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  ABOUT THE BOOK

  Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) was the legendary samurai known throughout the world as a master swordsman, spiritual seeker, and author of the classic book on strategy, the Book of Five Rings. Over 350 years after his death, Musashi and his legacy still fascinate us and continue to inspire artists, authors, and filmmakers. Here, respected translator and expert on samurai culture William Scott Wilson has created both a vivid account of a fascinating period in feudal Japan and a portrait of the courageous, iconoclastic samurai who wrestled with philosophical and spiritual ideas that are as relevant today as they were in his time. For Musashi, the way of the martial arts was about mastery of the mind rather than simply technical prowess—and it is this path to mastery that is the core teaching in his Book of Five Rings. This volume includes supplemental material on Musashi’s legacy as a martial arts icon, his impact on literature and film, and the influence of his Book of Five Rings.

  WILLIAM SCOTT WILSON is the foremost translator into English of traditional Japanese texts on samurai culture. He received BA degrees from Dartmouth College and the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies, and an MA in Japanese literary studies from the University of Washington. His best-selling books include The Book of Five Rings, The Unfettered Mind, and The Lone Samurai, a biography of Miyamoto Musashi.

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  THE LONE SAMURAI

  The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

  William Scott Wilson

  Shambhala

  Boston & London

  2013

  To

  James Craig Brems

  Frontispiece: Portrait of Miyamoto Musashi by Ogata Tanko (1812–1868).

  Reproduced by permission of the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art.

  Shambhala Publications, Inc.

  Horticultural Hall

  300 Massachusetts Avenue

  Boston, Massachusetts 02115

  www.shambhala.com

  © 2004 by William Scott Wilson

  Cover art: Miyamoto Musashi by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861).

  Photograph © 2013, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Wilson, William Scott, 1944–

  The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi / William Scott Wilson.

  pages cm

  Originally published: 2004.

  Includes bibliographical references.

  eISBN 978-0-8348-2851-3

  ISBN 978-1-59030-987-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)

  1. Miyamoto, Musashi, 1584–1645. 2. Swordsmen—Japan—Biography.

  I. Title.

  DS872.M53W55 2013

  952'.025092—dc23

  2012037889

  CONTENTS

  PREFACE

  MAPS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER

  ONE

  The Way of the Sword: Banshu to Ganryu Island

  First Strike Origins Finding His Strength Kyoto and Matches with the Masters Sharpening His Tools Demon of the Western Provinces

  CHAPTER

  TWO

  The Way of the Sword and the Way of the Brush: Osaka Castle to Kokura

  The Fire of Battle Arts of Peace, Arts of War The Kyoto Renaissance Family Name A Real Live Human Being On to Kokura Kumoi Shimabara

  CHAPTER

  THREE

  The Way of the Brush: Kumamoto

  Connections The Way of the Warrior A Place in the Seating Order Last Bouts The Thirty-five Articles An End and a Beginning The Brush and the Mind Painting with the Mind of the Sword The Paintings Calligraphy Fudo Myo-o

  CHAPTER

  FOUR

  The Way of Life and Death: Reigan Cave

  Old Age The Five-storied Pagoda The Concept of the Five Rings in Esoteric Buddhism Basic Principles

  The Way of the Martial Arts Is to Win / Discipline / Real Knowledge / Everyday Mind / Fluidity / Psychology

  Final Days Musashi’s Character

  AFTERWORD

  APPENDIX 1

  Life After Death

  APPENDIX 2

  Influences on and Parallels to The Book of Five Rings

  APPENDIX 3

  A Musashi Filmography

  NOTES

  GLOSSARY

  Terms Historical Figures Clans Events Fighting Styles Writings Others

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

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  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This book contains Chinese and Japanese characters. If you encounter difficulty displaying these characters, please set your e-reader to publisher defaults (if available) or to an alternate font.

