Underneath Japanese philosophy and military strategy is the theory of the five elements. The concepts of the five elements, which can destroy or generate each other, are earth, water, fire, air and void. Understanding these five elements is the key to understanding war on a grand, or on a personal, level.

The most important thing to be understood is the proper sequence of the five elements. In their proper arrangement can be found their true value. Unfortunately, as there are many different arrangements, and because there are many different arguments concerning these arrangements, it can be argued that nobody has ever really discovered the true value of the elements.