A few years ago I read The Art of War. I thought it might be interesting to reread it, then summarize it here and discuss how it applies to my street fighting. A line-by-line translation would be very cute, but I’m going to keep it a little more simple without such a rigid format. So let’s get started.

I. Laying Plans

  1. If competent street fighting is of importance to you, no factor may be neglected.
  2. There are 5 factors which must be taken into consideration.
  3. These are (1) Devotion; (2) Battle conditions; (3) Space; (4) Attitude; (5) Technical ability.
  4. Devotion is needed to continually improve through learning and practice.
  5. Battle conditions include life, super, and ultra meters.
  6. Space stands for the distance between characters as well as the proximity of corners.
  7. Attitude is similar to devotion, but focuses more on the emotion level. You must be attitude for gains. You must continually improve, despite crushing defeats. (Satori mind)
  8. Technical ability is the ability to consistently execute intended commands.
  9. These five heads should be familiar to every street fighter: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.
  10. Victory or defeat depends entirely on each players’ mastery of each of these 5 tenants.
  11. Take advantage of any additional situations. There’s no such thing as cheap.
  12. All street fighting is based on deception.
  13. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
  14. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
  15. If your opponent is of choleric temper, taunt him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
  16. Now the player who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The player who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.

At the end of each summary, I’ll add a few notes on how this applies to myself personally. In this chapter, I will address the 5 main factors. (1) Devotion: I think anyone who reads this site would agree I’m devoted. (2) Battle conditions: This is something I am becoming more and more aware of as time goes on. It was the same with TvC, at first there’s too much going on to notice your opponents’ meters, but as you can focus on a smaller amount of likely attacks, you are free to be more aware of these important factors. (3) Space: Fairly simplistic in concept. This includes long-range vs close-range characters, poke ranges, and corners. I tend to be pretty aware of these things. (4) Attitude: Again, I think readers will agree I’ve been pretty on task. (5) Technical ability: My greatest weakness at the moment. I’m a bit hard on myself, the truth is I’m still not accustomed to the TE stick. Double-quarter circles are still quite iffy and that cannot stand in serious competition.

P.S. The last 5 points are almost completely unchanged from the original text.