Miyamoto Musashi was the greatest swordsman
to ever come out a nation of great swordsmen - Japan. His story, which has become the basis for
countless flying swordsman Oriental movies, is one of raw courage, unbridled ambition
and unparalleled mindfulness. In one on one combat he defeated 60 opponents,
yet his greatest legacy is his seminal work, the Book of Five Rings, which is still pored
over my military tacticians and mindfulness enthusiasts 450 years after it was written. In this weekās Biographics, we reveal the
man who was Musashi. Beginnings
There is much uncertainty over the details and dates pertaining to the life of Musashi. What follows is based primarily on his own
account as recorded in The Book of Five Rings. Miyamoto Musashi was born in the spring of
1584 in the village of Miyamoto in the Yoshino District of Mimisaka Province in Japan. He was born into nobility, with his mother,
who died giving birth to him, being the daughter of a minor local chieftain. His father, Muni was a warrior in the Shin
Man clan, who had become an expert in the fighting arts. He was especially adept in jiu jitsu, swordsmanship
and the use of the jitta, an iron rod with forklike protrusions. When he was in his thirties, Muni had been
invited to the capital of Kyoto to duel with another highly regarded warrior in the presence
of the Shogun. Muni beat the man in two out of three bouts. The victory established Musashiās father
as He Ho Shou (Without Equal) in Japan. Muni was intent on teaching his son everything
that he knew about the fighting arts. Although Musashi was a quick learner, he had
a stubborn streak that saw him constantly clashing with his father. Whereas everyone else treated Muni with the
utmost respect and reverence, Musashi would often talk back and criticize his father. This resulted in a volatile relationship which
often culminated in violence. On one occasion, Muni took a knife and threw
it at his son. Musashi managed to dodge the weapon,which
buried itself in the wall beside him. But the fatherās anger was not over - he
threw the seven year-old boy out of his house, essentially disowning him. Musashi crossed the Kamasaka pass into the
province of Harima where he traveled to the small village of Hirafuku. Here he was taken in by his uncle Dorin. Dorin had once been a warrior but had long
ago renounced the fighting arts, becoming a Buddhist monk and living a life of study
and meditation. He raised Musashi at his small Buddhist temple,
set on the edge of the village. Here the boy learned to read and write as
well as to meditate and develop his spirituality. The Fighter Emerges
Musashiās real passion, however, lay with the martial arts. He spent countless hours alone in the woods,
sparring against the unforgiving trunks of pine trees, his anger at his father being
released as he built upon the skills that had been instilled by that great warrior. In his great work The Book of Five Rings,
Musashi recorded that his first real fight occurred when he was thirteen years of age. He related that a passing warrior by the name
of Arima Kihei had put up a sign along the Sayo river challenging any local swordsman
to a duel. The bold and impetuous Musashi took up the
challenge, writing his name on the sign. Kihei considered the challenge a joke, but
accepted it anyway, intent on teaching the young upstart a lesson. Musashiās uncle, Dorin, was shocked when
he heard what his nephew had done. On the day of the challenge, he went ahead
of the boy and attempted to beg off. While he was pleading with Kihei, Musashi
charged his opponent with a six foot quarterstaff. He caught Kihei off guard, clubbing him to
the ground and then striking him between the eyes. With a succession of blows he then beat him
to death. Three years later, Musashi left Hirafuku and
set off to make his way in the world. He traveled along the Sanyodo, the old high
road skirting the northern shore of the Inland Sea to the straits of Shimonoseki. From there he ferried across the waters to
the port of Kokura and on to Nakatsu, the castle town where his father now lived. Muni had entered the service of Yoshitaka,
the master of Nakatsu Castle. The teenager arrived to find that his fatherās
army were in the midst of a campaign to subdue the island of Kyshu and wage war on the western
provinces. Musashi was recruited into the force and soon
found himself fighting alongside his father. It was his first taste of war. The campaign proved to be a great success,
with two provinces being brought under the dominion of Yoshitaka. Following the campaign, Musashiās aging
