Sun Tzu — The Art of War

兵者，國之大事，死生之地，存亡之道，不可不察也。War is a grave matter for the state: the ground of life and death, the road to survival or ruin. It must be examined with care.

The book opens with caution, not glory.

兵者，詭道也。故能而示之不能，用而示之不用，近而示之遠，遠而示之近。War is the way of deception. So when able, appear unable; when acting, appear idle; when near, appear far; when far, appear near.

Every feint in a ring or a salle echoes this line.

是故百戰百勝，非善之善者也；不戰而屈人之兵，善之善者也。So a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the best of the best. To bend the enemy’s army without fighting: that is the best of the best.

Popular versions say “the supreme art of war”; the Chinese repeats 善之善 (“good of the good”).

知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼不知己，每戰必殆。Know the other and know yourself, and in a hundred battles you will not be in danger. Know yourself but not the other: one win, one loss. Know neither: every battle puts you in danger.

殆 means “danger”, not “defeat”. The line never promises a hundred victories.

是故勝兵先勝而後求戰，敗兵先戰而後求勝。So the victorious army wins first and then seeks battle; the defeated army fights first and then seeks victory.

Preparation decides the fight before it starts.

夫兵形象水，水之行，避高而趨下；兵之勝，避實而擊虛。The shape of an army is like water. Water flows away from the high and runs to the low; an army wins by avoiding the full and striking the empty.

The water image travels from here to Musashi’s Water Scroll and to modern slogans.

故其疾如風，其徐如林，侵掠如火，不動如山，難知如陰，動如雷震。Swift as the wind, unhurried as the forest, raiding like fire, still as the mountain, hard to read as darkness, moving like a thunderclap.

The first four images became the 風林火山 (fūrinkazan) banner of the Japanese warlord Takeda Shingen (16th century).