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WABUKAN Journal · Masters · 宮本武蔵

Miyamoto Musashi: the swordsman and The Book of Five Rings

· 4 min read

Few swordsmen are as famous as Miyamoto Musashi, and few are surrounded by as many legends. Separating what is documented from what novels, plays and films added later gives a more interesting portrait: a duellist who became a strategist, a painter and the author of one of the most read martial texts in the world.

Portrait traditionally attributed to Musashi himself, holding two swords.
Portrait traditionally attributed to Musashi himself, holding two swords. Author: Miyamoto Musashi · Licence: Domínio público / Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

A wandering youth

Musashi was born around 1584 (some sources give 1582) in western Japan, at the end of the Sengoku period, the "Warring States" age. Almost everything we know about his early life comes from two sources: his own words at the start of the Gorin no sho, and a memorial stone erected in Kokura in 1654 by his adopted son, Miyamoto Iori. Later biographies such as the Nitenki (18th century) add many colourful details, but they were written more than a century after his death.

According to Musashi himself, he fought his first duel at 13, against a swordsman called Arima Kihei, and between then and the age of 29 he fought more than sixty times without losing. Whether he took part in the great battle of Sekigahara in 1600 is still debated by historians. What is certain is that he travelled for years as a shugyōsha, a warrior on a training pilgrimage, testing himself against other schools of kenjutsu.

Kyoto and Ganryūjima

Around 1604, in Kyoto, Musashi defeated members of the Yoshioka family, a respected house of sword teachers. The most famous duel came in 1612, on the small island of Funashima in the strait between Honshū and Kyūshū, later renamed Ganryūjima after his opponent, Sasaki Kojirō (whose school was called Ganryū). The popular version says Musashi arrived late on purpose, carved a long wooden sword from an oar during the crossing and killed Kojirō with a single blow. The duel itself is well attested; the details of the oar and the delay come from later accounts and should be read as tradition.

The Ganryūjima duel in an Edo-period ukiyo-e print.
The Ganryūjima duel in an Edo-period ukiyo-e print. Author: Yoshifusa Utagawa (active ca. 1840-1860) · Licence: Domínio público / Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Two swords: Niten Ichi-ryū

Samurai normally wore two blades, the long katana and the shorter wakizashi, but fought with the long one held in both hands. Musashi argued that a warrior should be able to use both at once, one in each hand, so that nothing he carried would be wasted. His school became known as Niten Ichi-ryū, "the school of two heavens as one". It is still taught today as a koryū, an old-style tradition, with paired forms practised with wooden swords (bokken).

In his writing he insists that the two-sword method is a training tool, not a dogma: practising with one sword in each hand frees the body and teaches the student to wield a long sword with a single arm when necessary.

The Book of Five Rings

In 1640 Musashi settled in Kumamoto, on Kyūshū, as a guest of the Hosokawa clan. Between 1643 and 1645 he retired to Reigandō, a cave in the hills west of the city, and wrote the Gorin no sho, usually translated as The Book of Five Rings. Shortly before his death he gave the manuscript to his student Terao Magonojō.

Reigandō cave near Kumamoto, where Musashi wrote the book.
Reigandō cave near Kumamoto, where Musashi wrote the book. Author: STA3816 · Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The book is divided into five scrolls named after the elements of Buddhist cosmology:

The style is practical and direct. Musashi recommends a calm, wide gaze, "seeing far things as if they were close and close things as if far", and a firm but not rigid grip. His central idea is that the same principles apply to one person facing another and to armies facing each other. This is why the book became popular in the 20th century well beyond the dojo, including among business readers.

The painter

Musashi was also a skilled ink painter and calligrapher. Works attributed to him, such as the Shrike on a withered branch, are kept in Japanese museums and some are classed as Important Cultural Properties. The same economy of movement that he asked of the sword can be seen in the brushwork: few strokes, no hesitation.

'Shrike on a withered branch', ink painting attributed to Musashi.
'Shrike on a withered branch', ink painting attributed to Musashi. Author: Miyamoto Musashi · Licence: Domínio público / Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Last years and legacy

A week before he died in 1645, Musashi wrote the Dokkōdō, "the path of walking alone", a list of 21 short precepts on self-discipline. He was buried in Kumamoto.

His popular fame is largely modern. Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Musashi, serialised from 1935 to 1939, turned him into a national hero; it inspired Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy (1954–56) with Toshirō Mifune and, decades later, Takehiko Inoue's manga Vagabond. In today's kendo and iaido dojos, Musashi is quoted constantly, especially his insistence on constant practice: "a thousand days of training to forge, ten thousand days to polish".

The lesson that survives best is not the number of duels but the method: study every weapon, train the body and the eyes, avoid fixed habits and keep learning until the end. For the wider context of the old sword schools, see our article on the koryū sword traditions.

Timeline

  1. 1584Most cited birth year (some sources say 1582).
  2. 1604Duels with the Yoshioka school in Kyoto.
  3. 1612Duel with Sasaki Kojirō on Ganryūjima.
  4. 1640Settles in Kumamoto under the Hosokawa clan.
  5. 1643–45Writes the Gorin no sho in Reigandō cave.
  6. 1645Dies in Kumamoto, also leaving the Dokkōdō.

Related pages on Wabukan

kenjutsu iaido kendo battodo Profile: Miyamoto Musashi Weapon: katana Weapon: bokken

Sources

Original WABUKAN text, written from these cross-checked sources (facts, not sentences).

  1. Miyamoto Musashi, Gorin no sho (1645) — trad. Thomas Cleary, The Book of Five Rings, Shambhala, 1993
  2. Kenji Tokitsu, Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings, Shambhala, 2004
  3. William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi, Kodansha, 2004
  4. Wikipedia (EN) — Miyamoto Musashi
  5. Wikipedia (EN) — The Book of Five Rings

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