Miyamoto
Musashi - 1584? - 1645
The famed swordsman Miyamoto
Musashi was born Shinmen Takezo in Harima Province and may have fought at
Sekigahara under the Ukita as a common soldier. He makes no mention this
(perhaps unsurprisingly) in the brief biography in his book, rather confining
himself to his achievements in single combat. He claimed to have defeated
his first opponent (a certain Arima Kihei) at the age of 13, following this
up with a victory over " powerful martial artist called Akiyama of
Tajima province." After 1600 Musashi drifted to Kyoto and became involved
in a well-known battle with the Yoshioka School of swordsmanship, emerging
victorious. He wrote that he engaged in sixty duels without suffering defeat
once, and was noted in this regard for his skill at handling two swords
at once. He was also remembered for employing a simple bamboo sword, which
he used to deadly effect.
Much of Musashi's life between
1600 and 1640 is the stuff of legend and some have postulated that he served
at Osaka Castle (1614-1615) on the defending side, taking quite a few heads
in the process. In a similar vein, he is sometimes said to have helped quell
the Shimabara Rebellion of 1638 - a theory which, as with his glories at Osaka,
is impossible to prove. On the other hand, many of the important events depicted
in Yoshikawa Eiji's famous novel Musashi have a basis in reality, to include
his battle with the Yoshioka School, his defeat of the noted spearman Inei
(chief priest of the Hôzô-in), and his duel in 1612 with Sasaki
Kojiro, another famed swordsman. Less well-known is his skill as a painter,
his works including a number of self-portraits and naturescapes.
Musashi the man must have cut a forbidding appearance: he was said to have
rarely bathed or changed his clothes as well as suffering from a somewhat
disfiguring skin condition. Following his duel with Sasaki, he seems to have
focused his energies on perfecting his style of swordsmanship, spending much
time in travel and reflection - thus epitomizing the much-beloved image of
the brooding wanderer samurai.
In 1640 Musashi accepted service with the Hosokawa clan, and three years later,
in Higo Province, began work on his great book, Gorin no shô (The Book
of Five Rings). He finished this influential work on swordsmanship in May
1645 - the same year he died.
Musashi has enjoyed an immense popularity in the 20th Century and beyond,
largely as a result of Yoshikawa's novel (which was originally published in
serialized form in the Asahi Shimbun). Musashi skillfully weaves fact and
fiction together to create an engrossing tale that has experienced increasing
reknown in the West. Interestingly, the Asahi Shimbun noted in 1988 that at
least one Edo Period source questioned Musashi's duel with Sasaki, stating
that Musashi was not alone at the fight, and that his followers killed Ganryu
when he had been knocked down to the ground.
Musashi's own book, the Gorin no shô, was quite well thought of in the
United States during the 1980's as a glimpse into the Japanese mind, and was
thus consumed by American businessmen - perhaps to the ironic amusement of
their Japanese counterparts