father retired from active duty, moving to the nearby port of Kitsuki. Yet as the father exited from the world of
mortal combat, the son was just getting started. The campaign had wet his appetite and he was
eager for more. Intent on becoming a great warrior, or swordsman,
like his father he set out a path forward. He needed to perfect his art of swordsmanship,
seek out and defeat other masters and then found his own school of swordsmanship. The Challenger
Never one to think small, Musashi set his sights on the most prestigious school of swordsmanship
in the realm - the famous Yoshioka clan in Kyoto. He knew that if he could fully defeat even
one member of this clan, he would put himself on the fast-track to recognition as a master
swordsman. So, without saying a word to his father, he
rose early one morning, collected his few belongings and set out to claim his destiny. He bartered his way onto a small merchant
vessel to the port of Sakaki. From there he traveled on foot to Kyoto and
sought out the Yoshioka clan. He threw down his challenge, which was eagerly
accepted by their top swordsman, Seijuro. The duel would take place on the grounds of
the Rendai temple. When he arrived at the venue, Musashi leapt
upon his opponent without warning - just as he had in his first duel - and felled Seijuro
with a blow from his bokuto. The fight was over before it had properly
begun. The shock defeat of their top swordsman rocked
the Yoshioka clan. Seijuroās brother, Denshichiro, was incensed
at the manner in which the young upstart from the south had attacked his brother when he
was unprepared. He challenged Musashi to a second challenge
on the very spot where the first had occurred. This time it was the Yoshioka swordsman who
charged first, attempting to strike a fatal blow with his five-foot bokuto. But Musashi managed to wrestle the weapon
away from Denshichiro, using it to beat his opponent to death. The Yoshioka had now been bested twice in
short order. This was too much for their honor to bare,
and they decided that Musashi must be killed. They devised a plan to ambush him in the woods
outside of the hostel he was staying at. More than a hundred Yoshioka students, armed
with sticks, bows and arrows gathered under the leadership of Denshichiroās son, Matashichiro
came up against Musashi. Unperturbed, Musashi rushed straight for Matashichiro,
killing him in front of the others. Overawed, the Yoshioka fell back, allowing
Musashi to slip away. The Supreme Warrior
Having established his supremacy by decimating the most highly respected warrior clan in
the land, Musashi returned to Kyoto. In the space of a few days he had brought
down a school of swordsmanship that had reigned supreme for over a century. Still, he knew that he had a lot to learn
in order to became the greatest warrior in the nation. From Kyoto, he traveled to the temple to Nara. Here he found a line of warrior monks who
were experts in Hozoāin-ryu, the art of fighting with the lance. The Temple master was fascinated with Musashiās
ability to fight with two swords at once. Keen to test his finest student against the
newcomer, he arranged for two bouts with a monk named Okuzoāin. In neither was the lancer able to gain the
upper hand over Musashi. Leaving Nara, Musashi traveled to Edo, a city
that was teeming with accomplished swordsmen, many of whom had forged their talents on the
field of battle. Here Musashi opened his own dojo, one of hundreds
in the city. News quickly spread of his unique style, and
soon he was being flooded with students. One of them was Mizuno Katsunari, a well respected
and battle hardened warrior. The fame of Musashiās dojo spread, reaching
all the way to Edo Castle and the Shogun himself. He was invited to teach there, but declined
when he realized that he would be subject to a member of the hated Yagyu clan. After teaching in Edo for seven years, Musashi
decided to return to Kitsuki, the town of his father. The aging Muni had set up his own dojo and
was eager to pass it on to his son. Before he arrived back in Kitsuki, however,
Musashi, was to fight one more challenger. His journey home brought him to the small
island of Funashima, in the straits of Shimonoseki. It was here that he was challenged by a famed
warrior by the name of Sasaki Kojiro, a man so fierce that he had earned the moniker āDemon
of the Western Provinces.ā He was a master of nodachi, the great Japanese
sword. Legend tells us that Musashiās only weapon
was a bokken, or wooden sword, that he had carved from an oar of the boat that had brought
