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The world is composed of five primary elements known as The Five Rings,
Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Void. [1] These elements were represented in the sacred spirits of the land and the natural world, but also in society and the human psyche. [1:1]
Each ring corresponds to the a defined set of concepts listed below: [2] [3]
Grace, Cunning, Precision, Subtlety
refine, analyze, trick, feint, con
🍥: Act Precisely, Stealthily, or Subtly
🍥: People’s strengths and weaknesses, emotions, small details in objects
Resilience, Patience, Memory, Calm
restore, recall, reason, withstand, produce
🍥: Act Cautiously, Calmly, or Thoroughly
🍥: The character’s own memories, history of people and objects, defensive positions
Passion, Invention, Candor, Ferocity
invent, theorize, incite, overwhelm, innovate
🍥: Act Creatively, Fearsomely, or Noticeably
🍥: People’s motivations, flashes of insight, conspicuous absences
Flexibility, Awareness, Efficiency, Charm
adapt, survey, charm, shift, exchange
🍥: Act Efficiently, Flexibly, or Gregariously
🍥: Environmental dangers, presence of useful terrain or objects, escape routes
Mysticism, Intuition, Instinct, Wisdom
attune, sense, enlighten, sacrifice, subsist
🍥: Act Instinctively, Inscrutably, or Sagely
🍥: Supernatural presences, flashes of premonition, instinctive warnings
Shinsei believed that each phenomenon that existed had a cause, or origin. Each of the four manifest elements had its origin in another element, the elements all had their origin in the Void, and the Void that would come at the end of all things had its origin in the four manifest elements. Yet, the division of the elements was an illusion, as was all of Ningen-Dō, the land of mortals. All came from the Void and returned to the Void: therefore, the Void was all. In this way, all existence was linked, the distinctions between the Five Rings, and between all living things, were an illusion. [4]