Miyamoto Musashi: The Lone Samurai,biography of Miyamoto Musashi,Miyamoto Musashi,history of Miyamoto Musashi,

                                      

                   biography of  Miyamoto Musashi

 Miyamoto Musashi was the greatest swordsmanto ever come out a nation of great swordsmen - Japan. His story, which has become the basis forcountless flying swordsman Oriental movies, is one of raw courage, unbridled ambitionand 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 poredover my military tacticians and mindfulness enthusiasts 450 years after it was written. In this week’s Biographics, we reveal theman who was Musashi. BeginningsThere is much uncertainty over the details and dates pertaining to the life of Musashi. What follows is based primarily on his ownaccount as recorded in The Book of Five Rings. Miyamoto Musashi was born in the spring of1584 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 ShinMan clan, who had become an expert in the fighting arts. He was especially adept in jiu jitsu, swordsmanshipand the use of the jitta, an iron rod with forklike protrusions. When he was in his thirties, Muni had beeninvited to the capital of Kyoto to duel with another highly regarded warrior in the presenceof the Shogun. Muni beat the man in two out of three bouts. The victory established Musashi’s fatheras He Ho Shou (Without Equal) in Japan. Muni was intent on teaching his son everythingthat he knew about the fighting arts. Although Musashi was a quick learner, he hada stubborn streak that saw him constantly clashing with his father. Whereas everyone else treated Muni with theutmost respect and reverence, Musashi would often talk back and criticize his father.

This resulted in a volatile relationship whichoften culminated in violence. On one occasion, Muni took a knife and threwit at his son. Musashi managed to dodge the weapon,whichburied itself in the wall beside him. But the father’s anger was not over - hethrew the seven year-old boy out of his house, essentially disowning him. Musashi crossed the Kamasaka pass into theprovince 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 longago renounced the fighting arts, becoming a Buddhist monk and living a life of studyand meditation. He raised Musashi at his small Buddhist temple,set on the edge of the village. Here the boy learned to read and write aswell as to meditate and develop his spirituality.

The Fighter EmergesMusashi’s 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 beingreleased 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 nameof Arima Kihei had put up a sign along the Sayo river challenging any local swordsmanto a duel. The bold and impetuous Musashi took up thechallenge, writing his name on the sign. Kihei considered the challenge a joke, butaccepted it anyway, intent on teaching the young upstart a lesson. Musashi’s uncle, Dorin, was shocked whenhe heard what his nephew had done. On the day of the challenge, he went aheadof the boy and attempted to beg off. While he was pleading with Kihei, Musashicharged his opponent with a six foot quarterstaff.

He caught Kihei off guard, clubbing him tothe ground and then striking him between the eyes. With a succession of blows he then beat himto death. Three years later, Musashi left Hirafuku andset off to make his way in the world. He traveled along the Sanyodo, the old highroad skirting the northern shore of the Inland Sea to the straits of Shimonoseki. From there he ferried across the waters tothe 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 father’sarmy were in the midst of a campaign to subdue the island of Kyshu and wage war on the westernprovinces. Musashi was recruited into the force and soonfound 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, Musashi’s agingfather retired from active duty, moving to the nearby port of Kitsuki. Yet as the father exited from the world ofmortal combat, the son was just getting started. The campaign had wet his appetite and he waseager 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 ChallengerNever one to think small, Musashi set his sights on the most prestigious school of swordsmanshipin the realm - the famous Yoshioka clan in Kyoto. He knew that if he could fully defeat evenone member of this clan, he would put himself on the fast-track to recognition as a masterswordsman. So, without saying a word to his father, herose early one morning, collected his few belongings and set out to claim his destiny. He bartered his way onto a small merchantvessel to the port of Sakaki. From there he traveled on foot to Kyoto andsought out the Yoshioka clan. He threw down his challenge, which was eagerlyaccepted by their top swordsman, Seijuro. The duel would take place on the grounds ofthe Rendai temple. When he arrived at the venue, Musashi leaptupon his opponent without warning - just as he had in his first duel - and felled Seijurowith a blow from his bokuto.