him to the island. With this he managed to subdue and kill Sasaki. He then immediately jumped into his boat and
rowed out to sea in order to get away from Sasakiās enraged followers. Warrior
Musashi now completed his journey to Kitsuki where he began teaching at his fatherās
dojo.For three years he lived and worked in the small seaside village. During this time his fractured relationship
with his father got no better, with the old man criticizing his sonās martial ability
at every opportunity. When Muni died at the age of 85, Musashi was
more relieved than saddened. Shortly after his fatherās passing, Musashi
received a letter from his former student, Mizuno Katsunari. War had broken out between the great clans
of Tokugawa and Toyotomi. Katsunari was about to take part in the siege
on the Tokugawa side along with his eldest son, who was just 16 years old. Katsunari requested that Musashi serve as
a part of a special escort of ten mounted warriors for his son. The thirty year old Musashi saw this as his
opportunity to jump back into the thick of combat. He set off from Kitsuki for the port of Sakaki. He was determined to be the protector in battle
of the young son of his beloved student, Katsunari. He met up with Katsunariās forces, riding
at the head of 4,000 men as they advanced on Osaka and then on to Kokobu, a hamlet made
up of a few farms stretching along the southern bank of the Yamamoto river. Just a few miles downstream a large enemy
force had gathered. That night, however, Katsunariās army managed
to surround the Toyotomi forces. The attack was ordered at 10 pm, the hour
of the snake, and the Toyotomi were sent reeling. They fled across the Ishi river, only to be
chased down by Katsunariās men. Musashi was in the lead, wielding his favorite
weapon, the bokutu. Records tell us that he stood on the heights
of a bridge, sending one enemy warrior after another flying with the deadly blows of his
trusty bokutu. The Osaka winter and summer campaigns, in
which the Tokugawa were victorious, put an end to the resistance of Japanās western
warlords. The culmination of the hostilities was the
siege of Osaka castle. It was the largest battle in which Musashi
would ever take part, with many thousands of warriors being slaughtered on both sides. Among those of his comrades to fall was Nakagawa
Shimanosuke, who was stricken down as Katsunariās men had stormed the southern gate of the castle. This man had three sons who traveled with
the army. The two older boys took part in the siege. But the youngest was just eleven. With the death of his father, he now needed
a guardian. Father and Mentor
Musashi took the boy, Mikinosuke under his wing, adopting him as his son, and set off
for the castle town of Himeji, then on to Hirafuku, where he step-mother lived. For the next two years he lived here, caring
for his aged step-mother while also providing for his new son. Many hours each day were spent imparting to
Mikinosuke the fighting skills that he himself had learned as a young boy from his own father. This tranquil existence was interrupted when
news reached the village of Hirafuku that Ikeda Mitsumasa, the current lord of Himeji
castle, was going to move. The new lord was going to be Honda Tadamasa. Musashi saw this change in leadership as an
opportunity for his adopted son. During the storming of the Osaka castle, Tadamasa
had been in command of the second eastern phalanx, directly behind the troops of Katsunari,
where Musashi was stationed. He had, therefore, seen Musashi in action
in the heat of the battle. Musashi requested that his son Mitsumasa be
given a duty in the lordās household. Tadamasa agreed and the boy was made a page
to his own son, Tadatoki. At the same time, Musashi was hired by the
neighboring daimyo, Ogasawa Tadazane. He was appointed as an advisor to the magistrate
in charge of construction of a huge building project, the construction of Akashi Castle. This was followed with the planning of the
town of Himeji. Musashi was also put in charge of the castle
gardens, and oversaw the construction of a teahouse, miniature mountains and miniature
lake. He proved to have a meticulous eye for detail
and was obsessive in getting every tree, shrub and stone placed just right. The years that he spent at Akashi were the
happiest of Musashiās life. As well as planning out the landscaping and
tending to the gardens, he instructed his retainers in the art of fighting with two
swords. He also obtained much satisfaction in hearing
