Miyamoto Musashi

**Miyamoto Musashi** (宮本 武蔵?, c. 1584 – June 13, 1645), also known as **Shinmen Takezō**, **Miyamoto**

**Bennosuke** or, by his Buddhist name, **Niten Dōraku**,[1] was an expert Japanese swordsman and rōnin.

 Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories
of his excellent, and unique double bladed swordsmanship and undefeated
record in his 60 duels. He was the founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Niten-ryū style of swordsmanship and in his final years authored the *The Book of Five Rings* (五輪の書 *Go Rin No Sho*?), a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today.

## Biography

### Birth

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.[2] *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."[3]
 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."[4] His childhood name was **Bennosuke** (弁之助).

Musashi gives his full name and title in *The Book of Five Rings* as **Shinmen Musashi-no-Kami Fujiwara no Genshin** (新免武蔵守藤原玄信).[5] His father, Shinmen Munisai (新免無二斎) was an accomplished martial artist and master of the sword and jutte (also jitte).[6] Munisai, in turn, was the son of Hirata Shōgen (平田将監), a vassal of Shinmen *Iga no Kami*, the lord of Takayama Castle in the Yoshino district of Mimasaka Province.[7] Hirata was relied upon by Lord Shinmen and so was allowed to use the Shinmen name. As for "Musashi," *Musashi no Kami* was a court title, making him the nominal governor of Musashi province. "Fujiwara" was the lineage from which Musashi claimed descent.

### Munisai and Musashi's birth date

Munisai's tomb says he died in 1580, which obviously conflicts with
the accepted birth date of 1584 for Musashi. Further muddying the
waters, according to the genealogy of the extant Miyamoto family,
Musashi was born in 1582. Kenji Tokitsu
 has suggested that the accepted birth date of 1584 for Musashi is
wrong, as it is primarily based on a literal reading of the introduction
 to the *The Book of Five Rings* where Musashi states that the
years of his life "add up to 60" (yielding the twelfth year of the
Tensho era, or 1584, when working backwards from the well-documented
date of composition), when it should be taken in a more literary and
imprecise sense, indicating not a specific age but merely that Musashi
was in his sixties when he wrote it.

Because of the uncertainty centering on Munisai (when he died,
whether he was truly Musashi's father, etc.), Musashi's mother is known
with even less confidence. Here are a few possibilities:

* Munisai's tomb was correct. He died in 1580, leaving two daughters

and son Iori; his wife adopted a recently born child, from the Akamatsu clan, intended to succeed Munisai at his jitte school. Omasa, Munisai's widow, was not Musashi's biological mother.

* The tomb was wrong. Munisai lived a good deal longer, later than

1590 possibly. Musashi, then, was born to Munisai's first wife, Yoshiko
(daughter to Bessho Shigeharu, who formerly controlled Hirafuku village
until he lost a battle in 1578 to Yamanaka Shikanosuke). Munisai
divorced her after Musashi's birth, whereupon she decamped for her
father's house, leaving Musashi with Munisai. Musashi grew up treating
Munisai's second wife, Omasa (daughter to Lord Shinmen) as his mother.
This second scenario is laid out in an entry to the Tasumi family's
genealogy. The daughter of Bessho Shigeharu first married Hirata Muni
and was divorced from him a few years later. After that she married
Tasumi Masahisa. The second wife of Tasumi Masahisa was the mother of
Miyamoto Musashi. Musashi's childhood name was Hirata Den. During his
childhood, he went to Hirafuku to find his real mother. He moved in with
 the Tasumi family.[8]

* A variant of this second theory is based on the fact that the

tombstone states that Omasa gave birth to Musashi on 4 March 1584, and
died of it. Munisai then remarried to Yoshiko. They divorced, as in the
second theory, but Yoshiko took Musashi, who was 7 at the time, with
her, and married Tasumi Masahisa.

