These stars are more for the story-tellling than the actual content. If you can ignore the fact that the samurai depicted act a bit like killing psychopaths who justify killing with an arbitrary code, then the rest is fun. It's actually quite a feat for Yoshikawa to have written a four-volume series that keeps the reader interested all the way through. Una novela de aventuras muy adictiva, fácil de leer y entretenida. Además, al ser una cultura tan diferente a la nuestra, me resulta aún más interesante y es bastante diferente a lo que estoy acostumbrado. Musashi and Takuan both believed that the great mistake was being slowed or rendered immobile by what one sees, hears, feels, or thinks

Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era Kindle Edition

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.

Like the book of five rings, Musashi, the fictitious epic novel of Musashi’s life, spans across many books. This is an excellent read, and follows the known history of Musashi’s life. Musashi was published in 1935, but, wasn’t translated into English until 1981. About halfway through the book I learned it had been written and published in serialized format in a Japanese newspaper. This is why each chapter feels like an individual short story and why some of the action in each chapter feels forced and aribtrary. Miyamoto Musashi, which was one of several names of a very important figure in Japanese history, lived from the end of the sixteenth into the seventeenth century. He was a true renaissance man in that he was an exceptional strategist, swordsman and social philosopher who also painted, sculpted and wrote. I cannot think of a comparable figure from the West with the possible exception of Leonardo Da Vinci. He and Musashi were incredibly accomplished in a variety of areas but their emphases were clearly quite different. The Epic: Tells the story of how the legend of Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest swordfighter ever in Japan, was forged. Ever so slowly it dawns on him that following the Way of the Sword is not simply a matter of finding a target for his brute strength. Continually striving to perfect his technique, which leads him to a unique style of fighting with two swords simultaneously, he travels far and wide, challenging fighters of many disciplines, taking nature to be his ultimate and severest teacher and undergoing the rigorous training of those who follow the Way. He is supremely successful in his encounters, but in the Art of War he perceives the way of peaceful and prosperous governance and disciplines himself to be a real human being

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

A breathtaking fictionalization of the life of one of the world's greatest warriors and renaissance men. Yoshikawa takes us on a mezmorizing voyage to a crossroads in Japanese history that changed all the rules and gave birth to a legend. The book opens in the year 1600 at the end of the infamous battle of Sekigahara, where the armies of east and western Japan met to decide who would govern: Toyotomi or Tokugawa. In the end to Tokugawa emerged victorious and the 150 year period of civil war came to an end. The book of Five Rings, Translated by William Scott Wilson, who translated the next book, is authored by Miyamoto Musashi himself. It’s estimated the book of five rings was written in 1645. The book of five rings is separated into five books: I am a huge fan of the old Criterion Collection samurai movies and I loved Toshiro Mifune's portrayal of Musashi, so I thought I'd give this a read. I found it VERY slow at the beginning, but I powered through. It took me as long to read this as it did to read Don Quixote….coincidentally, Musashi lived at the same time as Cervantes, so it was interesting to compare what was going on in Japan in the time of Shakespeare and Cervantes.Even Evil Has Standards: Kojirō is genuinely disgusted by Musashi's killing of Yoshioka Genjirō, who was only a child at the time. He further criticizes Musashi for challenging the Yoshiokas at all, feeling that it was unfair for Musashi to duel men he so clearly outmatched. Incidentally, both Yoshikawa and Tolkien are born in 1892. The Hobbit came out in 1937, while Musashi came out in 1935.))

Musashi - Archive.org Musashi - Archive.org

You may read as much as you want. A famous priest of ancient times once said, 'I become immersed in the sacred scriptures and read thousands of volumes. When i come away, I find that heart sees more than before'. Yagyu Sekishusai (former Muneyoshi) – aging master of the Yagyu style of swordsmanship, lord of Koyagyu fief As a fan of epic fantasy, I was surprised by how much this was right in my wheelhouse, and I think this should be better-known among SF fans. It's a classic bildungsroman with epic battles, tragic romances, fun if somewhat archetypal characters, and a tremendous amount of cultural flavor and historical information. In Musashis we have something similar but quite reverse. Here Odysseus leaves his Ithaca on his own free will. 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. Even living in heaven there's no heaven unless you've faced hell, so our hero does exactly that. Meanwhile, his Penelope is not waiting but looking for him because there's neither an island nor a kingdom for them to return to. They only have each other. But unless the path of the sword is genuinely walked to its very end, they will both keep on walking through hell, searching and avoiding each other until hell falls apart.Some characters also just come and go. Musashi takes on pupils, they worship him, and he seems to care for them too only to completely disregard them. 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.

Books by Miyamoto Musashi (Author of A Book of Five Rings) Books by Miyamoto Musashi (Author of A Book of Five Rings)

The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.” Dead Person Impersonation: Matahachi tries to find that elusive "starting position from which I can become successful" by impersonating Kojirō, whom he thinks is dead. He's not.

This novel contains examples of:

Written for a Japanese audience who would be steeped in the ethos of Musashi. From a European eye there are a lot of strange things going on, but they give fascinating insight into Musashi's culture. For those who aren't familiar with Edo period Japan and the path of the sword, as well as those who're only familiar with them through anime and manga, it'd be good to understand that, although things weren't as wild and inhumane as in medieval Japan. we're talking about an era and culture where the roles in society were still fixed and hopeless. There were lords, farmers, vendors, and samurai, each having their own advantages and disadvantages. A samurai for example was identified with his honor and he was free to exercise his right to kill whoever insulted him, however light this so-called insult might have been (you could sneeze at the wrong time and lose your head!). Jidaigeki: Specifically, the story takes place during the early years of the Edo Period of Japanese history, actually beginning with the aftermath of the Battle of Sekigahara, which marked the tilting of the balance of power in the favor of the Tokugawas. It also takes place before the siege of Osaka Castle, which was essentially the death knell for the Toytomis. In fact the conflict leading up to that final battle runs through some of the subplots in this story (with Matahachi and Jōtarō actually getting swept up in an attempt to assassinate Tokugawa Hidetada). In fact, much of the book's focus is on the transitional nature of the role of the samurai in this particular period, with the end of the Sengoku era meaning that the demand for numerous warriors to serve as soldiers for the many daimyos vying for control has dwindled. As a result, much of the story's focus is on the characters, including Musashi, trying to find new ways to employ the Way of the Sword for different purposes. In particular, Musashi is said to pursue the Way of the Sword as the Way of Governance. Aoki Tanzaemon (aka Scraggy Beard) – an official of the Tokugawa government, the representative of Lord Terumasa in Miyamoto, Jotaro’s father