of the successes of his adopted son, Mikinosuke, who grew in favor in the household of Tadamasa. Tragedy
In the spring off 1626, Lord Tadatoki was struck down with tuberculosis, being forced
to keep to his quarters at Himeji castle. After a three month struggle with the disease,
he died, aged 30. Musashi knew all too well what this meant
for his son. As the key retainer of the stricken Lord,
Mikinosuke was customarily bound to commit seppuku, ritual suicide by disembowelment. Mikinosukeās death left a deep emotional
scar on Musashi from which he would never recover. For months he shunned all company, retreating
to the forest to commune with nature and try to come to terms with his great loss. Almost exactly a year after Mikinosukeās
death, Musashi adopted a second son - a boy named Iori, who was the second son of Tamara
Hisamitsu, a Samurai in the service of the lord of Miki castle. When that castle had been overthrown by the
Tokugawa army, Hisamitsu took up life as a poor farmer. When he died, his younger son, Iori, became
an orphan. Musashi took him in and arranged for him to
enter the service of Lord Ogasawara Tadazane. The boy would eventually attain the rank of
senior retainer, stationed on the southern island of Kyushu. Musashi moved there to be closer to the boy
and was to spend the last twenty years of his life on the island. Musashi built a large dojo on the island,
and soon had a huge following, all eager to learn from the great master. Even though located on a remote island far
from the main centers, many martial arts masters visited his dojo to experience the art of
fighting with two swords first hand. The aging Musashi was respected and admired
as a martial arts grand master. Still he was, as he had always been, an outsider. He did not groom himself as was expected. He left his hair grown long and unkempt, seldom
bathed and refused to wear the traditional attire of a swordsman of that time. In his waning years, he even abandoned his
two swords, preferring to carry and use nothing more than a five foot wooden staff. In early 1638 an armed revolt broke out in
the province of Hizen. The rebellion was made up of Christians, led
by 17-year-old Amakusa Shiro, and numbered more than 20,000 men. They had ensconced themselves the long abandoned
Hara castle. Lord Ogasawara Tadazane, the employer of Musashiās
adopted son, engaged the aging master to escort his 23-year old son to the battlefield, along
with 8,000 men. Musashi stayed at the boyās side throughout
the entire siege. When the defenders inside the castle threw
boulders down from the walls, he leapt in front of the lordās horse and fended them
off with his staff. The Final Years
Musashi hadnāt been back from the Hizen rebellion for long when he was approached
to take up a position in the household of the daimyo of one of the largest fiefs in
the country, Hosokawa Tadatoshi. Tadatoshi wanted Musashi to relocate to Kumamoto
and instruct his retainers in the art fighting with two swords. The swordsman accepted, arriving in Kumamoto
in September, 1640. He was given a comfortable mansion on the
northeastern side of the castle grounds. Musashi took to spending much time in the
mountains of Iwato, where he would wile away the hours in meditation and contemplation. He found a cave which afforded him perfect
solitude. It was here that he began to put his thoughts
to paper In the early Spring of 1645 he completed the
first draft of the work that would make him immortal down through the ages - the Gorin
no Sho, or Book of Five Rings. The book had taken five seasons to complete,
each one seeing the completion of one long scroll. He named them the scrolls of Earth, Fire,
Water, Wind and Heaven. Shortly after the completion of his great
work, Musashiās health took a sudden turn for the worse. Within a month, he was no longer able to teach. He withdrew to his house outside the castle
walls. Feeling his life ebbing away, he summoned
his chief retainer and handed him the Gorin no Sho. Having passed on his legacy he then closed
his eyes and allowed the life to drain from his body. It was June the 13th, 1645. Shortly after his death, a stone memorial,
to be known as Mound Musashi, was erected not far from his home in Kaido. For centuries thereafter passersby would dismount
from their horses to pay homage to the greatest swordsman that Japan would ever produce.
Such an amazing book as well
On the first page of Book of Five Rings, he casually mentions killing 60 men in duels.
Itās funny people take an autobiography of a guy describing how badass he was as gospel