* Kenji Tokitsu prefers to assume a birth date of 1581, which avoids

the necessity of assuming the tombstone to be erroneous (although this
poses the problem of from whom then Musashi received the transmission of
 the family martial art).

### Upbringing

Regardless of the truth about Musashi's ancestry, when Musashi was seven years old, the boy was raised by his uncle, Dorinbo
 (or Dorin), in Shoreian temple, three kilometers (~1.8 mi.) from
Hirafuku. Both Dorin and Musashi's uncle by marriage, Tasumi, educated
him in Buddhism and basic skills such as writing and reading. This education is possibly the basis for Yoshikawa Eiji's fictional education of Musashi by the historical Zen monk Takuan. He was apparently trained by Munisai in the sword, and in the family art of the jutte. This training did not last for a very long time, as in 1589, Munisai was ordered by Shinmen Sokan
 to kill Munisai's student, Honiden Gekinosuke. The Honiden family was
displeased, and so Munisai was forced to move four kilometers (~2.5 mi.)
 away to the village of Kawakami.

In 1592, Munisai died, although Tokitsu believes that the person who died at this time was really Hirata Takehito.

Musashi contracted eczema in his infancy, and this adversely affected his appearance.[9]
 Another story claims that he never took a bath because he did not want
to be surprised unarmed. While the former claim may or may not have some
 basis in reality, the latter seems improbable.[10] An unwashed member of the warrior caste would not have been received as a guest by such houses as Honda, Ogasawara, and Hosokawa.
 These and many other details are likely embellishments that were added
to his legend, or misinterpretations of literature describing him.

His father's fate is uncertain, but it is thought that he died at the
 hands of one of Musashi's later adversaries, who was punished or even
killed for treating Musashi's father badly. However, there are no exact
details of Musashi's life, since Musashi's only writings are those
related to strategy and technique.

### Training in swordsmanship

The name "Musashi" was thought to be taken from the name of a warrior monk named Musashibō Benkei who served under Minamoto no Yoshitsune, but this is unconfirmed.

It is said that he may have studied at the Yoshioka-ryū
 school, which was also said to be the school Musashi defeated
single-handedly during his later years, although this is very uncertain.
 He did have formal training either by his father until he was 7 years
old or from his uncle beginning at the age of 7. Ultimately the name was
 taken from his own original kanji characters, 武蔵, which can be read as
Takezō or as Musashi, as stated in Eiji Yoshikawa's book *Musashi*.

### First duel

According to the introduction of *The Book of Five Rings*,
 Musashi states that his first successful duel was at the age of
thirteen, against a samurai named Arima Kihei who fought using the Kashima Shintō-ryū style, founded by Tsukahara Bokuden (b. 1489, d. 1571). The main source of the duel is the *Hyoho senshi denki* ("Anecdotes about the Deceased Master"). Summarized, its account goes as follows:

### Travels and duels

In 1599, three years later, Musashi left his village, apparently at the age of 15 (according to the *Tosakushi*, "The Registry of the Sakushu Region", although the *Tanji Hokin Hikki* says he was 16 years old in 1599, which agrees time-wise with the age reported in Musashi's first duel).[8]
 His family possessions such as furniture, weapons, genealogy, and other
 records were left with his sister and her husband, Hirao Yoemon.

He spent his time traveling and engaging in duels, such as with an adept called Akiyama from the Tajima Province.

In 1600, a war began between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans. Musashi apparently fought on the side of the Toyotomi's "Army of the West", as the Shinmen clan
 (to whom his family owed allegiance) had allied with them.
Specifically, he participated in the attempt to take Fushimi castle by
assault in July 1600, in the defense of the besieged Gifu Castle in August of the same year, and finally in the Battle of Sekigahara. Some doubt has been cast on this final battle, as the *Hyoho senshi denki*
 has Musashi saying he is "no lord's vassal" and refusing to fight with
his father (in Lord Ukita's battalion) in the battle. Omitting the
Battle of Sekigahara from the list of Musashi's battles would seem to
contradict the *The Book of Five Rings'*s statement that Musashi
fought in six battles, however. Regardless, as the Toyotomi side lost,
it has been suggested that Musashi fled as well and spent some time
training on Mount Hiko.

