Which translation?

[El Gringo]

Well off the back of Gibbos thread about how much these books can or cannot help our kendo I was wondering whether the translation that I read of the book of five rings, which was a Pdf file I found on t'internet, was really up to scratch.

So to the question, as I cant read Japanese, which translation of the book of five rings would people reccommend?

[The great I AM]

I would go for the one by Victor Harris, for two reasons though both are personal. First and to me very importantly Old Vic is a Kendoka, so its going to be translated from a kendoka's point of few. Second, I know Old Vic, and hes a really nice guy, a decent fellow, so do him the honour of reading something that he worked hard to produce for the benefit of the englsih speaking / reading kendo world.


Like I said, both personal!

[John Seavitt]

There's an archived review which mentions several of the available translations.

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~iaido/bookreviews.koryuken.htm

[DCPan]

http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25577&highlight=rin+sho

[El Gringo]

Thanks for the replys and links guys. I think Im going to buy the William Scott Wilson translation as I like the idea of having the original japanese as well as the translation, since I do intend to start to learn Japanese soon and Im sure being able to interprate this would be a good goal to work towards.