Real Samurai’s 9 Rules to Succeed in Life

At 60 years old, the most famous samurai in history — Miyamoto Mushashi — shared the secrets of self-mastery in the book of the Five Rings.

Musashi’s 9 Rules for life — unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In the Mount Iwate in the Higo district in Japan Musashi was 60 years old when he finally decided to write down the wisdom he accumulated along his journey of self-mastery.

Musashi was a samurai who dedicated his life to understanding the science of winning in both martial arts and life. He dueled his first opponent when he was fourteen years old and from there he traveled all around Japan challenging students of diverse martial schools and philosophies in an attempt to test his own set of beliefs.

Mt. Iwate in Higo province where the Samurai Miyamoto Musashi spent years perfecting his craft. — Source: https://www.tofugu.com/travel/reigando-cave/ and Wikimedia

Sixty victorious duels later at the age of twenty-nine, Miyamoto Musashi looked back at his achievements and realized that all the victories he accumulated were not a result of his understanding of the principles of martial arts, but from the shortcomings of the martial arts of other schools or maybe even just luck.

From ages thirty to fifty, Musashi practiced day and night envisioning an even deeper…