After the battle, Musashi disappears from the records for a while. The next mention of him has him arriving in Kyoto
 at the age of 20 (or 21), where he began a series of duels against the
Yoshioka School. Musashi's father, Munisai, also fought against a master
 of the Yoshioka school and won 2 out of 3 bouts in front of the shogun at the time, Ashikaga Yoshiaki who granted him the title of "Unrivaled Under Heaven". The Yoshioka School (descended from either the Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū
 or the Kyo-hachi-ryū) was the foremost of the eight major schools of
martial arts in Kyoto, the "Kyo-ryū" / "Schools of Kyoto". Legend has it
 that these eight schools were founded by eight monks taught by a
legendary martial artist resident on the sacred Mount Kurama.
 At some point, the Yoshioka family also began to make a name for itself
 not merely in the art of the sword but also in the textile business and
 for a dye unique to them. They gave up teaching swordsmanship in 1614
when they fought in the Army of the West against Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Battle of Osaka,
 which they lost. But in 1604, when Musashi began duelling them, they
were still preeminent. There are various accounts of the duels — the
Yoshioka family documents claim that there was only one, against
Yoshioka Kenpō, which Musashi won.

Musashi challenged Yoshioka Seijūrō, master of the Yoshioka School,
to a duel. Seijūrō accepted, and they agreed to a duel outside Rendaiji
in Rakuhoku, in the northern part of Kyoto on 8 March 1604. Musashi
arrived late, greatly irritating Seijūrō. They faced off, and Musashi
struck a single blow, per their agreement. This blow struck Seijūrō on
the left shoulder, knocking him out, and crippling his left arm. He
apparently passed on the headship of the school to his equally
accomplished brother, Yoshioka Denshichirō, who promptly challenged
Musashi for revenge. The duel took place in Kyoto outside a temple, Sanjūsangen-dō.
 Denshichirō wielded a staff reinforced with steel rings (or possibly
with a ball-and-chain attached), while Musashi arrived late a second
time. Musashi disarmed Denshichirō and defeated him. This second victory
 outraged the Yoshioka family, whose head was now the 12-year-old
Yoshioka Matashichiro. They assembled a force of archers, musketeers and
 swordsmen, and challenged Musashi to a duel outside Kyoto, near Ichijō-ji
 Temple. Musashi broke his previous habit of arriving late, and came to
the temple hours early. Hidden, Musashi assaulted the force, killing
Matashichiro, and escaping while being attacked by dozens of his
victim's supporters. To escape and fight off his opponents he was forced
 to draw his second sword and defend himself with a sword in each hand.
This was the beginning of his niten'ichi sword style. With the death of
Matashichiro, this branch of the Yoshioka School was destroyed.

After Musashi left Kyoto, some sources recount that he travelled to Hōzōin in Nara,
 to duel with and learn from the monks there, widely known as experts
with lance weapons. There he settled down at Enkoji Temple in Banshū,
 where he taught the head monk's (one Tada Hanzaburo's) brother.
Hanzaburo's grandson would found the Ensu-ryū based on the Enmei-ryū
teachings and iaijutsu.

From 1605 to 1612, he travelled extensively all over Japan in *musha shugyō,* a warrior pilgrimage during which he honed his skills with duels. He was said to have used bokken or bokuto
 in actual duels. Most of the engagements from these times did not try
to take the opponent's life unless both agreed, but in most duels, it is
 known that Musashi did not care which weapon his foe used — such was
his mastery.

