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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
We provide an educational website for those interested in learning more about Sun Tzu's Art of War. Our goal is to help people apply the book's concepts and principles correctly. In essence, Sonshi.com teaches you how to win in life.Almost all features are accessible and free of charge -- without spam, ad banners, or pop-up ads. We do have a Purchase page where we recommend the best Art of War books on the market. The indispensable Sonshi Daily subscription is $9 per month. These revenues offset some of our expenses maintaining Sonshi.com.
Sonshi.com is a network of professionals from various disciplines joined together by a common interest: Sun Tzu's Art of War book. The site's contributors are anonymous because there is no single author; Sonshi.com is a result of a collective voice. After all, we believe what is written is more important than who writes it. Whether our work stands the test of time is up to our intelligent readers. As enthusiasts of the Art of War book, we simply want to share information about it with others.
Sonshi is the English transliteration of Sun Tzu in Japanese. In feudal Japan, the samurai referred to Sun Tzu as "Sonshi." "Sonshi" is also the title of the world's first English translation of Sun Tzu's Art of War. Translator and British officer Captain E. F. Calthrop rendered it while studying in Japan. The work was published by Sanseido in Tokyo in 1905.
Why pick a Japanese word for Sun Tzu, a Chinese word? Like many Sun Tzu enthusiasts, we are intrigued by early Japanese culture. Our fascination was further fueled when we learned Sun Tzu was first introduced to Japan as early as 400 A.D. What we found was nothing less than Japan's earnest efforts in applying Sun Tzu to warfare; the samurai would peruse its contents before each battle. From Takeda Shingen to Minamoto Yoshitsune, they were among the most diligent practitioners of the book's concepts. Thus, it was appropriate to use the Japanese word for Sun Tzu: Sonshi. A user of Sonshi.com -- of any nationality -- would likewise want to learn Sun Tzu with the same degree of intensity.
What's so unique about Sonshi.com? Sonshi.com is the leading and largest website dedicated to The Art of War, and is the only place backed by over 30 major Sun Tzu authors and scholars. It is a community dedicated to honor, discipline, and achievement.The foundation of our website is a new and original Sun Tzu The Art of War version that is specifically rendered to be more accurate and complete than all previous Sun Tzu translations. It took us more than a year to complete this project where we meticulously translated each individual character from the original Chinese text, in addition to cross references with more than six major English editions. Our hard work is your gain. Finally, an Art of War version you can feel good about reading!
What do you mean by your Sun Tzu being more complete? Most other Sun Tzu's may have certain sentences missing. We have yet been able to explain this curiosity. Thus, we were diligent in not having this happen to our translation.
Considering the work I suspect that goes into creating and maintaining Sonshi.com, what is it that you gain? Quite simply, Sun Tzu had been (and continues to be) a large factor in our individual successes, and in return, we wanted to share our passion about this book with others. Sonshi.com was created as a result. We're in positions of our careers and professions such that it's more important to us to keep this website accessible and mostly without charge for anyone who wants to learn. Therefore, we will continue to have our Sun Tzu translation and other features, e.g., author and scholar interviews, available for free to the public as long as there is strong demand and people find the site valuable. The many positive responses from users around the world keep us going! To help support us financially, please consider subscribing to the Sonshi Daily course. Tell others about us: Tell a Friend.
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software do you use to create and maintain Sonshi.com? We use Adobe Photoshop to optimize all images for faster loading. What this means is less waiting time for you. For HTML editing, we use Macromedia Dreamweaver.
Why is Sonshi.com's Sun Tzu translation broken up so much that I have to scroll down constantly? We did this intentionally for users to read the translation correctly and effectively. Sun Tzu's Art of War is to be read slowly and carefully to catch all of its meaning. Otherwise, one will miss entire concepts without even realizing it.
When did you start Sonshi.com? On August 1999. However, we started translating Sun Tzu's Art of War on February 1999.