  PREFACE

  I first became involved in the life and work of Miyamoto Musashi a number of years ago while working on a translation of The Book of Five Rings. This was a wonderful opportunity, in part because, from my own perspective, there are few finer ways of getting to know someone than translating what he has written; in part because that short work of Musashi’s distills his insights on strategy, Zen Buddhism, and how to live; and in part because, for those who read closely and with a little imagination, the book stands as a record of the sixty-some duels the swordsman fought between the ages of thirteen and twenty-nine. The project turned out to be an intensive course on the very core of what might be called the Musashi myth, and on how that myth came to be.

  Soon after this translation was completed, it was suggested that I might write a short volume on Musashi’s life and work. This also seemed a great opportunity, providing me with a chance to dig more into the details of Musashi’s life and to get a better idea not only of what had motivated him, but also of what has inspired the fascination with which he continues to be regarded. There seemed to be something more to this man’s life than a unique sword style and excellent artwork.

  As it turned out, the biography took much longer to complete than the translation, and involved far more research. Musashi, as is well known, left us only a few sentences about his own life, but other original sources are legion. These sources ranged from the Kokura Hibun, a monument inscribed with the story of Musashi’s life and erected by his adopted son Iori in 1654, to the Nitenki, a compilation of stories about Musashi and his disciples published in 1755 through the research of Toyoda Matashiro and his son and grandson; and a Musashi chronology, the Miyamoto Musashi monogatari nenpyo, published in 1910. Scattered among these are the records of various clans that were touched by Musashi’s presence, such as the Yoshioka-den, compilations of warriors’ deeds like the Busho kanjoki of 1716, and even family records that mentioned Musashi, such as the Numata keki. Because of discrepancies in time and place and the personal alliances of the various authors, these sources often had Musashi in different places at the same time, held various and even diametrically opposed opinions on his personality, talents, and accomplishments, and could be quite perplexing in regard to chronology: one, for example, had his father Munisai dying years before Musashi was born.

  The following account is the result of sifting through this multitudinous and inconsistent material over and over again, looking for the single, consistent life within. The entire book represents my effort to answer the question, who was Miyamoto Musashi? Or perhaps the question should be framed as, who is Miyamoto Musashi, since the life of this great swordsman/philosopher/artist has never come to a full stop, but instead has been continually rewritten and expande
d.

  Many people have contributed to the preparation of this book, and without their help the project would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, to complete. I offer my profound gratitude to all of them. To Kuramochi Tetsuo and Barry Lancet, my former editors at Kodansha International, for having suggested and supported the initial project; to Beth Frankl, my editor at Shambhala Publications, and John Golebiewski, her assistant editor, for their efforts and patience in bringing out this beautiful new edition of the work; to Fukuda Chiaki and Kristine Howe, who were able to track down and provide me with so many of the source books I needed; to Kobayashi Shinji, who kept me informed of current “Musashi events” in Japan; to the artists Kate Barnes and Gary Haskins for their insights on Musashi’s suibokuga, or india ink painting; to John Siscoe for his invaluable advice and support; to my colleague Dave Lowry for his lucid comments on Musashi and for providing materials that would have otherwise been impossible to get; to Scott Maynard for sharing his knowledge of Nippon-to (the Japanese sword); to Robertson Adams for his generous and creative technical support; and to my wife, Emily, who not only read through much of the manuscript, but also patiently watched every Musashi movie with me and always gave me just the right amount of encouragement when the going got rough. As ever, I owe a deep bow of gratitude to my late professors of classical Japanese and Chinese, Richard McKinnon and Hiraga Noburu, whom I still feel helping me along this interesting path.

  SITES OF MUSASHI’S MAJOR DUELS AND OTHER EVENTS

  1. 1584. Birthplace, according to three different theories:

  1A. Miyamoto-mura, Sanomo-mura, Yoshino-gun, Mimasaka Province (today corresponds to Miyamoto-mura, Ohara-machi, Aida-gun, Okayama Prefecture).