A document dated 5 September 1607, purporting to be a transmission by
 Miyamoto Munisai of his teachings, suggests Munisai lived at least to
this date. In this year, Musashi departed Nara for Edo, during which he fought (and killed) a kusarigama practitioner named Shishido Baiken. In Edo, Musashi defeated Musō Gonnosuke, who would found an influential staff-wielding school known as Shintō Musō-ryū. Records of this first duel can be found in both the Shinto Muso-ryu tradition and the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū
 (Miyamoto Musashi's school). The Shinto Muso Ryu tradition states that,
 after being defeated by Musashi, Muso Gonnosuke spent time developing a
 stick-fighting technique to counter swords and beat Musashi in a
rematch. There are no current reliable sources outside the Shinto Muso
Ryu tradition to confirm that this second duel took place.

Musashi is said to have fought over 60 duels and was never defeated,
although this is a conservative estimate, most likely not accounting for
 deaths by his hand in major battles. In 1611, Musashi began practicing zazen at the Myōshin-ji temple, where he met Nagaoka Sado, vassal to Hosokawa Tadaoki; Tadaoki was a powerful lord who had received the Kumamoto Domain in west-central Kyūshū
 after the Battle of Sekigahara. Munisai had moved to northern Kyūshū
and became Tadaoki's teacher, leading to the possibility that Munisai
introduced the two. Nagaoka proposed a duel with a certain adept named Sasaki Kojirō. Tokitsu believes that the duel was politically motivated, a matter of consolidating Tadaoki's control over his fief.

#### Duel with Sasaki Kojirō

Main article: Sasaki Kojirō

On April 13, 1612, Musashi (about age 30) fought his duel with Sasaki Kojirō, who was known as "The Demon of the Western Provinces" and who wielded a *nodachi*. Musashi came late and unkempt to the appointed place — the island of Funajima, in the Kanmon Straits separating Honshū and Kyūshū. The duel was short. Musashi killed his opponent with a bokken
 that legend says he had carved from an oar used on the boat that
carried him to the island. Musashi's late arrival is controversial.
Sasaki's outraged supporters thought it was dishonorable and
disrespectful, while Musashi's supporters thought it was a fair way to
unnerve his opponent. Another theory is that Musashi timed the hour of
his arrival to match the turning of the tide. The tide carried him to
the island. After his victory, Musashi immediately jumped back in his
boat and his flight from Sasaki's vengeful allies was helped by the
turning of the tide. Another theory states he waited for the sun to get
in the right position. After he dodged a blow, Sasaki was blinded by the sun.

#### Service

In 1614–1615, Musashi participated in the war between the Toyotomi and the Tokugawa. The war had broken out because Tokugawa Ieyasu
 saw the Toyotomi family as a threat to his rule of Japan; most scholars
 believe that, as in the previous war, Musashi fought on the Toyotomi
side. Osaka Castle
 was the central place of battle. The first battle (the Winter Battle of
 Osaka; Musashi's fourth battle) ended in a truce. The second (the
Summer Battle of Osaka; Musashi's fifth battle) resulted in the total
defeat of Toyotomi Hideyori's Army of the West by Ieyasu's Army of the
East in May 1615. Some reports go so far as to say that Musashi entered a
 duel with Ieyasu, but was recruited after Ieyasu sensed his defeat was
at hand. This may seem unlikely since Ieyasu was in his 70s and was in
poor health already, but it remains unknown how Musashi came into
Ieyasu's good graces.

Other claims he actually served on the Tokugawa side are unproven,
although Musashi had a close relationship with some Tokugawa vassals
through his duel with Sasaki Kojirō, and in the succeeding years, he did
 not drop out of sight as might be expected if he were being persecuted
for being on the losing side. In his later years, Ogasawara and Hosokawa
 supported Musashi greatly — an atypical course of action for these
Tokugawa loyalists, if Musashi had indeed fought on behalf of the
Toyotomi.