I understand the original title was just "Sun Tzu," and "The Art of War" subtitle was added much later? Yes, that is correct. It was customary at the time of Sun Tzu's writing to title a work the same as its author. The subtitle was probably added later to provide a summary description of the work. This is why you will find us use "Sun Tzu" and "The Art of War" interchangeably. It is both the name of the author and the name of his only book (known to us). In ancient China, people did not write on paper as we do now; they used bamboo, wood, or silk. Thus, a "book" was oftentimes a roll of bamboo strips.
What is the best method of study to understand the Art of War? The best method of study is to read the text once to get the idea of the work, but come back and read it again (and again) except now reflect on the words. Ponder and visualize. Most of all, be confident our translation and website are results of diligent and meticulous work geared toward people like yourself who are motivated to learn Sun Tzu. Go far. We will be by your side whenever you need us along the way. When you are ready, sign up for the Sonshi Daily.
Did Sun Tzu (Sun Wu) actually write The Art of War? This is a debatable issue. Some scholars believe it indeed was written by Sun Wu himself. However, others believe it was written by followers within the Sun Wu circle. Based on all the evidence we believe the work originally was written by Sun Wu, but later transcribers inserted words like "Sun-tzu said:" and "Ping Fa" (Art of War). After all, the text was highly regarded from day one from someone they obviously respected. The tactics presented could only have been written by somebody with deep knowledge in military strategy and not merely by followers. In addition, the writing also flows as if only one person wrote it.
What is strategy, and why is strategy important in life? Specifically, strategy is the science and art of military command as applied to the overall planning and conduct of large-scale combat operations. However in general, it is the skillful management, optimization, and application of limited resources intended to accomplish a specific goal. In practice, strategy is in essence thinking hard about where you fit and where you are in relations to your environment. It's a sometimes painful exercise that challenges your preconceived ideas and beliefs. You're trying to get to an unbiased and objective viewpoint of the way things are. Then, you take action accordingly. Of course what we said above is not easy to implement. But it can be realized. Therefore, why is strategy important in a person's life? Strategy helps you make the best decisions based on where you are to get to where you want to be. Training is good, but training after a thorough reflection on where you should put your energies is so much better.
Isn't the Art of War just about military force? At the surface it is that, but the work is much more profound. Essentially it is about strategy. And what better place to use the craft of strategy than on an important matter as warfare -- where lives are at stake? To us, strategy represents a subtle skill not sheer strength. As Sun Tzu's Art of War clearly asserted, winning without battle is best. This is an argument for preservation; strategy at its highest level. Conversely, brute force doesn't necessarily require strategy, even connoting destruction and annihilation. Sun Tzu deplores the latter.
If I was to buy only one of Sun Tzu's books, which would you recommend? Of all the Sun Tzu books currently on the market, we would recommend the Denma Translation Group's Sun Tzu The Art of War. The translation is incredibly accurate and analysis thorough. It took the authors ten years to complete. For a well established version, you may consider General Samuel Griffith's Art of War. We have listed the most reputable Sun Tzu versions on the Purchase page.If you are looking for Sun Tzu applications to business practice, we highly recommend Gerald Michaelson's books. To learn more, go to the Michaelson interview.
Sun is the family name. Tzu is a title. Sometimes it is written "Sun-tzu." Tzu means master, respected teacher, or guru. Occasionally you will also see "Sunzi." This is a newer transliteration (and closer in pronunciation) of Sun Tzu using the Pin-yin transcription system created by China's government in 1958. "Sun-tzu" or "Sun Tzu" is actually an older transliteration (and perhaps more recognizable) from the Wade-Giles system. Sun's first name is Wu. As most Asian cultures state a person's family name first, he would be called Sun Wu (without the title).
How is Sun Tzu's name pronounced? Sun Tzu's closest Chinese pronunciation is "SOON-zuh." See below.
You will often hear Sun Tzu pronounced like "sun sue" -- most likely caused by its very spelling based on the popular Wade-Giles system. Though this is quite astray from its origin, we would consider it valid for the simple fact most English speakers would naturally pronounce (and identify) Sun Tzu that way.
