六韬

It is framed as advice from 姜太公 to King Wen and King Wu of Zhou. Its six sections are the civil, military, dragon, tiger, leopard and dog teachings (文韬, 武韬, 龙韬, 虎韬, 豹韬, 犬韬). Bamboo slips found in a Western Han tomb in 1972 show that it already existed in the early Han, and it was later made one of the 武经七书 'Seven Military Classics'.

韬 first meant a bow case or sword sheath, something that hides a weapon, and so came to mean hidden strategy, as in 韬略 'military strategy'.