The Art of War

www.belisarius.com
: This site’s primary focus is business, but it takes a decidedly military stance.
www.d-n-i.net
: This is home to Defense and the National Interest, a business and military information
site. It devotes considerable space to the work of legendary pilot and designer Colonel John Boyd
(U.S. Air Force), who developed three influential, mathematically coherent combat theories: agility,
maneuver warfare strategy, and the system referred to by the acronym OODA (observe, orient,
decide, act)—all based on his experiences as a fighter pilot and his intense study of The Art of War
and other classic works on military strategy.
www.dmoz.org/Arts/Literature/World_Literature/Chinese/Sun_Tzu
: This is the locale for Sun
Tzu at the Open Directory Project (ODP). It provides scores of hyperlinks to wonderful websites
dedicated to military history, Asian studies, and literature—all suggested by Sun Tzu and The Art of
War. A valuable site for other subjects as well.
www.Sonshi.com
: The best site for newly minted aficionados. With book reviews, news bulletins, and

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a conversational tone, it is the most accessible and provides hyperlinks to some of the better sites
dedicated to Sun Tzu and Eastern philosophical systems.
www.VictoryOverWar.com
: Formed by the Denma Translation Group—led by scholars Kidder
Smith, an author and professor at Bowdoin College, and James Gimian, publisher of Shambhala Sun
—this beautiful, thought-provoking site brings together important literary, philosophical, and cultural
components to create a sense of Sun Tzu’s larger project. The site is frequently updated.
www.vikingphoenix.com/SunTzu
: Dedicated to military books and source materials in every mode.
Films
Film, granted its romanticism and lack of scholarly cachet, offers entrée, at least in simulacrum, to
the world Sun Tzu wants us to understand. As works of art, films can evoke the tension, the fear, and
the practical factors that plague combatants, such as incomplete information or supply lines, rotten
weather, and general chaos. Moreover, when we are immersed in the clear tones of Sun Tzu’s prose,
it is difficult to remember the psychological atmosphere—the intrigues, the pride, and the urgency—
that press the decision to fight. Movies readily deliver this atmosphere and also offer valuable
insights into other cultures and other times.
With the exception of the kung-fu genre, the studios of China and Taiwan have not produced
significant films for international audiences that depict the sage commander in battle or in other ways
interpret the history or present the cultural backdrop of The Art of War. But given the Chinese national
love affair with history, art, and philosophy, this will doubtless change. Meanwhile, Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon (2000), an American production directed by Ang Lee and based on the novel by Wang
Du Lu, is a brilliant exploration by a Chinese director of many of the Taoist themes in Sun Tzu. At the
time of the film’s release, Ang Lee said, “My team and I chose the most populist genre, the martial
arts film of Hong Kong, as an instrument, a way to investigate the cultural inheritance of China . . .
and the passing on of that Taoist tradition from generation to generation.” He succeeded. Crouching
Tiger also illustrates the implicit concepts of honor and duty as set forth in The Art of War.
Jackie Chan, director and star of countless rollicking kung-fu action movies, is another devotee of
Sun Tzu and The Art of War. Though he has not yet fixed the title, Chan is producing a film based on
Sun Tzu to debut in 2004.
Japanese cinema is especially rich in historical dramas with military themes. These films explore
not just the weaponry and the approach to battle, but also the human sensibility that doubtless
prompted Sun Tzu to compose his treatise. This is no surprise: When Chinese culture traveled to
Japan, The Art of War quickly became a treasured text—so much so that the aristocracy trained in
kendo (the way of the sword) and Chinese classics right up to World War II. And Sun Tzu remained
every general’s bible. Moreover, the Japanese suffered through their own “warring states” era, a 400-
year period of interminable civil wars and unimaginable brutality among provincial lords, warrior
monks, and brigands, all fighting for land and power. This era ended with the founding of the form of
government known as Tokugawa Shogunate in the early seventeenth century, but it has provided
authors and filmmakers with endless fodder for historical dramas and penetrating psychological

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explorations.
Akira Kurosawa, the great genius of twentieth-century Japanese cinema, loved to explore historico-
literary subjects, but his greatest works are popular tales of a common man caught in the jaws of
history. They reflect Taoist principles and the codes of chivalry underlying the decision to fight and
are imbued with the ancient Japanese understanding of Sun Tzu a millennium after Sun Tzu
composed his treatise. In Seven Samurai (1954), itinerant warriors (samurai) are hired to rescue a
town beset by bandit warlords. The fight scenes, the issues of class, and the final futility of violence
make this a startling and moving work. The samurai, who in this instance personify the weak and
small pitted against the well-equipped and strong, use battle techniques as explicated by Sun Tzu.
Kurosawa’s Kagemusha (1980) is set during a period of terrible interstate wars and consolidation,
when a king dies and is replaced by a common thief who could be his twin. Though the action takes
place long after the time of The Art of War, the film gives the sense of hierarchies and the laying out
of plans before battle much as Sun Tzu described them. In Sanshiro Sugata (1945), an undisciplined
young man becomes a martial arts expert and falls in love, providing viewers with a look at the
principles of Sun Tzu on the personal level. Finally, Yojimbo (1961) tells the story of a highly skilled
samurai who finds himself in a town divided between rival gangsters and who succeeds in bringing
peace by adhering to the principles of Sun Tzu.

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1
Edited from the original Preface to the 1910 Luzac & Co. edition.

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