The Art of War seems rather short in length. We tend to think this is one of the many reasons why The Art of War is so well regarded. Sun Tzu, a true master of his craft, was able to brilliantly explain in 13 short chapters society's most complicated activity: warfare. Instead of going into minute details of army matters, he instead focused on the overall principles. That very aspect makes the work rather flexible and adaptable to other areas of study. A masterpiece indeed.
A li is a Chinese measurement for distance. From records, it's been deduced to being a little less than a mile. Therefore, a thousand li (as found in Chapter Two) would be several hundred miles. As far as strategy is concerned, you can say a li equals a mile.
Sun Tzu beheaded a king's favorite concubine to get the attention of the rest. I cannot find this story in your Sun Tzu. We don't have this story in our translation because it's not in the The Art of War. The story is actually in Ssu-ma Chien's "Shih Chi," mentioning Sun Tzu and this particular disciplinary action. "The Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yueh" also tells this story except it states Sun Tzu was a native of Wu (not Chi). Sun Tzu training 180 court women to march like soldiers is quite an interesting incident, and thus is often inserted in many Sun Tzu books. Be advised some scholars view the story as apocryphal.
What exact date was Sun Tzu written? The two most likely time periods are during the Spring and Autumn (722-481 B.C.) and during the Warring States (403-221 BC). Some points that support the Warring States argument: 1) professional military personnel used, 2) unusually large armies, and 3) anachronisms with certain weapons. However, official historical records and new archaeological discoveries suggest Sun Tzu lived during the Spring and Autumn period. In our expert opinion, we believe this to be the case.
Please elaborate Sun Tzu's concept of "winning without doing battle." Frequently quoted but quite possibly the most misunderstood verse from Sun Tzu. As a result, one opinion we encountered even suggested Sun Tzu wasn't about warfare at all! It is neither an ethical nor a philosophical statement. Sun Tzu said, "One who is skilled in warfare principles subdues the enemy without doing battle, takes the enemy's walled city without attacking, and overthrows the enemy quickly, without protracted warfare. His aim must be to take All-Under-Heaven intact. Therefore, weapons will not be blunted, and gains will be intact. These are the principles of planning attacks." Therefore, it is mostly a practical, economic decision. Doing battle depletes an enormous amount of capital and supplies, leaving one to be vulnerable to attacks by other parties in the future. It also depletes ones spoils. Victory without doing battle means resources are preserved -- including the lives of men. A leader should always strive for this objective, but depending on various factors (e.g., his skill in strategy, the opponent, and overall situation) it might not be possible. In which case the use of military force would be appropriate and necessary.
I hear a lot about The Art of War. Was The Art of War just recently discovered and now is getting the recognition it deserves? Agreed on the recognition it deserves part, but The Art of War being just recently popular or recently given credit is incorrect. Sun Tzu's Art of War was highly regarded from day one of its creation over 2,000 years ago and continued to be treasured throughout history in China and later in other Asian countries, like Japan and Vietnam. Otherwise it would not have survived. Therefore to say it was recently discovered is seeing the work through Western eyes, as it wasn't introduced to Europe until the late 18th century. The first widely known English translation was written by Lionel Giles in 1910. However, the real increase in Sun Tzu's popularity (which lasts to this day) in the United States didn't come until General Samuel Griffith's translation in 1963 and the Vietnam War that followed. Sun Tzu in recent mainstream culture: "Wall Street" movie starring Michael Douglas (1987), "The Art of War" movie starring Wesley Snipes (2000), and "The Sopranos" television show with its main character Tony Soprano (2001).
I wish to learn more and wonder where you would suggest me to concentrate my efforts in finding the most transferable principles to the world of business. Below are two items proposed in Sun Tzu in which we feel can be applied with fewer complications than other concepts in Sun Tzu.
It has been claimed that Sun Tzu's Art of War was read by Napoleon. It is suggested that he in fact read only Machiavelli's Art of War. Your thoughts? From records, Napoleon was an avid reader. As such, we have little doubt he read both especially since they were military works. Both texts were available at the time. J. J. M. Amiot's French translation in 1772 (the first Sun Tzu translation available to the Western world) was an instant success and was reprinted ten years later. Thus, to think Napoleon was ignorant to the book would be, in our opinion, hard to believe.
