- Use what you have to get what you need. If all you have is rice, get hungry samurai.
- If you hire a samurai for their experience and expertise, respect their opinion when they give it.
- Inner character is more important than skill. Inner character will sustain you when the battle is going badly.
- If you have an inner conflict, you need to talk to someone about it. It eventually will kill someone, just maybe not you.
- Even the odds whenever possible. If you have swords and they have muskets, get the muskets.
- If you only act like a farmer, you'll become a farmer in your mind, unable to think of defending yourself. With the right attitude, a farmer can become a samurai.
- Sometimes you have to surrender some houses to defend the village.
- Always remember where your food comes from. A samurai without rice will not be a samurai for long.
- Remember there are two sides to every story. If villagers hunt down samurai, it may be because the samurai mistreat them.
- Generally speaking, it is better to be honest about things. If you try and hide your daughter as a son, she will find a way to date a samurai anyway, and you'll only look foolish for trying.
- Evil always needs to be confronted, in whatever form. If you don't confront it, it will steal your rice and barley and leave you starving.
- There are things worth fighting for. Words may solve a lot of interpersonal conflicts, but bandits were never driven away with words.
I love these... Can I get couple more???
ReplyDeleteThe teacher is as a needle, the disciple is as thread. You must practice
Immature strategy is the cause of grief.
The foreman should take into account the abilities and limitations of his men, circulating among them and asking nothing unreasonable. He should know their morale and spirit, and encourage them when necessary.
It will seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.
Silverline
Well yes, but those are really from the The Book of Five Rings, not The Seven Samurai - but excellent references none the less!
ReplyDeleteI know that they are from the book of five rings. I have others as well. But again not from Seven Samurai... ;)
ReplyDeleteSilverline
Work on this as your title for the book to come: "If all you have is rice, get hungry samurai." Excellent. Also re: quenching - working on Moby-Dick now and reminded of Ahab's quenching of his personal hapoon made of his own razor blades in a barrel filled with small amounts of blood donated (willingly) by every man on the crew of the Pequod. Work on THAT sick one for awhile...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea for a book title! I wonder if it's already done?
ReplyDeleteAnd to the second point - that's an interesting thought indeed - quenching our dreams in blood (our own or others) made not out of the stuff of dreams but ordinary implements. I will have to chew on that a while...