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About a poem from 14th century; Poetry

Klinkov

後輩
19 Dec 2016
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verybody. Recently I was reading the book THE FIGHTING SPIRIT OF JAPAN by E. J. Harrison. At the 8th chapter of this book there is the following poem:

"I have no parents; I make the heavens and the earth my parents.
I have no home; I make saika tanden my home.
I have no divine power; I make honesty my divine power.
I have no means; I make docility my means.
I have no magic power; I make personality my magic power.
I have neither life nor death; I make a um my life and death.
I have no body; I make stoicism my body.
I have no eyes; I make the flash of lightning my eyes.
I have no ears; I make sensibility my ears.
I have no limbs; I make promptitude my limbs.
I have no laws; I make self-protection my laws.
I have no strategy; I make sakkatsu jizai (literally "free to kill and free to restore to life") my strategy.
I have no designs; I make kisan (taking opportunity by the forelock) my designs.
I have no miracles; I make righteous laws my miracles.
I have no principles; I make adaptability to all circumstances (rinkiohen) my principles.
I have no tactics; I make kyojitsu (emptiness and fulness) my tactics.
I have no talent; I make toi sokumyo (ready wit) my talent.
I have no friends; I make my mind my friend.
I have no enemy; I make incautiousness my enemy.
I have no armour; I make jin-gi (benevolence and righteousness) my armour.
I have no castle; I make fudoshin (immovable mind) my castle.
I have no sword; I make mushin (absence of mind) my sword."

The writer of the book does not explain the source. As referance (i am not sure) has a book by a Japanese writer Kumashiro Hikotaro. On web, this poem seems that belongs to a 14th century anonymous samuray. I could not find where these verses are at Hikotaro's book.

Does anyone know the excact resource of therse verses?

Help would be great.

The links for the books of Harrison and Hikotaro are the followings:

The Fighting Spirit of Japan

国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション - 気合術 : 殺活自在


Thank you all my friends.
 
According to Google Books, the verses are written on around page 108 of Kumashiro Hikotarō's book.
気合術: 殺活自在 - 熊代彦太郎 - Google ブックス

我に法なし、護芽を以て法となす。
我に術なし、殺活自在を以て術となす。
我に工夫なし、機先を以て工夫となす。
我に奇特なし、正法を以て奇特となす。
我に主義なし、臨機應攪を以て主義となす。
我に懸引なし、虚實を以て懸引となす。
我に才能なし、当意即妙を以て才能となす。
(From line 11 "I have no laws~" to 17 "I have no talent~". There are many typos here since the text is read by OCR, as you might know.)

However, the corresponding pages are "MISSING" in the book of the National Diet Library Digital Collections you linked, unfortunately.
国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション - 気合術 : 殺活自在
 
According to Google Books, the verses are written on around page 108 of Kumashiro Hikotarō's book.
気合術: 殺活自在 - 熊代彦太郎 - Google ブックス

我に法なし、護芽を以て法となす。
我に術なし、殺活自在を以て術となす。
我に工夫なし、機先を以て工夫となす。
我に奇特なし、正法を以て奇特となす。
我に主義なし、臨機應攪を以て主義となす。
我に懸引なし、虚實を以て懸引となす。
我に才能なし、当意即妙を以て才能となす。
(From line 11 "I have no laws~" to 17 "I have no talent~". There are many typos here since the text is read by OCR, as you might know.)

However, the corresponding pages are "MISSING" in the book of the National Diet Library Digital Collections you linked, unfortunately.
国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション - 気合術 : 殺活自在
Thank you very much for your fast reply. It is a poem that appears so oftenly on web and at many books too. But nobody knows anything about its origin. And I could not find anything about the author of these fabulous verses.
 
Google returns almost zero result with the Japanese verses. The University of California is the owner of the book in Google Books, so their library might have the missing pages of Kumashiro's book (and he might mention about the source of the verses there).
 
Google returns almost zero result with the Japanese verses. The University of California is the owner of the book in Google Books, so their library might have the missing pages of Kumashiro's book (and he might mention about the source of the verses there).

Mr Toritobe thank you again for your reply. I found the missing pages.
https://app.box.com/s/m0fwv94ofee8xv7zitfgro3cnrnu1luo

But again the writer says something about Takeda family. Is there any reference which i cannot find? Again I cannot find the excact resource of therse verses.
 
Takeda clan's family mottoes are the verses in the previous chapter (the ones started with 心に物なきときは體泰かなり。), not the verses you are talking about. Kumashiro didn't say anything about the source in the book, I'm afraid.
 
Takeda clan's family mottoes are the verses in the previous chapter (the ones started with 心に物なきときは體泰かなり。), not the verses you are talking about. Kumashiro didn't say anything about the source in the book, I'm afraid.
Exactly. I noticed the same. I would like to write an article and desperately I cannot use any reference on these verses, even they appear everywhere on web and in many books and magazines (in different languages too). Mr Toritoribe thank you for your interest.
 
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