The Book of Five Rings
The details of Miyamoto Musashi's early life are difficult to verify. Musashi himself simply states in "The Book of Five Rings" that he was born in Harima Province. "Niten Ki" (an early biography of Musashi) supports the theory that Musashi was born in 1584: "[He] was born in Banshū, in Tenshō 12 [1584], the Year of the Monkey." The historian Kamiko Tadashi, commenting on Musashi's text, notes: "Munisai was Musashi's father ... he lived in Miyamoto village, in the Yoshino district [of Mimasaka Province]. Musashi was most probably born here."