Sun Tzu Chinese Calligraphy

This is the full title of the most famous book about warfare in the history of the world. The English title is "Sun Tzu's The Art of War".

The last two characters have come to be known in the west as "The Art of War", but a better translation would be, "military strategy and tactics", "military skills" or "army procedures".

Note: Sometimes the author's name is Romanized as "Sun Zi" or "Sunzi".

It's written the same in Chinese, Japanese Kanji and Korean Hanja.

See Also...  Military | Warrior

This means "Art of War". It also part of the title of a famous book of tactics by Sun Tzu. These characters could also be translated as "military strategy and tactics", "military skills" or "army procedures". If you are a military tactician, this is the wall scroll for you.

See Also...  Military

The first chapter of Sun Tzu's Art of War lists five key points to analyzing your situation. Sun Tzu says that to sharpen your skills, you must plan. To plan well, you must know your situation. Therefore, you must consider and discuss the following:

1. Philosophy and Politics: Make sure your way or your policy is agreeable among all of your troops (and the citizens of your kingdom as well). For when your soldiers believe in you and your way, they will follow you to their deaths without hesitation, and will not question your orders.

2. Heaven/Sky: Consider climate / weather. This can also mean to consider whether God is smiling on you. In the modern military, this could be waiting for clear skies so that you can have air support for an amphibious landing.

3. Ground/Earth: Consider the terrain in which the battle will take place. This includes analyzing defensible positions, exit routes, and using varying elevation to your advantage. When you plan an ambush, you must know your terrain, and the best location from which to stage that ambush. This knowledge will also help you avoid being ambushed, as you will know where the likely places in which to expect an ambush from your enemy.

4. Leadership: This applies to you as the general, and also to your lieutenants. A leader should be smart and be able to develop good strategies. Leaders should keep their word, and if they break a promise, they should punish themselves as harshly as they would punish subordinates. Leaders should be benevolent to their troops, with almost a fatherly love for them. Leaders must have the ability to make brave and fast decisions. Leaders must have steadfast principles.

5. [Military] Methods: This can also mean laws, rules, principles, model, or system. You must have an efficient organization in place to manage both your troops and supplies. In the modern military, this would be a combination of how your unit is organized, and your SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).

Notes: This is a simplistic translation and explanation. Much more is suggested in the actual text of the Art of War (Bing Fa). It would take a lot of study to master all of these aspects. In fact, these five characters can be compared to the modern military acronyms such as BAMCIS or SMEAC.

CJK notes: I have included the Japanese and Korean pronunciations, but in Chinese, Korean and Japanese, this does not make a typical phrase (with subject, verb and object) it is a list that only someone familiar with Sun Tzu's writings would understand.

This is the battle strategy and motto of Japanese feudal lord Takeda Shingen (1521–1573 A.D.). This came from the Art of War by Chinese strategist and tactician Sun Tzu (Sunzi).

You can think of this as a sort of abbreviation to remind officers and troops how to conduct battle.

This is literally a word list: Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain.

The more expanded meaning is supposed to be...

"Swift as wind, quiet as forest, fierce as fire, and immovable as a mountain"

"As fast as the wind, as quiet as the forest, as daring as fire, and immovable as the mountain"

"Move as swift as a wind, stay as silent as forest, attack as fierce as fire, undefeatable defense like a mountain"

"Move swiftly like the wind, stay silent like the forest, attack fiercely like fire, take tactical position on the mountain"

See Also...  Art Of War

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This literally translates as: Avoid [your enemy's] fighting spirit [and] attack [when] his [morale is] declining.

Figuratively, this means: Avoid the enemy when his morale is high. and strike him when his morale is flagging.

This is from Sun Tzu's (Sunzi's) Art of War. It means that if you know and understand the enemy, you also know yourself. There is a secondary four characters that come after this in the Art of War (not included here) which suggest you cannot lose a battle when you follow this philosophy.

In a very literal and somewhat-boring way, this can also be translated as, "Estimate correctly one's strength as well as that of one's opponent".

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This is the Japanese version of "know your enemy, know yourself". There is a longer version of this phrase which adds, "...and you can win 100 battles".

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This is from Sun Tzu's (Sunzi's) Art of War. It means that if you know and understand the enemy, you also know yourself, and thus with this complete understanding, you cannot lose.

This phrase is often somewhat-directly translated as, "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat".

It can also be translated as, "If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can come out of hundreds of battles without danger", or "Know your enemy, know yourself, and your victory will not be threatened".

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This is the longer/full Japanese version of this phrase. This means, "Know your enemy, know yourself, and you will not fear a hundred battles".

Others will translate this as, "Know thy enemy, know thyself, yields victory in one hundred battles".

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Nothing could be more true. When I was in the Marine Corps, we trained for years for combat that often lasts only hours.

This phrase also reminds me of a common phrase used in the military to describe combat: "Weeks of total boredom, punctuated with five minutes of shear terror".

This may have some roots in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Though I can not find this passage in his writings.

On the subject of the Art of War, if you have a favorite passage, we can create a custom calligraphy scroll with that phrase.

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This is an entry from the 10th section within the Earth/Terrain chapter of Sun Tzu's Art of War.

This is often translated as, "Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death".