Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584 – June 13, 1645), was also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku.[1] He was a Japanese Samurai and rōnin.[2] Even from a young age Musashi became well known for his excellent swordsmanship and won some sixty duels.[3] He always had money and had a number of other rōnins as followers.[4] Musashi is best known as the author of The Book of Five Rings. It is a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy. The book is very popular in modern Japan and the western world among successful business people.[5]
Miyamoto Musashi | |||||
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Japanese name | |||||
Kanji | 宮本 武蔵 | ||||
Hiragana | みやもと むさし | ||||
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Miyamoto Musashi Media
- Statue de Miyamoto Musashi offerte par un artiste japonais aux habitants de Gleizé (宮本武蔵).jpg
Statue of Miyamoto Musashi (Gleizé) (宮本武蔵像 (グルエーズ)).
"Seishin Chokudo" (earnest heart, straight way) monument dedicated to Miyamoto Musashi, located in Kokura. These characters were engraved by Musashi on his bokken. It stands on the place where Musashi is supposed to have lived, at the foot of the castle. The Hombu dojo of a main branch of Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryū is in Kokura and demonstrates every year in front of this monument.
Miyamoto Musashi's grave in Ōhara-chō, province of Mimasaka
Miyamoto Musashi kills a shark fish (Yamazame) in the mountains across the border of Echizen Province, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Miyamoto Musashi in his prime, wielding two bokken; woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
References
- ↑ Toyota Masataka, 'Niten Ki (A Chronicle of Two Heavens)', Gorin no Sho, ed. Kamiko Tadashi (Tokyo: Tokuma-shoten, 1963), p. 239
- ↑ Matt Doeden, Life as a Samurai: An Interactive History Adventure (Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2011), p. 76
- ↑ Nick Evangelista, The Encyclopedia of the Sword (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995), p. 318
- ↑ Kenji Tokitsu; Sherab Chodzin Kohn, Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings (Boston: Shambhala: Distributed in the U.S. by Random House, 2004), p. 124
- ↑ Leo Gough, Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings: A modern-day interpretation of a military classic (Oxford, UK: Infinite Ideas, 2009), p. 8