as I travel to Kumamoto, Japan to visit the gravesite and Reigando Cave, where Miyamoto Musashi (Master Swordsman, Philosopher, Strategist, Writer and Ronin) wrote the “Book of Five Rings”, 1645.

Music: "No Man's Land" by Zack Hemsey