What is the optimal way to translate this phrase for a tattoo

[Ezert faria]

Hello Everybody, I want to tattoo a famous phrase by the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, "To win any battle, you must fight as if you are already dead.", "step by step walk a thousand miles", and "it is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war ", I know there are different ways to write in Japanese such as kanji hiragana and katakana, I do not trust google for this and I would like some help from native Japanese speakers to help me get this tattoo, thank you very much.

 

[nice gaijin]

As to the writing system, it would be written in a combination of hiragana and kanji. If these phrases are from Musashi, the original phrasing ought to be readily available.

Here are some pages that contain Musashi quotes in Japanese. You can use an internet translator to see which quotes match the ones you've listed:

宮本武蔵の名言・格言集。道を求め続けた言葉 | 癒しツアー

すべての勝負に勝っても生涯「兵法の道」を追求し続けた宮本武蔵の言葉。

iyashitour.com

宮本武蔵の名言・格言（五輪書、剣術家の言葉） | 名言+Quotes

二天一流兵法の祖、宮本武蔵の名言集。「学べる・活かせる名言集！」

meigen-ijin.com

宮本武蔵の名言20選｜心に響く言葉 | LIVE THE WAY

宮本武蔵のプロフィール 宮本武蔵（みやもと むさし）・江戸時代初期の剣術家、兵法家、芸術家。二刀を用いる二天一流兵法の開祖。 ・京都の兵法家・吉岡一門との戦いや巌流島での佐々木小次郎との決闘が有名で、後世、演劇、小説、様々な映像作品の題材に

live-the-way.com

I have heard that the gardener quote has questionable providence and has been erroneously attributed to several people, so that's probably not listed.

 

[Ezert faria]

thank you!! I took a look into the phrases and I am still deciding,I did a little bit more research into the words 'to win any battle you should fight as if you are already dead' and it seems that despite it never being in the book of five rings it is always associated with Miyamoto Musashi, I've also read that it is a common proverb in Japan and China, is it true? the phrase is just a commonly known proved or is it really seen as his?

 

[nice gaijin]

thank you!! I took a look into the phrases and I am still deciding,I did a little bit more research into the words 'to win any battle you should fight as if you are already dead' and it seems that despite it never being in the book of five rings it is always associated with Miyamoto Musashi, I've also read that it is a common proverb in Japan and China, is it true? the phrase is just a commonly known proved or is it really seen as his?

I've heard it somewhere before... it's sounds like a Musashi quote, but I'm no expert. I had only recently been informed of the questionable sources around the gardener quote (lots of people attribute it to Bruce Lee, etc)

Be sure that your tattoo artist understands Japanese or Chinese, and knows how to properly write kanji/hanzi, or the best you can hope for is a decent copy of a soul-less computer font.

 

[Toritoribe]

This is the thread about the gardener quote nice gaijin-san mentioned.

"Proverb" Translation

Greetings! I saw this proverb the other day and really want to know the Japanese translation of it, possibly to make a poster of some sort. I believe it is basically a fictional quote from a samurai who tells his student: "It is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war." Can...

jref.com

 

[nice gaijin]

This is the thread about the gardener quote nice gaijin-san mentioned.

"Proverb" Translation

Greetings! I saw this proverb the other day and really want to know the Japanese translation of it, possibly to make a poster of some sort. I believe it is basically a fictional quote from a samurai who tells his student: "It is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war." Can...

jref.com

ahhhhh THAT thread 🤣 I'll never live it down

 

[Toritoribe]

Hope that I didn't do 余計なおせっかい.😅

 

[nice gaijin]

Hope that I didn't do 余計なおせっかい.😅

Haha no I just learned not to trust a single source on the internet before I say anything with confidence