In 1615 he entered the service of Ogasawara Tadanao (小笠原忠直) of Harima Province, at Ogasawara's invitation, as a "Construction Supervisor," after previously gaining skills in craft. He helped construct Akashi Castle and in 1621 to lay out the organization of the town of Himeji. He also taught martial arts during his stay, specializing in instruction in the art of shuriken-throwing. During this period of service, he adopted a son.

In 1621, Musashi defeated Miyake Gunbei and three other adepts of the
 Togun-ryu in front of the lord of Himeji; it was after this victory
that he helped plan Himeji. Around this time, Musashi developed a number
 of disciples for his *Enmei-ryū* although he had developed the
school considerably earlier; at the age of 22, Musashi had already
written a scroll of Enmei-ryū teachings called "Writings on the Sword
Technique of the Enmei-ryū" (*Enmei-ryū kenpo sho*).
 円/"En" meant "circle" or "perfection"; 明/"mei" meant "light"/"clarity",
 and 流/"ryū" meant "school"; the name seems to have been derived from
the idea of holding the two swords up in the light so as to form a
circle. The school's central idea is given as training to use the twin
swords of the samurai as effectively as a combination of sword and jutte.

In 1622, Musashi's adoptive son, Miyamoto Mikinosuke, became a vassal to the Himeji Domain.
 Possibly this prompted Musashi to leave, embarking on a new series of
travels, winding up in Edo in 1623, where he became friends with the Confucian scholar Hayashi Razan, who was one of the Shogun's advisors. Musashi applied to become a swordmaster to the Shogun, but as he already had two swordmasters (Ono Jiroemon Tadaaki and Yagyū Munenori
 — the latter also a political advisor, in addition to his position as
the head of the Shogunate's secret police) Musashi's application was
denied. He left Edo in the direction of Ōshū, ending up in Yamagata, where he adopted a second son, Miyamoto Iori. The two then traveled, eventually stopping in Osaka.

In 1626, Miyamoto Mikinosuke, following the custom of junshi, committed seppuku
 because of the death of his lord. In this year, Miyamoto Iori entered
Lord Ogasawara's service. Musashi's attempt to become a vassal to the
lord of Owari, like other such attempts, failed.

In 1627, Musashi began to travel again. In 1634 he settled in Kokura with Iori, and later entered the service of the daimyo Ogasawara Tadazane, taking a major role in the Shimabara Rebellion. Iori served with distinction in putting down the rebellion and gradually rose to the rank of karō — a position equal to a minister. Musashi, however was reputedly injured by a thrown rock while scouting in the front line, and was thus unnoticed.

## Later life and death

Six years later, in 1633, Musashi began staying with Hosokawa Tadatoshi, daimyo of Kumamoto Castle,
 who had moved to the Kumamoto fief and Kokura, to train and paint.
Ironically, it was at this time that the Hosokawa lords were also the
patrons of Musashi's chief rival, Sasaki Kojirō.[*clarification needed*]
 While there he engaged in very few duels; one would occur in 1634 at
the arrangement of Lord Ogasawara, in which Musashi defeated a lance
specialist by the name of Takada Matabei. Musashi would officially
become the retainer of the Hosokowa lords of Kumamoto in 1640. The *Niten Ki* records "[he] received from Lord Tadatoshi: 17 retainers, a stipend of 300 koku, the rank of *ōkumigashira* 大組頭, and Chiba Castle in Kumamoto as his residence."[12]

In the second month of 1641, Musashi wrote a work called the *Hyoho Sanju Go* ("Thirty-five Instructions on Strategy") for Hosokawa Tadatoshi; this work overlapped and formed the basis for the later *The Book of Five Rings*.
 This was the year that his third son, Hirao Yoemon, became Master of
Arms for the Owari fief. In 1642, Musashi suffered attacks of neuralgia, foreshadowing his future ill-health. In 1643 he retired to a cave named *Reigandō* as a hermit to write *The Book of Five Rings*.
 He finished it in the second month of 1645. On the twelfth of the fifth
 month, sensing his impending death, Musashi bequeathed his worldly
possessions, after giving his manuscript copy of *The Book of Five Rings* to the younger brother of Terao Magonojo, his closest disciple. He died in Reigandō cave around June 13, 1645 (*Shōhō 3, 30th day of the 4th month*). The *Hyoho senshi denki* described his passing:

At the moment of his death, he had himself raised up. He had his belt
 tightened and his wakizashi put in it. He seated himself with one knee
vertically raised, holding the sword with his left hand and a cane in
his right hand. He died in this posture, at the age of sixty-two. The
principal vassals of Lord Hosokawa and the other officers gathered, and
they painstakingly carried out the ceremony. Then they set up a tomb on
Mount Iwato on the order of the lord.

Miyamoto Musashi was not killed in combat, he died of what is believed to be thoracic cancer,[*citation needed*]. He died peacefully after finishing the text *Dokkōdō* ("The Way of Walking Alone", or "The Way of Self-Reliance"), 21 precepts on self-discipline to guide future generations.

His body was interred in armor within the village of Yuge, near the
main road near Mount Iwato, facing the direction the Hosokawas would
travel to Edo; his hair was buried on Mount Iwato itself. (NB - Mount
Iwato is part of the Mount Kinpo range in Kumamoto and actually where
Musashi wrote *The Book of Five Rings* in the Reigando cave. His
grave is not there, but about 45 minutes away, to the east and on the
other side of Kumamoto, in the Musashizuka area). Some of his remains
were given to Mimasaka so that he could be buried (in part) with his parents. The Mimasaka graves are located in the precincts of Musashi Shrine.

Nine years later, a major source about his life — a monument with a
funereal eulogy to Musashi — was erected in Kokura by Miyamoto Iori;
this monument was called the Kokura *hibun*. An account of Musashi's life, the *Niten-ki*
 二天記, was published in Kumamoto in 1776, by Toyota Kagehide, based on
the recollections of his grandfather Toyota Masataka, who was a second
generation pupil of Musashi.

## Teachings

Musashi created and refined a two-sword *kenjutsu* technique called *niten'ichi* (二天一, "two heavens as one") or *nitōichi* (二刀一, "two swords as one") or 'Niten Ichi-ryū' (A Kongen Buddhist Sutra refers to the two heavens as the two guardians of Buddha). In this technique, the swordsman uses *both* a large sword, and a "companion sword" at the same time, such as a katana with a wakizashi.

The two-handed movements of temple drummers may have inspired him,
although it could be that the technique was forged through Musashi's
combat experience. *Jutte* techniques were taught to him by his father — the *jutte* was often used in battle paired with a sword; the *jutte*
 would parry and neutralize the weapon of the enemy while the sword
struck or the practitioner grappled with the enemy. Today Musashi's
style of swordsmanship is known as Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū.[*citation needed*]

Musashi was also an expert in throwing weapons. He frequently threw his short sword, and Kenji Tokitsu believes that shuriken methods for the wakizashi were the Niten Ichi Ryu's secret techniques.[13]

Musashi spent many years studying Buddhism and swordsmanship. He was
an accomplished artist, sculptor, and calligrapher. Records also show
that he had architectural skills. Also, he seems to have had a rather
straightforward approach to combat, with no additional frills or
aesthetic considerations. This was probably due to his real-life combat
experience; although in his later life, Musashi followed the more
artistic side of bushidō. He made various Zen brush paintings, calligraphy, and sculpted wood and metal. Even in *The Book of Five Rings*
 he emphasizes that samurai should understand other professions as well.
 It should be understood that Musashi's writings were very ambiguous,
and translating them into English makes them even more so; that is why
so many different translations of the *The Book of Five Rings* can be found. To gain further insight into Musashi's principles and personality, one could read his other works, such as *Dokkodo* and *Hyoho Shiji ni Kajo*.

https://i.gyazo.com/123709a65daadcdf286473a88dc1a4a7.mp4