I hope that anyone reading this is doing well and that you are enjoying whatever book you are reading at the moment!

read Vagabond or Musashi (the novel) first? Should I read Vagabond or Musashi (the novel) first?

There are, of course, lots of swords and lots of people journeying across the land, but it’s in a generally historic, actual place, not an invented one. The scene, in the movie, marks Musashi's transformation from Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy to Martial Pacifist.So in a world where Kiri-sute gomen existed and where Samurai ruled the common folk unless there was a lord around, where half the people carried a katana and were ready to use it, in a world where the hive mentally reigned supreme, there came Musashi: the epitome of reason and masculinity. Up next for review will either be The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski or Book 4 in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King; Wizard and Glass, depending on which one I finish first. it is very japanese therefore some of the names and places tend to get mixed up in the nearly 1000 page epic.

Musashi Book One: The Way of the Samurai - Goodreads

By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Takezō, now pettily seeing himself as being at war against all mankind, goes on violent rampage in Miyamoto. Sembrerebbe uno spreco, non fosse che così l'ambizione di Musashi a divenire samurai diventa quasi più pura, assoluta: cercare la forza e la saggezza per sé stesso, per migliorare sé stesso, e non per mettersi a servizio di un signore. Celibate Hero: Musashi, who doesn't enter a relationship (mentioned in the books) until the end, when he finally gives in to dogged nice girl Otsū.Finally, to those that complained that the main characters kept bumping on each other in every city they happened to arrive, you have to understand that: a) the story is taking place throughout many years, b) there weren't that many people around four hundred years ago, c) not many people dared to roam about when the world was filled with blood and steel, so if you Did dare to travel around, you belonged to the minority and minorities Do tend to stumble upon themselves. The world of the Edo period in Japan seems real and tangible here because of the extremely simple and modern translation into english. Blue-and-Orange Morality: To a 21st-century modern reader, the world that Yoshikawa immerses them in may seem to run on this. He delves head-on into the hardest of hardships a samurai can face: famine, poverty, insulting the honor of the most famous samurai clan in Japan. Yoshikawa takes us on a mezmorizing voyage to a crossroads in Japanese history that changed all the rules and gave birth to a legend.

Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa | Goodreads

The book of Five Rings, Translated by William Scott Wilson, who translated the next book, is authored by Miyamoto Musashi himself. He took many of the conventions of the Romantic era, married them to the method of the Victorian novel, and invented a whole new genre. In effetti mi mnancava qualche mattone classico fuori dal continente europeo, e il Giappone mi ha sempre affascinata.His relationship with Otsu is interesting at the heart of it, but there is so much faffing about that it falls into that repetitive trap. Both men are fearless master swordsmen, but commit terrible acts— Kojirō rapes and tortures Akemi, and Musashi kills twelve year-old Yoshioka Genjirō to win the Duel at Ichijoji—as well as heroic ones: Musashi rescues a village from bandits, while Kojirō saves Matahachi and Osugi from the samurai of the Ono school. He works to make himself the greatest swordsman in the land, and he learns sometimes bland lessons along the way: become one with the wind or the water, lose a sense of self, honor your parents, be loyal. In time he will use this knowledge to develop a two-sword style that was utterly new for the period. As an example, the original manuscript of Taiko is 15 volumes; Yoshikawa took up to retell it in a more accessible tone, and reduced it to only two volumes.