  1B. Miyamoto-mura, Itto-gun, Banshu, Harima Province (Miyamoto, Taishimachi, Ibo-gun, Hyogo Prefecture).]

  1C. Yoneda-mura, Innami-gun, Banshu, Harima Province (Yoneda-machi [at the border of Takasago and Kakogawa], Hyogo Prefecture).

  2. 1596, age 13. Site of Musashi’s first match, the duel with Arima Kihei (Hirafuku, Hyogo Prefecture).

  3. 1599, age 16. The match with Akiyama (northern part of Hyogo Prefecture).

  4. 1600, age 17. The Battle of Sekigahara, where the Tokugawa defeated the Toyotomi (Sekigahara, Gifu Prefecture).

  5. 1604, age 21. Three matches with the Yoshioka clan.

  —The match with Yoshioka Seijuro. Yamashiro Province, outside the capital at Rendai Moor (west of Mount Funaoka, Kita-ku, Kyoto).

  —The match with Yoshioka Denshichiro, outside the capital.

  —The match with Yoshioka Matashichiro, outside the capital, at the spreading pine at Ichijoji.

  6. 1604, age 21. The match with the priest at the Hozoin (Kofukuji, Nara).

  7. 1607, age 24. The match with kusarigama expert Shishido (western part of Mie Prefecture).

  8. 1608, age 25. The match with Muso Gonnosuke, the master of the five-foot staff. Edo (Tokyo).

  1610, age 27. The match with Hayashi Osedo and Tsujikaze Tenma. Edo (Tokyo).

  9. 1612, age 29. The site of Musashi’s most famous match, with Sasaki Kojiro at Ganryu Island (Funa Island).

  10. 1614–15, age 31–32. Participation in the Winter and Summer campaigns at Osaka Castle.

  11. 1621, age 38. The match with Miyake Gunbei (Tatsuno, Hyogo Prefecture).

  12. 1622, age 39. Temporary residence at the castle town of Himeji (Hyogo Prefecture).

  13. 1628, age 45. Site of the meeting with Yagyu Hyogonosuke. Owari (Nagoya).

  14. 1634, age 51. Stays as guest of Ogasawara Tadazane. Kokura (Fukuoka Prefecture).

  15. 1637 age, 54. Fighting against the rebels at Shimabara. Shimabara (Nagasaki Prefecture).

  16. 1638, age 55. Demonstration of sword style to retainers of Lord Matsudaira Izumo no kami Naomasa (Matsue, Shimane Prefecture).

  17. 1640, age 57. Resides as guest of the Hosokawa clan, at the former site of Chiba Castle. Kumamoto (Kumamoto Prefecture).

  18. 1644, age 61. The Reigan Cave, outside Kumamoto City, where in his last years of life, Musashi wrote The Book of Five Rings.

  NOTES ON JAPANESE NAMES AND SOURCES

  * * *

  Throughout this volume, Japanese names appear in the traditional order, surname preceding given name.

  All translations from Japanese and Chinese are by William Scott Wilson, except where otherwise indicated. Quotations from The Book of Five Rings, The Unfettered Mind, The Life-Giving Sword, and Hagakure are taken from Wilson’s published translations of said works by Shambhala Publications. In some cases, the translations have been slightly modified.

  MUSASHI-RELATED MANUSCRIPTS: Musashi’s name has appeared in a great number of manuscripts written from as early as 1654 to the opening of the twentieth century. Composed by such disparate persons as Musashi’s adopted son, Iori, members of opposing swordsmanship schools, village scribes, individual scholars, and even owners of brothels, these sources often give varying dates for important events in Musashi’s life, and diverse assessments of his talents and achievements. Writers and scholars have had to sift through these works to determine their own conclusions. Those quoted or made reference to in this book include:

