Who is the samurai Miyamoto Musashi?
When it comes to Miyamoto Musashi, the labels that the world puts on him are: unscrupulous swordsman born with strange powers, undefeated kendo master in his life, genius of standing up for something that is never right, and the main combatant in many famously vicious battles at the end of the Warring States period, respectively. What are the life and achievements of miyamoto musashi, one of the most prestigious and controversial swordsmen of Japan's history, who is not only famous for his extraordinary swordsmanship skills, but also for his profound attainments in the fields of art of war and art? Let's count them together.
Who is the samurai Miyamoto Musashi?
Miyamoto Musashi, whose real surname is Fujiwara, was born in 1582 in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. He was a famous swordsman, military strategist, and artist in Japan from the end of the Warring States Period to the beginning of the Edo Period, and became famous because of his duel with Sasaki Kojiro, and in his later years he served in the Hosokawa family. His writings include the theoretical works on the art of war, “Mirror of the Art of War”, “Book of the Five Wheels”, “Preface to the Way of the Five Swords of the Five Parties”, and “Thirty-five Solid Articles of the Art of War”.
Why is Miyamoto Musashi so famous?
Miyamoto Musashi is famous not only for his excellence in swordsmanship, but also for his legendary exploits and his pursuit of the ultimate samurai spirit. It is rumored that he was notorious for doing nothing wrong in the countryside until he was 17 years old, and it was only after that that he began to practice swordsmanship and escaped death in the Battle of Sekigahara. His most notable achievement was that he won all 66 matches he fought in his life, and of these duels, the most widely known is the “Iwaryushima Duel,” which is the story of his fight with Kojiro Sasaki, a swordsman of the Itsuki school. But in his first duel, he defeated Arima Kibei of the “Shindo Ryu” and ended the life of this wandering swordsman by cracking his opponent's skull with his wooden sword. It was this first battle that made Miyamoto Musashi, who was only 13 years old at the time, famous, and started his legendary career.
After winning his first duel, at the age of 14, Miyamoto Musashi embarked on a career as a ronin and began a journey of training to challenge masters everywhere, during which he was able to experience dozens of duels of all sizes without losing a single one, thanks to his talent. Miyamoto Musashi is said to have been born with such natural strength that he was able to swing a long sword with one hand that others would have to use both hands to lift. He also creatively used dual swords, left and right, to keep his opponents off guard. That's how he learned as he fought in duels along the way, and that's how he developed this swordplay that he's so proud of. And he was good at picking positions in his favor in one-to-many duels, and then having his opponents stand in a line to break them down one by one, so that no matter how many opponents there were, there was only one for him, and he was able to kill them all with one blow. In a duel with the Yoshioka family, Miyamoto Musashi used this maneuver to destroy the opposing family in the face of 70 to 80 men. This battle made Miyamoto Musashi famous, but he was also called “brutal” and “unethical”, but his reputation as the world's best swordsman was confirmed.
After this incident, Miyamoto Musashi began to sheathe his sword, letting go of the mentality of a martial artist who was alone in a duel, but of course we don't know what was going on in his mind, perhaps he felt the weight of the title of No. 1 in the world, and thus reflected on the idea that the power of the martial arts doesn't necessarily have to be manifested through killing, and that he was not the only one who had a strong sense of humor, and that he was the only one who had a strong sense of humor, anyway, after thinking it through, Miyamoto Musashi continued his own wandering journey, although there was also a short period of time to serve in the government, but in the end did not fulfill the aspirations of the young man on the frontier. After all, Musashi had already let go of his obsession with being the best in the world. But in the eyes of the world, Musashi's swordsmanship was already the best in the world.
Returning to orthodox martial arts, Miyamoto Musashi began to study swordsmanship in earnest, leaving behind a number of valuable books, including the writings “Mirror of the Way of the Sword”, “Book of the Five Wheels”, “Preface to the Way of the Five Sides of the Taijutsu”, and “Thirty-five Solid Articles of the Art of War”. He also created a large number of military arts and tactics that greatly influenced the later military development of Japan. Many Japanese fencing enthusiasts still take out Miyamoto Musashi's writings and study them to explore the mysteries of Japanese swordsmanship. Miyamoto Musashi remained unmarried all his life and led an ascetic life. He devoted his life's experience to swordsmanship and the military, and his achievements in martial arts have been praised by posterity. Stories about him have been passed down for a century, and there have been many films and television productions based on him in later generations.
Was miyamoto musashi a samurai?
Miyamoto Musashi was born into a samurai family, but was not strictly a samurai or ninja himself, but only a ronin, mainly because of the difference in his occupation and status from that of a samurai. Instead of the fixed territories and titles traditionally held by samurai, he made his living as a swordsman and wandered about. Despite his outstanding achievements in swordsmanship, his identity does not fit the definition of a traditional samurai.