 The fight was over before it had properlybegun. The shock defeat of their top swordsman rockedthe Yoshioka clan. Seijuro’s brother, Denshichiro, was incensedat the manner in which the young upstart from the south had attacked his brother when hewas unprepared. He challenged Musashi to a second challengeon the very spot where the first had occurred. This time it was the Yoshioka swordsman whocharged first, attempting to strike a fatal blow with his five-foot bokuto. But Musashi managed to wrestle the weaponaway from Denshichiro, using it to beat his opponent to death. The Yoshioka had now been bested twice inshort 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 woodsoutside of the hostel he was staying at. More than a hundred Yoshioka students, armedwith sticks, bows and arrows gathered under the leadership of Denshichiro’s son, Matashichirocame up against Musashi. Unperturbed, Musashi rushed straight for Matashichiro,killing him in front of the others. Overawed, the Yoshioka fell back, allowingMusashi to slip away.

The Supreme WarriorHaving established his supremacy by decimating the most highly respected warrior clan inthe land, Musashi returned to Kyoto. In the space of a few days he had broughtdown a school of swordsmanship that had reigned supreme for over a century. Still, he knew that he had a lot to learnin 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 whowere experts in Hozo’in-ryu, the art of fighting with the lance. The Temple master was fascinated with Musashi’sability to fight with two swords at once. Keen to test his finest student against thenewcomer, he arranged for two bouts with a monk named Okuzo’in. In neither was the lancer able to gain theupper hand over Musashi. Leaving Nara, Musashi traveled to Edo, a citythat was teeming with accomplished swordsmen, many of whom had forged their talents on thefield of battle.

Here Musashi opened his own dojo, one of hundredsin the city. News quickly spread of his unique style, andsoon he was being flooded with students. One of them was Mizuno Katsunari, a well respectedand battle hardened warrior. The fame of Musashi’s dojo spread, reachingall the way to Edo Castle and the Shogun himself. He was invited to teach there, but declinedwhen he realized that he would be subject to a member of the hated Yagyu clan. After teaching in Edo for seven years, Musashidecided to return to Kitsuki, the town of his father. The aging Muni had set up his own dojo andwas 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 smallisland of Funashima, in the straits of Shimonoseki. It was here that he was challenged by a famedwarrior by the name of Sasaki Kojiro, a man so fierce that he had earned the moniker ‘Demonof the Western Provinces.’ He was a master of nodachi, the great Japanesesword. Legend tells us that Musashi’s only weaponwas a bokken, or wooden sword, that he had carved from an oar of the boat that had broughthim to the island. With this he managed to subdue and kill Sasaki. He then immediately jumped into his boat androwed out to sea in order to get away from Sasaki’s enraged followers. WarriorMusashi now completed his journey to Kitsuki where he began teaching at his father’sdojo.For three years he lived and worked in the small seaside village.

 During this time his fractured relationshipwith his father got no better, with the old man criticizing his son’s martial abilityat every opportunity. When Muni died at the age of 85, Musashi wasmore relieved than saddened. Shortly after his father’s passing, Musashireceived a letter from his former student, Mizuno Katsunari. War had broken out between the great clansof Tokugawa and Toyotomi. Katsunari was about to take part in the siegeon the Tokugawa side along with his eldest son, who was just 16 years old. Katsunari requested that Musashi serve asa part of a special escort of ten mounted warriors for his son. The thirty year old Musashi saw this as hisopportunity 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 battleof the young son of his beloved student, Katsunari. He met up with Katsunari’s forces, ridingat the head of 4,000 men as they advanced on Osaka and then on to Kokobu, a hamlet madeup of a few farms stretching along the southern bank of the Yamamoto river. Just a few miles downstream a large enemyforce had gathered.

 That night, however, Katsunari’s army managedto surround the Toyotomi forces. The attack was ordered at 10 pm, the hourof the snake, and the Toyotomi were sent reeling. They fled across the Ishi river, only to bechased down by Katsunari’s men. Musashi was in the lead, wielding his favoriteweapon, the bokutu. Records tell us that he stood on the heightsof a bridge, sending one enemy warrior after another flying with the deadly blows of histrusty bokutu. The Osaka winter and summer campaigns, inwhich the Tokugawa were victorious, put an end to the resistance of Japan’s westernwarlords. The culmination of the hostilities was thesiege of Osaka castle. It was the largest battle in which Musashiwould ever take part, with many thousands of warriors being slaughtered on both sides. Among those of his comrades to fall was NakagawaShimanosuke, who was stricken down as Katsunari’s men had stormed the southern gate of the castle. This man had three sons who traveled withthe army.

