Abstract
The purpose of this article is to compare strategy in the Sonshi School with that in the Shinkage-Yagyu School. In particular, kido or the “tricky way” is compared with hyori or “tactics”, because these two words are key words in both strategies. Kido implies a movement of troops, whereas hyori means action in tachiai or man to man combat. However, hyori was also thought to be applicable to a movement of troops as well. Therefore, it is possible to compare these two concepts.
The results of this article are summarized as follows:
1) Kido or tricky way in Sonshi means unusuality in the battlefield. Hyori or tactics in the Shinkage-Yagyu School deceives an opponent in tachiai. In this point kido can be considered to be similar to hyori.
2) A difference between kido, tricky way, and hyori, tactics, is that kido in Sonshi is just strategy, and has nothing to do with ethics. However, hyori or tactics in the Shinkage-Yagyu School obtains truth through falsehood, has truth in itself, and devises a stratagem. Since hyori in the Shinkage-Yagyu School is suitable for tendo or Natural Reason, hyori is not incompatible with ethics when considering aspects of the Shinkage-Yagyu School.