Do you have a comment on the relationship between Sun Tzu and Machiavelli? The one relationship with Sun Tzu and Niccolo Machiavelli was that both lived in an environment full of political and military upheaval. States were battling states for supremacy. Therefore as some would say, "necessity is the mother of all invention," that ideas on the application of warfare were rampant caused by the demand for them. Machiavelli, however, is not as well known for his military ability as his political acumen.
Why the subject of war and not peace? In worldly matters, ultimate power comes from military force. Look at any superpower nation and see if it doesn't have any military preparation. Saying this however, Sun Tzu teaches strategy -- not only doing battle. Thus Sun Tzu is not just about fighting but using anything and everything that's practical and effective to win. The Art of War does not go much into morality but rather mainly the strategies on how to obtain an objective. Whether or not that objective is acceptable is left to the reader. However, a few readers might then figure that Sun Tzu somehow advocates immoral or destructive behavior. This is false. (It is, at worst, amoral.) In The Art of War, Sun Tzu stressed that the ideal leader’s focus is on the betterment of society: “The general who does not advance to seek glory, or does not withdraw to avoid punishment, but cares for only the people's security and promotes the people's interests, is the nation's treasure.”
Why did you call it Sun Tzu The Principles of Warfare instead of Sun Tzu The Art of War? Most readers don't know that the term "Art of War" was initially given to European military strategy works by authors like Machiavelli. Therefore, that phrase stuck when Sun Tzu was initially translated to English. Although it probably sounds better, the more accurate rendering is the "Principles of Warfare" or simply "Warfare Principles." (In Chinese, it is "Bingfa" in Pin-yin and "Ping-fa" in Wade-Giles.) However, we will continue to refer to the work as The Art of War because the name has become commonplace.
Why don't you emphasize Taoist or business related concepts in your translation of Sun Tzu? Sun Tzu is first and foremost a military or strategy treatise -- a practical manual. Its very existence is to provide the military leader principles in the conduct of warfare. Warfare is a much more serious matter than commerce and general philosophy; people's lives are at stake, so success is truly a must. Corporate executives have tried for years (and most of the time failed) to instill this sense of urgency in business for various reasons. However, that's not to say Sun Tzu's principles could not or should not be applied to other areas. Hence the word "principles." With proper guidance a leader can correctly and effectively apply the pragmatic, must-win concepts presented by Sun Tzu.
Please explain the "Way" used in Sun Tzu. You will hear the "Way" or "Tao" (Wade-Giles) or even "Dao" (Pinyin) used in Chinese literature. In a general sense, the Way is a philosophical meaning for the correct path to doing certain activities; the natural and true method. You may even say the path of the heavens or the gods. The Way presented in Sun Tzu is pretty much the same except it's related to the area of strategy and warfare. So when Sun Tzu says a general has the Way or applying the Way, he means the general's behavior is "divine" and is based on tried and true principles -- that his people would follow him to the ends of the earth and be willing to die with him. Now that's leadership.
What is this "lost Art of War" I hear about? Yes, there is a so called "lost Art of War." The "lost Art of War" was written by a descendent of Sun Tzu, Sun Pin. He too was a skilled strategist. It is sometimes referred to as Sun Pin Art of War or Sun Pin Military Methods. It's "lost" because the book was mentioned in several Chinese records but no such text was ever found. Thus, some scholars believed it never even existed, or that Sun Pin was in fact Sun Tzu. Fortunately, it was discovered in 1972 in a tomb of a high Chinese official, along with a version of the Sun Tzu Art of War that predated known copies by 1,000 years. Sadly though, like the Sun Tzu, the Sun Pin was badly damaged by moisture over the centuries. Therefore, you will see missing passages and sometimes chapters containing only a few characters. In addition, the work goes too much into the details of outdated army matters and not enough into the principles of them. Because of these two factors, we don't recommend this work if you plan to get strategy out of it (nothing you can't get from Sun Tzu). But if you're interested in Chinese works and culture, own it.
