The 48 Laws Of Power

A(;Il<"|‘OFI’ISII

KmzgsyiHsiu,prmnter

ofLtt,

was

fondoffish.

Therefore,people

in

thewhole

murttry

consrivntiuttslybougltt

fivh.

which

they

presented

totrim.

However,Kurtg-_vt'

wouldnot

accept

the

preterm‘.Agaimt

sucha

step

his

younger

brotherremon5mztt’a'

withhimandsaid:

"You

!ilce_/isft,

irldectl.

Why

don

‘t

youaccept

the

]7rK.Y(’.ttfaffixh?

"

In

reply,

hesaid:“I!is

solely

bccttuseIlike

fivlt

that

I

wottltl

not

acceptt/ze/ixh

they

gave

me.

Imleetl,i/'1accept

the

fish,

Iwillhe

platted

underan

nizligarion

m

tltern.()m‘c

pltzctett‘

underrm

ohltgatirm

It)

them,

Iwillsometime

havetr)bendthelaw.

If

Ibwzd

1451.’

law,

I

willbe

dz'.s‘!nis'Sc‘tI

from

the

premierxixip.

A

/ter

being

Liislmsletl

from

the

pVdI?’ti('I2\hip,

I

rniglxt

notbynhlt’to

supplymyself

with

fish.

Ontiw

ctmtmry,tfl

do

not

t1(‘II(‘]?l

/hr’

fishfrom

tlmnandamnot

tti,vnis'.s(.'dthe

premier-

sltip,

h()Wt’t’ct‘

flmdof

fish,

Icut:

always

supplyrrtysclf

with

fish.

"

HA.\-I~‘[;t-I717.

CHINLSI;yHn.0s<mi1«:P..

rt-mmrunrunn.<*.

344 LAW 40

tipped

overa.tableandthe

teacup

felltothe

ground

andbrokeintoseveral

pieces.

Theauctionwas

clearly

over.

Fushimiyaglued

andmendedthe

cup,

thenstoredit

away,thinking

theaffairfinished.Years

later,however,

the

great

teamasterMatsudalraFumaivisited

the

store,

andaskedtosee

the

cup,

which

by

thenhadbecome

legendazy.

Fumaiexaminedit.“Asa

piece,”

he

said,

“itisnot

up

to

much,

butaTeaMaster

prizes

sentimentand

associationmorethanintrinsicvalue.”He

bought

the

cup

fora

high

sum.

A

gluedtogelher

work

ofless

than

ordinarycraftsmanship

had

become

oneofthemostfamous

objects

in

japan.

Interpretation

The

storyshows,

first,

anessential

aspect

of

money:

Thatitishumanswho

have

created

itandhumanswhoinstillitwith

meaning

andvalue.

Second,

with

objects

aswith

money,

whatthe

courtier

mostvaluesarethesemi»

mentsandemotionsembeddedinthem»-thesearewhatmakethemworth

having.

Thelessonis

simple:

Themore

yourgifts

and

your

actsof

generos-

ityplay

with

sentiment,

themore

powerfulthey

are.The

object

or

concept

that

plays

witha

charged

emotionorhitsachordofsentimenthasmore

power

than

the

moneyyousquander

on

an

expensiveyet

lifeless

present.

ObservanceVI

Akimoto

Suzutomo,

a

wealthy

adherentofthetea

ceremony,

once

gave

his

page

100

ryo(goldpieces)

andinstructedhimto

purchase

atea

bowl

of-

fered

by

a

particular

dealer.Whenthe

page

saw

the

bowl,

he

doubted

it

wasworththat

much,

andaftermuch

bargaininggot

the

price

reducedto

95

ryo.Days

later,

aflerSuzutomohad

put

thebowlto

use,

the

page

proudly

toldhimwhathehaddone.

“Whatan

ignoramusyou

are!”

replied

Suzutomo. “Atea.bowlthat

anyone

asks 100

pieces

of

gold

forcan

only

bea

family

heirloom,

anda

thing

like

thatis

only

soldwhen

the

family

is

pressed

for

money.

And

in

thatcase

they

willbe

hoping

tofindsomeonewhowill

give

even 150

pieces

forit.Sowhatsortoffellowisitwhodoesnotconsidertheirfeel-

ings?Quiteapart

from

that,

acuriothat

yougive

l0O

ryo

foris

something

worth

having,

butonethathas

only

cost 95

gives

a

mean

impression.

50

neverletmeseethatteabowl

again!”

Andhehadthebowllocked

away,

andnevertookitout.

Interpretation

When

you

insiston

paying

less,

youmay

save

your

five

ryo,

buttheinsult

you

causeandthe

cheapimpressionyou

create

will

cost

you

in

reputation,

which

is

the

thing

the

powerfulprize

aboveall.Learnto

pay

the full

price-—it

vn'llsave

you

alotintheend.

ObservanceVll

Sometime

near

the

beginning

ofthe

seventeenth

century

in

japan,

a

group

of

generals

whiled

away

thelimebeforea

big

battle

bystaging

anincense»

smellingcompetition.

Each

participant

anted

up

a

prize

forthecontesfs

winners-—bows,

arrows,

saddles,

andotheritemsawarriorwouldcovet.