The two older boys took part in the siege. But the youngest was just eleven. With the death of his father, he now neededa guardian. Father and MentorMusashi took the boy, Mikinosuke under his wing, adopting him as his son, and set offfor the castle town of Himeji, then on to Hirafuku, where he step-mother lived. For the next two years he lived here, caringfor his aged step-mother while also providing for his new son. Many hours each day were spent imparting toMikinosuke the fighting skills that he himself had learned as a young boy from his own father. This tranquil existence was interrupted whennews reached the village of Hirafuku that Ikeda Mitsumasa, the current lord of Himejicastle, was going to move. The new lord was going to be Honda Tadamasa. Musashi saw this change in leadership as anopportunity for his adopted son. During the storming of the Osaka castle, Tadamasahad been in command of the second eastern phalanx, directly behind the troops of Katsunari,where Musashi was stationed. He had, therefore, seen Musashi in actionin the heat of the battle.

Musashi requested that his son Mitsumasa begiven a duty in the lord’s household. Tadamasa agreed and the boy was made a pageto his own son, Tadatoki. At the same time, Musashi was hired by theneighboring daimyo, Ogasawa Tadazane. He was appointed as an advisor to the magistratein charge of construction of a huge building project, the construction of Akashi Castle. This was followed with the planning of thetown of Himeji. Musashi was also put in charge of the castlegardens, and oversaw the construction of a teahouse, miniature mountains and miniaturelake. He proved to have a meticulous eye for detailand was obsessive in getting every tree, shrub and stone placed just right. The years that he spent at Akashi were thehappiest of Musashi’s life. As well as planning out the landscaping andtending to the gardens, he instructed his retainers in the art of fighting with twoswords.

He also obtained much satisfaction in hearingof the successes of his adopted son, Mikinosuke, who grew in favor in the household of Tadamasa. TragedyIn the spring off 1626, Lord Tadatoki was struck down with tuberculosis, being forcedto 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 meantfor his son. As the key retainer of the stricken Lord,Mikinosuke was customarily bound to commit seppuku, ritual suicide by disembowelment. Mikinosuke’s death left a deep emotionalscar on Musashi from which he would never recover. For months he shunned all company, retreatingto the forest to commune with nature and try to come to terms with his great loss. Almost exactly a year after Mikinosuke’sdeath, Musashi adopted a second son - a boy named Iori, who was the second son of TamaraHisamitsu, a Samurai in the service of the lord of Miki castle. When that castle had been overthrown by theTokugawa army, Hisamitsu took up life as a poor farmer. When he died, his younger son, Iori, becamean orphan.

 Musashi took him in and arranged for him toenter the service of Lord Ogasawara Tadazane. The boy would eventually attain the rank ofsenior retainer, stationed on the southern island of Kyushu. Musashi moved there to be closer to the boyand 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 farfrom the main centers, many martial arts masters visited his dojo to experience the art offighting with two swords first hand. The aging Musashi was respected and admiredas 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, seldombathed and refused to wear the traditional attire of a swordsman of that time. In his waning years, he even abandoned histwo swords, preferring to carry and use nothing more than a five foot wooden staff. In early 1638 an armed revolt broke out inthe province of Hizen.

The rebellion was made up of Christians, ledby 17-year-old Amakusa Shiro, and numbered more than 20,000 men. They had ensconced themselves the long abandonedHara castle. Lord Ogasawara Tadazane, the employer of Musashi’sadopted son, engaged the aging master to escort his 23-year old son to the battlefield, alongwith 8,000 men. Musashi stayed at the boy’s side throughoutthe entire siege. When the defenders inside the castle threwboulders down from the walls, he leapt in front of the lord’s horse and fended themoff with his staff. The Final YearsMusashi hadn’t been back from the Hizen rebellion for long when he was approachedto take up a position in the household of the daimyo of one of the largest fiefs inthe country, Hosokawa Tadatoshi. Tadatoshi wanted Musashi to relocate to Kumamotoand instruct his retainers in the art fighting with two swords. The swordsman accepted, arriving in Kumamotoin September, 1640. He was given a comfortable mansion on thenortheastern side of the castle grounds.

Musashi took to spending much time in themountains of Iwato, where he would wile away the hours in meditation and contemplation. He found a cave which afforded him perfectsolitude. It was here that he began to put his thoughtsto paper In the early Spring of 1645 he completed thefirst draft of the work that would make him immortal down through the ages - the Gorinno 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 greatwork, Musashi’s 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 castlewalls. Feeling his life ebbing away, he summonedhis chief retainer and handed him the Gorin no Sho. Having passed on his legacy he then closedhis 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 dismountfrom their horses to pay homage to the greatest swordsman that Japan would ever produce.