Art of War 11.9
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Nine Situations 九地篇
所由入者隘所從歸者迂彼寡可以擊吾之衆者爲圍地
Ground which is reached through narrow gorges, and from which we can only retire by tortuous paths, so that a small number of the enemy would suffice to crush a large body of our men: this is hemmed-in ground.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Character glossary
- 所suǒplace, location; "that which", a particl
- 由yóucause, reason; from
- 入rùto enter, to come in; to join
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 隘àinarrow, confined; a strategic pass
- 從cóngfrom, by, since, whence, through
- 歸guīto return, to go back; to return to, to
- 迂yūabstruse, pedantic, unrealistic
- 彼bǐthat, those, the other
- 寡guǎwidowed; friendless, alone
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 擊jīto strike, to hit, to beat; to attack, t
- 吾wúI, my, our; to resist, to impede
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 衆zhòngmultitude, crowd; the public
- 爲wèido, handle, govern, act; be
- 圍wéito surround, to encircle, to corral
- 地deearth, ground, soil; land, region; struc
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Zhuangzi Kêng Sang Ch’u
- Art of War 11.6
- Zhuangzi The Old Fisherman
- Art of War 10.27
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.