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Summary
This blog discusses various problem-solving methods in “Problem Solving Methods, Thinking and Design of Experiments. Among them, “KPI KGI OKR” describes a quantification method for problem solving, and “Concrete and Abstract – Semantics and Explanation of Natural Language” uses an abstraction step to extract the essential problem of the issue.
Such an approach to problem solving was actually compiled by a man called Sun Tzu about 2,500 years ago. In this article, I would like to explain what Sun Tzu is based on “NHK 100 minutes de Meitaku Lao Tzu x Sun Tzu“.
The Art of War, “Sun Tzu,” was born about 2,500 years ago in China during the Spring and Autumn period. During this period, the form of warfare changed drastically after a foreign war started by the nation of Wu. Until then, wars were fought on the Great Plains, where both armies lined up their chariots in full view of each other and started fighting at the signal of the opening of battle.
Toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period, however, warfare changed to what is known as “mobilization of the entire nation. Commoners were also mobilized, and the number of soldiers numbered in the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, with the longest war lasting up to several decades. The form of warfare was no longer skirmishes along national borders, but invasions of thousands of miles in one fell swoop toward the other country’s capital. Instead of chariots, infantry and cavalry, which had greater mobility, took center stage, and the crossbow, a bow and arrow with extremely high killing power, was developed as a weapon.
It is said that nearly two hundred military books were compiled in China during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, but few of them remain today. The main reason for this is that these military books were too much based on the battlefield, and were merely military histories or biographies of personalities that explained the specific tactics used by the commander (general) in a particular battle and introduced anecdotes about it. The “Tactics of the War” is a counterpoint to such mediocre military books.
The counterpart to such mediocre military books was “Sun Tzu,” which first of all does not give specific examples of wars, nor does it mention the names of generals, places, or other proper names. The author, Sun Wu (Sun Tzu), himself experienced many wars as a general in the service of Wu’s title-general, but he kept them to himself, digested them completely, and brought them up to the level of an idea. Instead of describing specific experiences and information as they are, he uses condensed words to explain highly abstracted and generalized military thought or universal philosophy, from which a kind of “freedom” is born.
Readers from different periods of time are free to digest and apply the ideas and philosophy of “Sun Tzu” to their own standpoints and lifestyles. This is the biggest reason why “Sun Tzu” is still being read today and has gained many readers in the form of prevention theory, management theory, leadership theory, and personal survival techniques.
The life of Sun Wu, who wrote “Sun Tzu,” can be seen in the drama “Sun Tzu’s Art of War” on amazon prim.
The drama is a little rough around the edges because it is a Chinese drama, but it is a drama in which many of the anecdotes from historical records that we learned in high school Chinese literature, such as “Wu Yue Dong Zhuan”, “Wo Yue Tong Xu”, and “Whipping the Dead”, which are four Chinese idioms that are often used even today, appear in the story.
Sun Tzu” is composed of thirteen poems. It is said that there were originally more than eighty, but later generations have edited them, so that only thirteen have survived.
The first one is “Kei-hen,” which is the preface to the entire work. It is a preface to the entire book, explaining the basic concept of war and the importance of preparation before starting a battle. This is followed by the “Operation Arc,” the “Battle Plan Arc,” the “Form Arc,” the “Battle Formation Arc,” the “Fact Arc,” the “Military Conflict Arc,” the “Nine Changes Arc,” the “March Arc,” the “Terrain Arc,” the “Nine Ground Arc,” and the “Fire Attack Arc,” and finally the “Yokan Arc” that explains the importance of spies in warfare. The thirteen stories are in order.
The thirteen chapters are arranged in various orders, and it is not clear whether the order of the chapters is meaningful or not. However, it is thought that they are arranged in chronological order, as is the procedure of war: first, plans are made, military operations are launched, the soldiers go to the battlefield, and the battle begins. And finally, there is a very significant feature in the last part of the book, which is about espionage.
Sun Tzu’s words on the importance of information in warfare, which are common knowledge nowadays, were groundbreaking at the time. Sun Tzu was unique in that he emphasized that it is information, not the struggle on the field, that decides victory or defeat, and that 80% of victory or defeat is determined by the collection and analysis of information.
The following is a brief description of the contents of each chapter.
The second, “Strategy Arc,” explains the importance of starting a war cautiously and finishing it quickly. The third, “Plotting and Offensive,” explains how to attack by strategy in order to avoid exhausting one’s forces. This is the essence of Sun Tzu’s Art of War.
The fourth, “Forms,” and the fifth, “Forces,” are often said to be a set. The fourth, “Forms,” describes the military formations that bring about victory, and the fifth, “Forces,” describes the energy of a military group. The sixth, the “Emptiness and Reality Arc,” discusses the emptiness and fullness of the army, and the seventh, the “Military Conflict Arc,” discusses how to take advantage of the situation to gain the upper hand. The eighth, “Kuhen Hen Hen” (Nine Transformations), discusses flexible changes in response to the curve of battle, and says that one should not have a fixed idea of a phenomenon. It tells us to be flexible and responsive. Incidentally, “nine” here does not mean a specific number, but rather “extreme” and “various.
The ninth section, the “Marching Arc,” describes the points to keep in mind when conducting an army, and is related to the tenth section, the “Terrain Arc,” and the eleventh section, the “Nine Places Arc. The “Terrain Arc” describes the terrain that should be noted when conducting actions, and the “Nine Terrain Arc” describes the specific terrain at the location where the battle is to take place. The twelfth is a somewhat special section, the “Fire Arc,” which describes the special tactics used in warfare at the time, including water and fire attacks, of which fire attacks are described.
The last section, “Yoma-hen,” was not written by Sun Wu, but by Sun Bin (孫臏臏臏), a hundred years later, according to a study of two bamboo strips excavated in China in 1972, one by Sun Wu and the other by Sun Bin.
Various commentaries on Sun Tzu have been published. First, there are those that are straightforward commentaries on the literature
In the next article, I will discuss specific Sun Tzu concepts.
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