What are your thoughts regarding Carl von Clausewitz and his "On War" in comparison with Sun Tzu and his "Art of War?" We think both camps consist of excellent thinkers, but not surprisingly, we prefer Sun Tzu's philosophy over Clausewitz's. Instead of us convincing you towards that argument, we will simply refer to what others have stated. In Larry Vetter's book, "Never Without Heroes: Marine Third Reconnaissance Battalion in Vietnam, 1965-70": Before I close my conclusions, I would like to mention a few points on a more strategic level of thinking. I recommend that all military planners, whether their positions be political or military, read, discuss, debate, and be trained in the differences between the Western form of war (which has absorbed so much from the teachings of Carl von Clauswitz’s exposition On War) and the teachings found in the ancient Chinese Sun-Tzu’s The Art of Warfare. Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap, and others in the Vietnamese leadership who fought against the French and then the United States understood and used the principles as expressed in that ancient and yet valuable work by Sun-Tzu It is my opinion that their application of Sun-Tzu’s principles of war was superior to that being used by either the French or the United States for the situation in Vietnam. Also consider John Keegan's book "A History of Warfare": Though the Chinese ruling dynasties and aristocracies esteemed skill-at-arms and horsemanship, they did not confuse military leadership with administrative skills. And under the Sui and T’ang dynasties the gradualist military strategy first propounded by the fourth-century writer Sun Tzu took root. Sun Tzu drew on an existing corpus of ideas and practices in formalizing his theory; it would not otherwise have recommended itself to the Chinese mind. In its emphasis on avoiding battle except with assurance of victory, of disfavouring risk, of seeking to overawe an enemy by psychological means, and of using time rather than force to wear an invader down (all concepts recognized to be profoundly anti-Clausewitzian by twentieth-century strategists, when the campaigns of Mao Tse-tung and Ho Chi Minh drew Sun Tzu to their attention) his Art of War encouraged the integration of Chinese military with political theory in an intellectual whole. John Saul's book “Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West” states: Liddell Hart, perhaps the greatest strategist of this century, found himself restating Sun Tzu’s principles: “For the profoundest truth of war is that the issue of battles is usually decided in the minds of the opposing commanders, not in the bodies of their men.” He continually ridiculed the “official Clausewitz.” To state “that war is a continuation of policy by other means has become a catch-phrase and is therefore dangerous. We can say with equal truth, war is the bankruptcy of policy.” From Robert Coram's "Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War": Von Clausewitz is often acknowledged as the greatest of military theoreticians. Rarely has his book been studied as [John] Boyd studied it. As with Sun Tzu, he bought various translations and made copious annotations. For months he compared what von Clausewitz says early in the book with what he says in the middle and at the end. This is laborious work, because von Clausewitz takes a dialectic approach and sometimes seems to argue in favor of polar opposites... Boyd called Spinney late one night and said he had a breakthrough. He began reading passages and explaining two crucial differences between von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu. First, von Clausewitz wants to bring the enemy to a big "decisive battle," while Sun Tzu wants to unravel the enemy before a battle. Put another way, von Clausewitz believes wars are decided by set piece battles more than by strategy, deception, and guerrilla-like tactics. This means that even if he wins, there is a bloodbath. Boyd said von Clausewitz's second major flaw is that he spends a lot of time talking about how a commander must minimize "friction" -- that is, the uncertainty or chance that always appears in the "fog of war." He does not deal with maximizing the enemy's friction -- as does Sun Tzu -- but only with minimizing his own.
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Why display so many editions of Sun Tzu for your store? Some strategy enthusiasts want to have a complete collection of Sun Tzu's due to the differences of each version. It's also a great resource as far as knowing what all Sun Tzu's are in the current market, and to find that particular Sun Tzu you lost in the past.
Can I suggest a strategy book for you to feature? Yes. We'll be more than happy to review it.
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