musashi the way of the samurai eiji yoshikawa

Musashi grew up in a time of great change in Japan. Musashi dodged both and left his childhood home for the last time to live with his Uncle. The tensions between father and son reached a natural climax when Musashi criticized his father’s technique one day, provoking a violent reaction from the man, who then threw a dagger and sword at the child. This provoked his father and Musashi often fled the household to the home of his Uncle Dorinbo, a Shinto priest, who would later become responsible for him. As Musashi grew older and more experienced with the sword, he became critical of his father’s martial arts techniques. He did not get along well with his stepmother. But his relationship with his father was tumultuous and dysfunctional.Īs a child of divorce, Musashi was often subjected to rumor and gossip about his birth mother. Perhaps that is how Musashi’s heart and soul inherited a love of the sword and he grew to desire to become the greatest swordsman in Japan. His father was Miyamoto Munisai who was also a noted martial artist. Wikimedia Commons Miyamoto Musashi had a dysfunctional childhood. He was also known as Shinmen Takezō or Niten Dōraku and he gave himself the full name of Shinmen Musashi no Kami Fujiwara no Genshin.īut posterity knows this boy best as the master swordsman Miyamoto Musashi who was arguably the greatest of the samurai. The boy who would kill his first opponent at age 13 was called Bennosuke and was believed to have been born in 1584 in Japan’s Harima province of western Honshu in the village of Miyamoto, from which the family took its surname. Nonetheless, some historians have been able to create a compelling portrait of the man. Even the identity of his mother is debated. Becoming Miyamoto Musashiĭetails of Musashi’s life are often obscured by fable and fantasy. Though won at least 60 duels by the age of 30, it was his last duel against master swordsman Sasaki Kojiro that made him truly great. Miyamoto Musashi is Japan’s most venerated swordmaster and has since become one of Japan’s most famous cultural icons. Those tenets are still studied by ambitious businessmen today. Miyamoto Musashi abided by a strict set of 21 precepts for life to groom himself into becoming Japan's greatest samurai.

Musashi the way of the samurai eiji yoshikawa