  Busho kanjoki

  Dobo goen

  Ganryu hidensho

  Ganryu kendo hidensho

  Gekijo yoroku

  Gekken sodan

  Harima no kagami

  Hiratake keito

  Honcho bugei shoden

  Kaijo monogatari

  Kokura Hibun (a monument)

  Kuro sawa

  Miyamoto Musashi monogatari nenpyo

  Mukashi banashi

  Musashi kenseki kensho ehon

  Musashi koden

  Musashi yuko gamei

  Nitenki

  Numata keki

  Sayo gunshi

  Sekisui zatsuwa

  Suihyo shokan roku

  Tanji hokin hikki

  Watanabe koan taiwaki

  Yoshioka-den

  PROLOGUE

  In the first decade of the seventeenth century, a master of swordsmanship by the name of Sasaki Kojiro made his way down to the southern island of Kyushu and, with the permission of the Hosokawa lords of that area, established a dojo in the port city of Kokura. Kojiro had trained constantly in his art from his youth, and over the years had developed a swift and subtle style that seemed to allow no defense. The better swordsmen he had fought might, just before their defeat, have been dimly aware of how Kojiro’s sword seemed to first arc down and then suddenly turn upward like a swallow in graceful and acrobatic flight. Kojiro became a popular teacher, attracting a number of Hosokawa samurai who admired both his technique and the fact that he had never been defeated. In addition, Kojiro’s lineage as a martial artist was impeccable.

  And there was something else: the sword Kojiro used in his bouts was nearly his equal in fame. His weapon of choice was an unusually long sword that he carried on his back made by a famed Bizen swordsmith around the year 1334. Many of the long blades surviving from that troubled time in Japanese history had been shortened to the standards of later periods, but this one had been suffered to retain the distinctive shape and size typical of that era. Because of the superb talents of the swordsmith and the quality of the steel he had used, the sword was a thing of fascinating beauty and the cutting edge, despite having been put to practical use many times, had never even been chipped. Kojiro was proud of this weapon and had named it the Drying Pole, perhaps because it was so long that it almost resembled the long bamboo poles used for drying laundry. It was partly because of that length that opponents were often unable to approach its owner and deliver a blow with their own shorter blades.

  It was not uncommon, during these times, for bouts to be arranged between serious swordsmen who wished to prove their abilities, whether to the local lords, prospective students, or simply to themselves. Such a match had been arranged for Kojiro, to take place on 13 April 1612 on Funa Island, a small island surrounded by the swift waters of the Kanmon
Straits, not far from Kokura. His opponent, a man known as Miyamoto Musashi, was known to be undefeated as well, but no one knew much about his style or his lineage, and he had a reputation for being unkempt and even unpredictable. Conflicting stories circulated about the man’s prowess and courage. Nevertheless, Kojiro looked forward to the bout, as it could only enhance his reputation at Kokura and possibly bring him closer to an official position with the famous Hosokawa clan.

  On the appointed day, Kojiro was rowed over to Funa Island from Kokura, arriving well ahead of the scheduled time. His opponent was late, but because the man’s point of departure was from a far northeasterly section of Shimonoseki and because of the rapid and changing currents in the straits, this was perhaps not unusual. Considering Kojiro’s possession of the unique sword and the method with which he used it, he likely wondered, as he waited, what kind of sword his opponent would carry. This Musashi was supposedly something of an itinerant and without many possessions, but what would that mean in terms of the weapon he used? No one in Kojiro’s entourage had had any idea, but considering the mystique surrounding the Drying Pole, its provenance, and the technique of its owner, no one cared much either. Still, Kojiro must have wondered, since he knew that the soul of a swordsman was bound up in the weapon he carried at his side.

  After a long wait and some loss of patience on Kojiro’s part, Musashi’s boat finally came into view. As it approached the island and his opponent stepped out into the shallows, Kojiro squinted into the glare from the bright waters to appraise the man and the blade he had brought. As his eyes focused on the four-foot wooden sword Musashi had just carved from an oar, Kojiro’s first thought could only have been, “Who is this?”